FEATURE:
Maybe You're Lonely, and Only Want a Little Company
The Kate Bush Fanzine, HomeGround, at Forty: Could We See It Rise Again?
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AFTER the recent…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1982
mass of interest and success around Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) charting after appearing on Stranger Things – the song went to the top ten in the U.K, almost thirty-seven years since its original release -, I wanted to look ahead to a few anniversaries. One that occurred last month was the fortieth anniversary of the Kate Bush fanzine, HomeGround. Released in the same year as her remarkable fourth studio album, The Dreaming, it started life quite modestly. With articles and items pasted together and then photocopied and handed to a selection of fans, the fanzine/magazine grew in stature, relevance and size. I actually have two books chronicling HomeGround from 1982 through to its end in 2011. I think, as Bush has accrued new feats, records and a wave of fans since 2011, there will be an appetite and curiosity to see if HomeGround could reform in some way to commemorate the last decade or so - in addition to looking forward to new music and possibilities. Earlier in the year, Kate Bush News reported how fans can contribute to a special anniversary edition of HomeGround:
“In 1982, in the months leading up to the release of The Dreaming single, we first had the idea of making a Kate Bush fanzine. Over the following 30 years we put out 79 issues, full of news and information about Kate and her music and associated subjects, providing a platform for review and discussion of Kate’s work on a worldwide basis. On the way we also organised, with the official Kate Bush Club, the 1985, 1990, and 1994 fan Conventions, the 1986 Video Party, all of which Kate attended. We also organised the fan contribution to the video shoot for The Big Sky. We were asked to provide the chronology and discographies for the 1987 Kate Bush Complete music and lyric book from EMI Music Publishing, and the sleeve note for the 1997 EMI 100 remastered CD of Hounds of Love.
The last printed HomeGround magazine was published at the end of 2011 and rapidly sold out. It was followed in March 2014 by the hugely successful two-volume HomeGround Anthology, containing over 1,200 pages of material from all 79 issues.
In May 2022 it will be 40 years since the first issue of HomeGround, and we felt we should mark the occasion with a very special issue – issue 80. Our intention is to make this available as a free downloadable PDF enabling us to use full colour.
Just as no previous issue of HomeGround could have happened without contributions from Kate Bush fans around the globe this special issue cannot happen without your help.
We will be producing the familiar news and a special retrospective summary of the last ten years in the Kate Speaking world. What we need are other features, artwork, poetry, short “Letters to the Editor” and even For Sale, Wanted, and Personal Message ads, just as we always did.
Here are some ideas for articles: there’s the work Kate has done since 2012, the 2014 Before the Dawn live performances, the 2015 live album, the 2018 re-masters and The Other Sides, and the Record Shop Day specials. 40 years of The Dreaming. Last words on 50 Words for Snow and the animations. Tribute Bands and tribute gigs, cover versions and Kate songs on TV talent shows. Inspired fictional stories. Reviews and reactions to the many and various Kate related books now available. The trials and tribulations of collecting Kate material. Charts and facts. That day you met Kate. The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever, tales of fan conventions and other Kate fan meet ups”.
It is amazing to think back to 1982 and this really important way to bond fans. I can imagine there was some form of fanzine or communication between fans about Kate Bush prior to 1982, but HomeGround was a way of joining fans through letters, photos, news and all manner of Kate Bush stuff. In a year when she released her most experimental and least commercial album to date, few people knew that a few years later she would release something like Hounds of Love. 1982 was a very exciting year to be a Kate Bush fan! Taking her music in a new direction, there must have been a lot of speculation about why The Dreaming sounded like it did and whether it signalled a permanent move into a music territory that she had not stepped into beforehand. If you want the books of HomeGround and a chance to see how it changed and grew through the years, then it is a must-own for every Kate Bush fan. The anniversary was actually on 18th May, but I wanted to mark it now, as it is a great achievement and project that was undertaken. Given the new fans that have discovered Bush’s music through HomeGround, it sort of renews my call for either a new fanzine or club that would unite generations. I know social media is a useful way to connect but, when you think of all the possible material and involvement in something like this, I reckon it would be a great success.
Maybe there could be digital editions that are compiled and fans can access, or there would be a regular Kate Bush fanzine or magazine printed. Maybe not every month, but there could be a twice-yearly edition that would be bumper and packed with news and contributions. Having celebrated their fortieth anniversary, I think it would be great to see HomeGround or a new project come to life. If you are wondering what the HomeGround refers to; Bush has a song on her second studio album, Lionheart (1978), called Coffee Homeground. An underrated track with some of her most fascinating and vivid lyrics, together with a composition that quickly took the sound of The Kick Inside (1978) in a new direction, it was a leap in terms of sonics and experimentation. I am pleased that the fanzine has honoured this song! Now that the dust is settling on the adulation of chart records Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) has achieved, maybe a whole book will be written about the history of this song. Perhaps Bush will be made a dame this year. The Dreaming turns forty in September, whilst August marks forty-five years since her debut album, The Kick Inside, was recorded. There is endless chatter as to whether new music will also arrive – a perfect moment to get fans bonded through a physical or digital fanzine. A new fanzine would take its inspiration and guidance from…
THE incredible original.