FEATURE:
From the Starman to Steely Dan
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Claude Vanheye
The Artists Who Have Influenced Kate Bush
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NO artist is a blank slate…
IN THIS PHOTO: David Bowie has been cited by Kate Bush as a hugely influential artist
when it comes to their music and influence. I mean, every musician who has recorded anything draws influence from another or some other sphere. Even the most original and hard-to-categorise artists have taken some form of guidance from others. When it comes to those artists that are in a league of their own, many people will think about Kate Bush. Whilst she did not particular draw too much inspiration from female artists through her career – she did not want to be too guided in that sense – there are some terrific artists who, in a way, ran through Bush’s veins. Prince is someone she worked with a couple of times (including on her 1993 album, The Red Shoes) and she was a huge fan of his. I think their working relationship was really affectionate and, though they were of a very similar age, I do think that Bush was inspired by Prince’s sense of ambition and reinvention – he, in turn, would have provided an admiring nod to Bush. I think two artists who have particularly resonated with Bush are David Bowie and Elton John. The latter is a good friend of Bush’s, and she has named-checked John in interviews through her career. Both artists are synonymous with the piano and, whilst their music is quite different, Bush cleared loved Elton John from a very young age! I am going to spend more time on both of these artists as their sense of image, eclectic musicianship and sheer gravitas was incredibly power to Bush.
I first want to bring in a recent article from Far Our Magazine - they talked about the role Bowie and John have played in Bush’s life:
“It was a point of reference that nobody thought possible for a girl of such a young age. But the truth was, as well as having a literary and musical upbringing, Bush had been inspired by one of the most adventurous lyricists the world has ever known — David Bowie.
The Starman can be rightly attributed with inspiring countless artists that followed him on to the stage. As well as his expert performances, which prompted Bush to connect with his movement instructor Kindsay Kemp, Bowie’s songwriting captivated Bush and showed her that songs did not have to follow any real structure if she didn’t want them to. As well as lyrically encouraging Bush to pen her thoughts as wildly as they arrived at her, Bowie’s costuming was also a key piece of inspiration.
“David Bowie had everything,” Bush recalled upon the news of his death in 2016. “He was intelligent, imaginative, brave, charismatic, cool, sexy and truly inspirational both visually and musically. He created such staggeringly brilliant work, yes, but so much of it and it was so good. There are great people who make great work but who else has left a mark like his? No one like him.” Bush was known to have been a fan of Bowie during his heady Ziggy days and so the art of performance ranked as high for her as the songs themselves.
Bush wouldn’t be as prolific a performer as Bowie, in fact, she has only ever toured twice. But the reason she stopped performing is that she felt if she couldn’t maintain the vision she had for the show and her songs then there was no point in doing it at all. It’s the kind of uncompromising artistry that was resolutely taught in the school of Bowie.
Another huge influence on the career of Kate Bush is from another bespangled and glittered genius songwriter from the seventies. While David Bowie was able to show Bush how to follow her creative drive and artistic nuances, one star showed her how to apply it to pop music, that person was Elton John. Bernie Taupin may have been the man behind Elton John’s lyrics, however, the glittering performance from Elton absolutely enraptured a young Bush.
“I couldn’t stop playing it — I loved it so much,” said Bush when speaking to NME about the recently unearthed video of her cover of ‘Rocketman’. “Most artists in the mid-seventies played guitar but Elton played piano and I dreamed of being able to play like him.” Of course, Bush would get the chance to play a little like him and include Elton’s song ‘Rocketman’ as one of the very few covers she has ever produced.
Bush later asked Elton to be a part of her own record, something the star was more than happy to be a part of. “I did a duet with Kate Bush on this track for her last album,” Elton recalled in 2013. “That session with her was hard, because she doesn’t write easy songs. She’s a complex songwriter and this is a weird song, but I love it so much. I’m so proud to be on a Kate Bush record; she’s always marched to the beat of her own drum. She was groundbreaking — a bit like a female equivalent of Freddie Mercury.”
Utterly unique and completely one of a kind, Kate Bush has become a piece of British culture that is resolutely celebrated across the globe. Her style and guile has seen her become one of the most adored singers on the planet and it is down to the values instilled in her during her formative years by two of the greatest showmen to have graced the stage. Simply put, without David Bowie and Elton John we wouldn’t have got Kate Bush”.
