FEATURE:
Kate Bush’s The Kick Inside at Forty-Five
PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz
Imagining a 1978 Version of the Icon on the Screen
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THIS may be an odd tie-in…
PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz
and it is something I have asked before, but I keep thinking about bringing Kate Bush to the small or big screen. Whilst there will never be a biopic – as I don’t think she would allow it -, I have been thinking about Kate Bush in 1978 and the music scene she entered. In a year when there was Punk sitting alongside Pop and Disco, there was a lot of great stuff around. Her debut album, The Kick Inside, came out on 17th February, 1978. Forty-five years after the album was released, and we do not really know quite what it was like in the studio (AIR, London), and the scenes and sights between the musicians and Bush. I don’t think any photos exist of Bush in the studio or anything where we get to hear or so the creation of The Kick Inside. That is a real shame! What we do have is the interviews and promotion from 1978. Her debut album is a magnificent beauty that reveals new layers every time you hear it. I am curious what it was like for Kate Bush when The Kick Inside came out. Maybe rubbing shoulders with other artists. Traveling around the world and experiencing something hugely moving and exciting. As far as I know, there has never been a representation of Kate Bush on T.V. or film. In my mind, it would be a filmic representation. Not a biopic or anything specifically about Kate Bush, having a 1978-set film where Bush ‘appears’ would be a bit of a dream.
It would be a compromise where Bush would not have her life and story told and be up there for all to see, but it would give people a chance to experience what it was like in 1978. Around the time of the release of The Kick Inside, Kate Bush was a new commodity in music. Her name and music would explode very soon. She performed on shows like Top of the Pops, went to countries such as Japan, and she was promoting her music far and wide. Bush would be hesitant really to have someone play her or having her story told in a false way. As there has really been no filmic interpretation of her brought to life, there is a definite demand. An actress would play her and do the speaking voice but, for live performances, it would be Bush’s original vocal. It need only be a brief ‘cameo’, but I think about bands like Blondie being around at the same time. Whether a true version of events where Bush appears as a small part of a film centered around 1978 or something fictionalised where there is more fantasy and creative license, the possibilities are tantalising. Having such a great sense of humour, Bush would be up for it. So long as it is respectful. We have heard Bush’s music in films, and there has been the odd documentary made about her through the years. In terms of anything that leans towards a biopic, perhaps that has been shot down firmly. I am not sure. I am guessing filmmakers have raised the ideas, but Bush might find it weird to see someone else play her for a full film.
The Kick Inside is the album that started things. It introduced Kate Bush to the world. I feel it would be interesting to have some sort of filmic representation of Bush. I don’t know if we will ever see her on film again, in terms of music videos. Whether we will ever get another documentary has yet to be seen. Given the increase in her fanbase and the fact a younger generation have discovered her music, there is that need to make people aware of Bush’s entire oeuvre. Going back to The Kick Inside is essential. Forty-five on 17th, it will be a moment to celebrate. Such a remarkable and stunning debut, it still has this incredible pull. Like nothing else I have ever heard, I often think about Kate Bush and 1978. It was such a hectic year for her. She was promoting all over the world and barely had a moment to rest. Though we have photographs and T.V. performances, in terms of images and audio from the recording of The Kick Inside, that is something that alludes us. Thinking about her in the studio or back at her family home at East Wickham Farm. Maybe backstage at a T.V. performance or interaction with fellow musicians, there is this world that is fascinating but has yet to be brought to life. As the world prepares to mark forty-five years of Kate Bush’s debut, I hope that there are plans in the future to bring that time…
ONTO the small or big screen.