FEATURE:
T.V. (Almost Killed the Radio Star)
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz
Kate Bush Alone on the Stage Tonight
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FOR the final run of Kate Bush features…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush on Saturday Night Live. on 9th December, 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
in 2024, I want to take things back to the start. Looking around her debut album, The Kick Inside, and various aspects of that time. 1978 and what she was doing then. Thinking about The Kick Inside and especially the debut single, Wuthering Heights, there is so much to discuss. Kate Bush’s first T.V. appearances focused on that song. There was so much demand and allure. A song like no other, it is understandable networks and T.V. shows would want to bring Kate Bush to the screen. Her first U.K T.V. appearance was almost her last. In the sense it was a disaster. This radio star at that point – or someone most people knew from the radio – was on Top of the Pops. This was a big moment for her. With her debut single climbing the charts and it very much being this song destined for something huge (it reached number one), there would have been excitement around Bush appearing on Top of the Pops. She would have seen artists she loved like David Bowie and Elton John on the show and dreamed of one day being there herself. Whilst she would have loved to have performed with her group, the K.T. Bush Band, that was not to be. If she wanted people like Del Palmer and Paddy Bush to be on the stage or nearby for moral and musical support, the rules of Top of the Pops meant she could not perform with a band as a solo artist. She had to be backed by the BBC orchestra. Not exactly suitable for Wuthering Heights, she took to the stage for that debut U.K. T.V. appearance with fear and annoyance. Not being able to perform with her players, she had to get through what should have been a highlight with almost clenched teeth. The nineteen-year-old was a true professional even then and gamely completed the performance. It would have been exciting and memorable for those watching, though it was a moment to forget for Kate Bush.
Someone who was a very visual artist and wanted her songs to be brought to life, she would have hoped for a smoother transition from radio to T.V. Her first T.V. appearance came before Top of the Pops when she performed in Germany. Playing her debut single, she was backed by scenery that included a volcano. That misreading of what Yorkshire looked like and how to backdrop a song set to Emily Brontë’s debut novel, together with the Top of the Pops fiasco, was her jumping into the deep end and being left to flounder! However, things did get better. At the very least, Bush and EMI knew that she was someone who could command the stage and camera. I will cover this more when discussing Wuthering Heights for other features. The first video version, with Kate Bush in the red dress, was destined for the U.S. market and was shot in Salisbury. The second, shot in a studio and directed by Keith MacMillan (Keef), was shot one Monday afternoon, edited in the evening and ready for Top of the Pops the next day. Ammunition that showed Bush was a truly engaging screen presence, even if she was not given fair opportunity for her debut outing on Top of the Pops. MacMillan’s video was shown on Top of the Pops on 2nd March, 1978. The single was at number five then and hit number one the following week – where it stayed for a month. I am getting a lot of guidance from Tom Doyle’s excellent Kate Bush biography, Running Up That Hill: 50 Visions of Kate Bush. He notes how Bush appearing on the BBC’s Tonight on 16th March was a big step. Speaking with Denis Tuohy, Bush was treated to an interview that was not too intrusive or misinformed. Asked whether she expected Wuthering Heights to be such a success, she did hope it would be but possibly not to the speed and degree that it actually did. The early T.V. slots showed how she was viewed by the media. Interviewers like Gay Byrne, who interviewed Bush for The Late Late Show, almost belittling and condescending. Not really sure how to handle a young and successful female artist. Almost talking to her like she was a girl and not a woman!
These T.V. appearances could have left Kate Bush cold and wary of appearing again. The first year with this prodigious artist, EMI sent her all around the world. After trips to Germany and Ireland, she was in Japan in June 1978. Appearing at the Seventh Tokyo Music Festival, Bush came joint-second in the contest (which was won by Al Green). Moving was released in Japan and was a number one there. She was nervous singing in front of a crowd of over 11,000. It was a strange trip where Bush was sent to sell her music to an audience who probably did not understand most of what she was singing! Bush recorded two commercials for Seiko. She was on Sound of S, where she performed a few Beatles numbers – including The Long and Winding Road -, and then there was this sort of odd finale. I will go more into this. I was interested to think about the T.V. appearances of 1978. One of her biggest early-career moments came when Bush appeared on Saturday Night Live in the U.S. Mick Jagger and David Bowie were at the rehearsals to pay fair due and salute to Kate Bush. On a primetime show (presented then by Eric Idle), Bush did get some much-needed exposure in America. However, she had this feeling she was spending so much time in studios and on T.V. She wanted to promote her albums a little bit but be in the studio and work on albums. Instead, EMI drove her promotion so hard she was still promoting The Kick Inside when she was looking ahead to her second studio album, Lionheart (released on 10th November, 1978). The T.V. appearances of 1978 taught Bush a few things. She did enjoy some of it, though there were some bad experiences and she was travelling far and wide. Bush wanted to gain control of her career. A big part of this was her videos and the visual side of things.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in Japan in June 1978
I might isolate this particular T.V. appearance for another feature. However, after an insanely busy 1978, there were some interesting highlights from 1979. On 20th January, Bush appeared on Multi-Coloured Swap Shop and chatted with Noel Edmonds. I have written about this before but felt compelled to return. Kate Bush’s appearance was one of the few from the show’s history that has survived. After a gruelling first professional year where she was still learning the T.V. ropes and was being pushed and pulled between studios, she seemed a lot more relaxed on Multi-Coloured Swap Shop. Even if she was (largely) all smiles there, I don’t think Bush ever truly enjoyed T.V. in the early years. There did seem to be this dizzying tour of various countries and stations. Following a strange trip to Japan and travelling to the U.S. and further beyond, she did need a bit of a break after releasing two studio albums. Of course, in 1979, she was planting the seeds and planning The Tour of Life. A move that took her away from album promotion and a focus on live work. It is fascinating looking back on those early T.V. spots. When she was first on Top of the Pops and must have felt mortified when she had performed Wuthering Heights. From there, it was around the world to capitalise on the success of that single and The Kick Inside. Showing more confidence from 1979 onwards, Bush was aware that she was spending too much time away from the studio. That others were dictating her moves and career. That would change from 1979 and even more so in 1980, when she co-produced her third studio album, Never for Ever. She could have collapsed or buckled after such media and T.V. scrutiny and fascination. She didn’t. Instead, she focused on the future and a day when she could have more say in her own work. When that day finally came, Bush would not turn back or repeat patterns, even though some T.V. appearances were quite fraught and regrettable. Those early T.V. appearances could have killed the radio star. Far from it! Her professionalism and tenacity proved that there was nobody quite…
LIKE Kate Bush.