" Kelly Street" is the debut single of Australian
indie pop
Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with a DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and s ...
group
Frente!
Frente! (or Frente) is an Australian folk- pop and indie pop group which originally formed in 1989. The original line-up consisted of Simon Austin on guitar and backing vocals, Angie Hart on lead vocals, Tim O'Connor on bass guitar (later repl ...
, released in October 1992 ahead of their debut studio album, ''
Marvin the Album
''Marvin the Album'' is the Australian folk-pop and alternative rock group Frente!'s debut album, released 24 November 1992 (26 April 1994 outside Australia), and recorded in 1992 at Platinum Studios in Melbourne, Australia. Music videos were ...
''. The title includes an unintentional misspelling of "accidentally" that the band decided to keep. The song peaked at 4 on both the
Australian
Australian(s) may refer to:
Australia
* Australia, a country
* Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia
** European Australians
** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists
** Aboriginal Aus ...
and
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
singles charts, and it was a minor hit in the United Kingdom in 1994, peaking at No. 80 on the
UK Singles Chart.
Background and release
Frente!
Frente! (or Frente) is an Australian folk- pop and indie pop group which originally formed in 1989. The original line-up consisted of Simon Austin on guitar and backing vocals, Angie Hart on lead vocals, Tim O'Connor on bass guitar (later repl ...
had formed in 1989 by
Simon Austin
Simon Sean Nicholas David Austin (born 9 October 1966) is an Australian guitarist, songwriter, producer and sound engineer. Austin was a founding member of Frente! in Melbourne in 1989 with Angie Hart on vocals, Tim O'Connor on bass guitar an ...
on guitar and backing vocals,
Angie Hart
Angela Ruth Hart, billed as Angie Hart, is an Australian singer best known for her role as lead vocalist in the alternative pop rock band Frente! and the indie pop duo Splendid (musical duo), Splendid with her then-husband Jesse Tobias. Hart's s ...
on lead vocals, Tim O'Connor on bass guitar and Mark Picton on drums and recorder.
O'Connor was moving to a new address in Kenny Street,
Richmond, Victoria
Richmond is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east of the Melbourne central business district, located within the City of Yarra Local government areas of Victoria, local government area. Richmond recorded a population of 2 ...
– he mistakenly told his bandmates that it was Kelly Street; "I'm going to write a song about the house" he later told them.
Hart suggested that he call it "Accidentally Kelly Street" and Mushroom Records dutifully printed off the single's labels with " Kelly Street", a mistake they decided to keep.
Australian musicologist,
Ian McFarlane
Ian McFarlane (born 1959) is an Australian music journalist, music historian and author, whose best known publication is the ''Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop'' (1999), which was updated for a second edition in 2017.
As a journalist ...
, felt it was a "summery, sugar pop single" which was accompanied by "a breezy, slightly kooky video clip."
The single was released in October 1992 ahead of their debut studio album, ''
Marvin the Album
''Marvin the Album'' is the Australian folk-pop and alternative rock group Frente!'s debut album, released 24 November 1992 (26 April 1994 outside Australia), and recorded in 1992 at Platinum Studios in Melbourne, Australia. Music videos were ...
'', while in the United Kingdom, the song was not released until 25 April 1994. Hart described it as "a really happy song for me. It's about making all the right decisions and feeling really confident about yourself."
As for the title, she recalled "The mis-spelling was deemed by some a genius stroke. Unfortunately, it was not intentional on my part, but I quietly took the credit for years."
Austin remembered the track as "perfect pop craft of Tim O'Connor – An undeniable hit song, it was all over the radio for weeks, sweet and sure against the Pacific Northwest snarl and doof doof cuppa-tea. Some of the sourest people I know and love took me to task but you could see they couldn't help singing it as they railed. I would nod, smile, press their shoulders."
" Kelly Street" peaked at No. 4 on both the
Australian
Australian(s) may refer to:
Australia
* Australia, a country
* Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia
** European Australians
** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists
** Aboriginal Aus ...
and
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
singles charts as well as No. 80 on the
UK Singles Chart. McFarlane noticed that "The band was so popular that television comedy troupe the D-Generation was compelled to produce a spot-on send-up of the video."
According to Jeff Jenkins ''
The Late Show The Late Show may refer to:
Film
* ''The Late Show'' (film), a 1977 film
* ''Late Show'', a 1999 German film by director Helmut Dietl
Music
* ''The Late Show'' (Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis album), a 1961 live album by jazz saxophonists Eddie "Loc ...
''s parody, "Accidentally Was Released", featuring
Jane Kennedy,
Tony Martin,
Mick Molloy
Michael Molloy (born 11 July 1966) is an Australian comedian, writer, producer, actor and television and radio presenter who has been active in radio, television, stand-up and film. He currently hosts '' The Front Bar'' on the Seven Network.
...
and
Tom Gleisner
Thomas Edmund Gleisner (born 24 October 1962) is an Australian comedian and producer. Gleisner co-founded production company Working Dog Productions and currently hosts Network 10's ''Have You Been Paying Attention?''.
Early life and educati ...
(formerly of ''
The D-Generation
''The D-Generation'' was a popular and influential Australian TV sketch comedy show produced and broadcast by ABC for two series between 1986 and 1987. A further four specials were broadcast on the Seven Network between 1988 and 1989. The sho ...
'') was a "savage send-up of the Kelly Street video" and Hart "soon fell out of love with the song."
Austin initially "had a real moment of feeling stabbed... Then I thought, 'You know what? It's an Australian thing.' I know all those guys and they mean it lovingly. To a certain extent, as an Australian, you just have to suck it up. And it's good. People don't allow you to get too full of yourself, or full of yourself at all, or even half full of yourself."
Track listings
Australian 7-inch single
:A. "Accidently Kelly Street"
:B. "
Ordinary Angels
"Ordinary Angels" is a song by Australian indie pop group Frente!. The song was not released as a single in Australia but was included on the '' Clunk'' EP, which peaked at number three on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart in 1992. "Ordinary A ...
"
Australian cassette single
# "Accidently Kelly Street"
# "Many Wings"
# "Here You Come Again"
# "Somethin' Stupid (Stoopid)"
UK CD single
# "Accidently Kelly Street"
# "Oh Brilliance"
# "Ordinary Angels"
# "Testimony"
Credits and personnel
Credits are taken from the UK CD single liner notes.
Studio
* Recorded at Platinum Studios (
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
)
Personnel
* Tim O'Connor – writing, bass guitar
*
Angie Hart
Angela Ruth Hart, billed as Angie Hart, is an Australian singer best known for her role as lead vocalist in the alternative pop rock band Frente! and the indie pop duo Splendid (musical duo), Splendid with her then-husband Jesse Tobias. Hart's s ...
– lead vocals
*
Simon Austin
Simon Sean Nicholas David Austin (born 9 October 1966) is an Australian guitarist, songwriter, producer and sound engineer. Austin was a founding member of Frente! in Melbourne in 1989 with Angie Hart on vocals, Tim O'Connor on bass guitar an ...
– guitar, backing vocals
* Mark Picton – drums
* Frente! – production
* Michael Koppelman – production, mixing, recording
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
External links
{{Authority control
1992 songs
1992 debut singles
Frente! songs
Mushroom Records singles