I do love how these iconic artists helped to shape Kate Bush and how, so many years down the line, Bush and Elton John are friends! I want to quote one more article regarding Bush’s love of Bowie, but the relationship between Bush and one of her idols, Elton John, is interesting. Not only was Bush inspired by his live performances – she cites 17-11-70 as one of her favourite albums -, but his aura and incredibly powerful personality could not have helped but to stir and motivate her; not only as a recording artist but a live performer. Bush duetted with John on her 2011 album, 50 Words for Snow, and she also covered two of his songs: Candle in the Wind, and Rocket Man (she recorded a cover version of Candle in the Wind for the B-side of her 1991 single, Rocket Man). Let’s hope there is more collaboration between Bush and John before both of their careers are through.
I think the Bowie influence is particularly clear. For someone who grew up in an artistic and vibrant household - but one that was, at the same time, quite mannered too-, the sheer passion and allure of David Bowie and his multiple personas must have been hugely fascinating for Bush! In an article in MOJO in 2007, Kate Bush described her love for David Bowie's music, the concert she attended - the final live performance by Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars on 3rd July, 1973 - and the first occasion when she met the star. One can hear little Bowie nods and inflections in some of her work – listen to many of the songs on The Dreaming -, and I think she was channelling Bowie. Seeing Bowie in concert and delivering such an astonishing, theatrical and original live performance, I feel, was instrumental when it came to Bush conceiving her The Tour of Life of 1979. I will move on to another selection of artists soon, but I want to quote from an article on the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia which finds Bush discussing her first taste of Bowie:
“I was sitting in my bath, submerged in bubbles, listening to Radio Luxembourg when I heard David Bowie for the first time. "There's a starman waiting in the sky." I thought it was such an interesting song and that he had a really unusual voice. Soon I was to hear that track everywhere, and Bowie's music became a part of my life.
Was it Bo-Wie, Bowie or B'wee? Everything about him was intriguing. When I saw him on Top Of The Pops he was almost insect-like, his clothing was theatrical and bizarre; was that a dress? No one was sure, but my conclusion was that he was quite beautiful. His picture found itself on my bedroom wall next to the scared space reserved solely for my greatest love - Elton John.
A fantastic songwriter with a voice to match, Bowie had everything. He was just the right amount of weird, obviously intelligent and, of course, very sexy. Ziggy played guitar. And I was there to see his last show as Ziggy Stardust with The Spiders From Mars. The atmosphere was just so charged that at the end, when he cried, we all cried with him.
Working at Abbey Road studios some years later, I popped in to see a friend on another session....I was stopped in my tracks. Standing elegantly poised behind the console was David Bowie. He was lit from above and smoking a cigarette. He said, "Hello Kate." I froze on the spot and said, "Er...Hello," and then left the room, caught my breath outside the door and didn't dare to go back in again. We've met many times since then and I don't have to leave the room any more....or do I?
He's made all the right moves, each album exploring a new sound, a new way of looking at things, experimental and brave. Starring in The Man Who Fell To Earth made him a successful actor as well. His introduction to The Snowman animation, although brief, made the film more poignant, as if the whole thing somehow belonged to him. I just loved his hilarious Extras cameo, and the quirky Tesla in The Prestige. He is the quintessential artist, always different and ever surprising, an inspiration for us all. (Kate Bush, Foreword, Mojo Classic: 60 years of Bowie, 2007)”.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush at Tyne Tees studios in 1981
The influence of Elton John and David Bowie is one that runs through her work, but there are other great artists that one might not expect Bush to be influenced by. In her household, she was listening to a lot of Irish and English folk; her brothers were introducing her to different sounds and sides of the art world…so it isn’t a shock that Bush embraced a whole range of artists and genres. This interesting article provides a list of Bush’s favourite-ten albums of 1980. Just looking at the list, and you can see the way various artists influenced albums like Never for Ever and her first two of 1978,The Kick Inside, and Lionheart:
“As Told to Smash Hits Magazine for the November 27 - December 10, 1980 issue via Like Punk Never Happened
Kate made this list a few months after her third album Never For Ever was released.
1.Frank Zappa: Overnite Sensation -"Montana" was the first Zappa track I ever heard and it's stuck as a firm favourite.
