FEATURE:
A Mighty Summit
PHOTO CREDIT: Alamy
Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and the Opportunity for a Book, Podcast or Documentary About the Iconic Track
__________
LAST week…
PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images
Kate Bush posted to her official website in reaction to the fact that her song, Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) was in the U.K. chart at number eight. From her 1985 album, Hounds of Love, Bush has now had a top twelve song in every decade since the 1970s. Ten years after a remix of the same song was used at the Olympics (for the closing ceremony) in London and charted, this enduring, evergreen and hugely inspiring track continues to reach new people and take on a life of its own! I am going to discuss something that occurred to me in a minute. Given the chart success, sites around the world reported on the legendary Kate Bush making history and scoring her first big chart success in the 2020s. This is what The Guardian said:
“Kate Bush is back in the Top 10 of the UK singles chart for only the third time since the 1980s, after her song Running Up That Hill found a new global audience via the Netflix drama Stranger Things.
Running Up That Hill, which reached No 3 on its initial release in 1985, reaches No 8 this week based on streams and downloads. After a slow start at the beginning of the week, when it was well outside the Top 100, its popularity grew as listeners sought it out following the premiere of Stranger Things’ fourth season last Friday; Running Up That Hill plays a key part in the fourth episode.
It is now the most-streamed song each day on Spotify in the US and the UK, just shy of Harry Styles’ As It Was in Spotify’s global chart, and in the same No 2 position on Apple Music. The song is also expected to place highly in the US charts, which are announced on Tuesday.
This is Running Up That Hill’s third appearance in the UK Top 10; it also re-entered in 2012 after it was used in the closing ceremony of the Olympics. For that version, Bush rerecorded the song at a slightly lower pitch to accommodate for changes to her voice.
Bush has reached the UK Top 10 on six other occasions. She topped it with her debut single Wuthering Heights in 1978, then had Top 10s with The Man With the Child in His Eyes; the live EP Kate Bush on Stage; Babooshka; Don’t Give Up (her duet with Peter Gabriel); and King of the Mountain, her comeback single in 2005, following more than a decade away from recording. Twelve of her albums have reached the Top 10, three of them No 1s.
Running Up That Hill’s latest success demonstrates the cultural might of supernatural thriller Stranger Things, which registered the biggest premiere weekend ever on Netflix, with viewers spending 287m hours watching the first seven episodes. The rest of the season will be released in July.
With its distinctive martial rhythm, spectral synth sounds and a commanding vocal performance from Bush, Running Up That Hill is one of the most critically admired songs of the 1980s. Bush spoke about the song in a 1986 interview:
It’s very much about two people who are in love, a man and a woman, and the idea of it is they could swap places ... The man being the woman and vice versa and they’d understand each other better. In some ways [the song is] talking about the fundamental differences between men and women, I suppose trying to remove those obstacles, being in someone else’s place; understanding how they see it, and hoping that would remove problems in the relationship”.
The song has also reached number eight in the U.S. It reached thirty on its original release - making this chart position her highest position! The finale of season four of Stranger Things happens next month. I believe Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) features again. Bush herself is excited to see it - and I know fans of the show and her music will surge forward eagle-eared. I have cast doubts as to whether filmmakers are aware of Bush’s deeper cuts and why songs like Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) are repeatedly used – the more obvious songs appear on film or in T.V. shows. I have thought harder and feel, actually, people might discover Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and then work their way through her catalogue. A new generation have found Kate Bush through a song that has made the news lately. This article talks about the story of Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). Rebecca Nicholson recently wrote about the track for The Guardian. U.S. artist Kim Petras has also just covered the song. You can look at the latest news about Kate Bush, and there is a raft of articles congratulating her on chart success, in addition to discussing why the Hounds of Love gem continues to shine and resonate. Everyone has their own opinions and views as to why the song keeps coming back and has this power. Maybe there are personal reason, though there is an objective truth about Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God).
At its heart, the songs message about men and women swapping places to better understand one another is universal and irrefutably intriguing! Remarkably produced by Bush, with a chorus that is spine-tingling and singalong, there are so many layers and nuances to be found. Timeless and never subject to sounding dated, we have certainly not heard the last of Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) on the screen. Maybe Bush will be less selective because of the song’s new chart potential, or she may feel the inclusion in Stranger Things is exposure enough. The requests will come in regardless! What happens next? Think about how the remixes and covers of the song. It has appeared on the screen and is frequently viewed and rated as one of Kate Bush’s defining songs. Overtaking Wuthering Heights as the most-streamed songs of hers on Spotify, we are now living in a year when Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) is, perhaps, Bush most important song. One that blew people away in 1985 and has done again in 2022, there must be some tribute and representation of this history and continued achievement. Maybe there will be a new podcast about Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and Stranger Things. Taking things back to the creation of the song and it first appearing on Hounds of Love in 1985. It will be interesting to learn about the history of the track; discussions with artists and people who have been compelled by the song.
I also think that a book could be written about this one track. Going into depth regarding its story and origins, we could then move onto the way Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) was received in 1985. Take things through the years and the way in the which the track has been played and reached new audiences. It could then come to 2022 and a new lease of life; going on to predict where else Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) will be used and how it might continue to influence and grow. Add to the mix a documentary about the song. That would also be welcomed and embraced. I think Kate Bush herself would be behind such projects. She would not provide interviews herself I don’t think, but it is clear she is touched about the Stranger Things inclusion and the chart success Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) has acquired. Undoubtedly one of the most iconic songs ever written, there is a chance for writers, broadcasters and podcaster makers to come together and dissect and document the wonder and phenomenal popularity and love there is out there for the mesmeric Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). After Stranger Things and the way it has brought this song to new ears and discoverers of Bush’s work, I do wonder…
WHERE it appears next.