FEATURE:
Kate Bush’s The Kick Inside at Forty-Five
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz
Why She Deserved Bigger Success in the U.S. Market
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NOW she is a success in the U.S…
but it has, arguably, taken her whole career to get there! Even if Kate Bush was never really concerned about success in America, that is not to say it was undeserved. As I have written before, Bush’s first real wave of appreciation and recognition there was in 1985 following the release of Hounds of Love. Her biggest album, it was impossible to resist and deny the genius of it! Even if there wasn’t a massive push to get The Kick Inside to U.S. markets, I do wonder why it was not taken to heart. In August 1977, Bush completed recording of her debut album. One that she dreamed about for a long time. I don’t think it is the case that The Kick Inside is too eccentric or English. I am going to continue on. First, as I am really invested in the album and its origins, the Kate Bush Encyclopedia provided interviews where Bush spoke about her debut album:
“Hello everyone. This is Kate Bush and I'm here with my new album The Kick Inside and I hope you enjoy it. The album is something that has not just suddenly happened. It's been years of work because since I was a kid, I've always been writing songs and it was really just collecting together all the best songs that I had and putting them on the album, really years of preparation and inspiration that got it together. As a girl, really, I've always been into words as a form of communication. And even at school I was really into poetry and English and it just seemed to turn into music with the lyrics, that you can make poetry go with music so well. That it can actually become something more than just words; it can become something special. (Self Portrait, 1978)
There are thirteen tracks on this album. When we were getting it together, one of the most important things that was on all our mind was, that because there were so many, we wanted to try and get as much variation as we could. To a certain extent, the actual songs allowed this because of the tempo changes, but there were certain songs that had to have a funky rhythm and there were others that had to be very subtle. I was very greatly helped by my producer and arranger Andrew Powell, who really is quite incredible at tuning in to my songs. We made sure that there was one of the tracks, just me and the piano, to, again, give the variation. We've got a rock 'n' roll number in there, which again was important. And all the others there are just really the moods of the songs set with instruments, which for me is the most important thing, because you can so often get a beautiful song, but the arrangements can completely spoil it - they have to really work together. (Self Portrait, 1978)”.
I do wonder how Bush’s career would have changed and taken off were she embraced in America from 1978. It was hard enough for Bush to win favour from critics here. Maybe America had not seen anyone like her before, so they had no frame of reference. In years since Bush launched onto the scene, there are female artists in the U.S. who have been compared with her (such as Tori Amos). In 1978, imagine hearing Wuthering Heights at a time when artists like Devo, Bruce Springsteen, and Elvis Costello were being championed and popular. Thinking about the market in 1978, Kate Bush’s music was not too out-there or peculiar. Groups like Kraftwerk were well-known and respected, but there was something about Kate Bush that did not penetrate the U.S. I hope, forty-five years after the album was recorded, The Kick Inside is better known and listened to. Maybe EMI should have been more proactive in promoting their teenage star. Bush was not going to tour or perform live in the U.S., but there should have been more singles for the U.S. market. Japan got two singles in the form of Moving and Them Heavy People. Going on the strength of Wuthering Heights, any chart disappointment could have been reversed with two more accessible singles.
Even if Wuthering Heights made no dents, that is not to say Bush would have been ignored or brushed aside with other singles and promotion. If distance and a lack of physical engagement with American press hindered her chances of popularity there, songs like James and the Cold Gun, Moving, and Feel It could have done more. Maybe things were just a bit too original and unexpected. I still wonder why there was resistance to her music in America. This year, Stranger Things took Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) to the top of the charts. I hope there is an opportunity for a song or two from The Kick Inside to get a big feature and new investigation. Thinking about how accessible the album is compared to some of Bush’s later work, it definitely does not sound too strange today. Was it too peculiar in 1978?! There are some obvious reasons why The Kick Inside did not get as much traction in the U.S. as other countries, but the sheer strength of the material should have secured high chart placement and interest. Regardless, Bush has been reassessed in the U.S. this year. If Hounds of Love is verry much the album of the moment there, I hope the forty-fifth anniversary of The Kick Inside’s recording means it gets heard more. Certainly, plenty of U.S. critics have reappraised the album in the years since and seen its true depth and worth. In 2022, The Kick Inside is…
DUE a revival.