2. A.L. Lloyd and Eran MacColl : Blow Boys Blow - I was brought up with this album.
3. The Eagles: One of These Nights - I played it to death when studying with Lindsay Kemp and it reminds me of him.
4. David Bowie Young Americans - It reminds me of 1976, the drought summer and open windows.
5. The Beatles Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - Because it's an album of excellent songs.
6. Eberhard Weber Fluid Rustle - It's like having your brain massaged.
7. Captain Beefheart Blue Jeans and Moonbeams - This is the Beefheart album where he writes love songs like nobody else.
8. Stevie Wonder The Secret Life of Plants - Because it's a modern symphony with a high emotional content.
9. Pink Floyd The Wall - Because it reminds me of last Christmas and open fires and I wish I'd written it.
10. The TV National Iranian Chamber Orchestra Treasures of the Baroque Era - Because it allows my mind to sit down and go "aah". I listen to it when doing paperwork. In fact while writing this list!”.
I will discuss The Beatles and Pink Floyd later (alongside Steely Dan and others), but it is illuminating seeing her name-check Frank Zappa, and Captain Beefheart! The unconventional nature of both of these artists – not just how they tackled love, but their sonic essence -, was starting to work into Bush’s work at this point (one can sense a bit of both in Hammer Horror, and Full House from Lionheart; maybe elements of Breathing, and Violin (from Never for Ever) vibe from these artists). Albums like Eberhard Weber’s Fluid Rustle, I feel, were in Bush’s mind when she wrote some of the more ethereal and heavenly tracks from Never for Ever. It is fascinating considering an artist as unique as Bush and her favourite artists/albums.
The Beatles are probably not much of a surprise when it comes to inspiration. Bush, in some ways, can be compared to them in the way her work evolved and she went from this slightly lighter and softer sound to bigger, bolder and more experimental. Bush’s real change occurred on 1982’s The Dreaming and, for that reason, I am not surprised to see her name-check Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Bush actually covered The Beatles on more than one occasion. She performed She's Leaving Home (from that album), The Long and Winding Road, and Let It Be (both from Let It Be) during a promotional visit to Japan; she also performed Come Together (from Abbey Road) when she played with the KT Bush Band in 1977. The fact that The Beatles pushed the boundaries of the studio and had stopped being a touring band resonated with Bush. She would not play live in a huge way after 1979 and before 2014 - and she was embracing new technology and sounds on every album. On The Dreaming, she fully embraced the studio and its possibilities; experimenting a lot more and, in a way, channelling The Beatles. Steely Dan could not have passed Bush by. Although they were not big in the U.K. through the 1970s, I can imagine Bush discovering their debut, Can’t Buy a Thrill, in 1972 and being intrigued.
IN THIS PHOTO: Walter Becker (right) and Donald Fagen (of Steely Dan) captured while making their album, The Royal Scam, at The Village Recorder studio on 23rd November, 1975 in Los Angeles, California/PHOTO CREDIT: Ed Caraeff
Perhaps it is their albums Katy Lied (1975), The Royal Scam (1976), and Aja (1977) that made a big mark when it came to the musical complexity and melodic accessibility. Steely Dan’s combination of the perfectionist and simple can be applied to Bush; in the way she sought the ‘right sound’ as a producer and how her songs matched the lush and melodic with the sophisticated and unconventional. This article quotes a couple of times where Bush mentioned Steely Dan:
“I think they're very underestimated. They're the most incredible musicians. This is it. They are here -- a musician's band. I mean, all the musicians in this country just rave about them technically, and as songwriters. But you know, they're not really played on the radio, but they're just incredible. (Paul Gambaccini, BBC Radio 1, 31 December 1980)
For me, each album got better, and I wish they hadn't split up. (Kate Bush Club, issue 16)”.
Not only was Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour important in Kate Bush’s life – he put up money so she could record professionally and helped to get her music to the masses -, but the band themselves can be heard in Bush’s music. From The Saxophone Song on The Kick Inside and its spacey, jazzy outro through to so many elements and sounds of Hounds of Love, one can also envisage Bush growing up a lot with Pink Floyd’s music and taken some guidance from their music. There have been a lot of articles regarding Bush’s impact on other artists and how she has helped transform music, but I was curious to look at the other end of the spectrum and some of the albums and artists who have inspired Bush. Perhaps, without them, we would not have Kate Bush as a musician or, at the very least, her own music would be very different! From David Bowie, Elton John, The Beatles, Captain Beefheart, and Steely Dan, a range of incredible artists have compelled and influenced Kate Bush. This all being said – and has been said many times – she herself remains…
A unique genius.