FEATURE:
Under Ice
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1983/PHOTO CREDIT: Brian Griffin
Kate Bush’s 1982-1985: Jumping Off the Treadmill
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THERE is this niggling question…
PHOTO CREDIT: Denis Oregan
that has always been on my mind since I became a Kate Bush fan. I would have known about her wider career when I was in school. In the 1990s. I was able to look at her albums and career and see what she had achieved to that point. I am not sure what impressed me most about Kate Bush when I was a child. I think it was the way she could make every album sound different. I had not really discovered another artist like that. It was amazing that she could release an album like The Kick Inside (1978), The Dreaming (1982) and The Sensual World (1989). Each album distinctly that of Kate Bush but sounding completely different! It still amazes me how Bush could create whole new worlds for each of her albums. Aside from that, I think Kate Bush’s work rate and incredible dedication is what gets me. She did not tour after 1979, though she threw herself into the studio. Making albums and producing. With little time for outside projects like acting or live performance, what we got from Kate Bush was this incredible and relentless passion. She was promoting non-stop. It may not be an issue other people have but, as Live Aid is forty on 13th July, there will be a lot of discussion around it. Features written and reflections from artists who terraformed there. Two months after Live Aid was broadcast, Kate Bush released her masterpiece, Hounds of Love (it was released on 16th September, 1985). 1985 was very much her year. Whereas the press were writing her off a matter of weeks before that album came out, she released a masterpiece that nobody could deny! You could not escape its brilliance. Considering that, why was Kate Bush not included in the Live Aid line-up?! Let’s take things back a few years…
1982 was when Kate Bush released The Dreaming. That was in September. It is one of her very best albums, though it is one that was less commercial than previous ones. Less so than Hounds of Love too. It did mean very little radio play and some reviews were quite mixed. The album as a whole is tremendous, through many wrote Kate Bush off and ignored The Dreaming. Back in June 1982,. Bush took a brief break to Jamaica to unwind. Finding the silence deafening, it freaked her out. So used was she to the noise of London and being in a cramped studio, going out to a paradise was too much for her to take! When The Dreaming came out, she engaged in gruelling promotion. She made personal appearances in cities like Glasgow and Newcastle. After some T.V. appearances, Kate Bush stepped off of the treadmill. That is Graeme Thomson’s wording (from his book, Under the Ivy: The Life and Music of Kate Bush). Not that Bush went out of view; through from November 1982 through to September 1985, there as far less of her on the radar. No album and only the odd appearance. Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) arrived on 5th August, 1985. That was really the first sign that Kate Bush had not gone anyway. However, so many artists were invited to perform at Live Aid. Those who did not have the same stature and brilliance as Kate Bush. Maybe Band Aid would have been less appealing to Kate Bush. The charity single, Do They Know It’s Christmas? Bush did appear on a charity single for Ferry Aid. It was a cover of The Beatles’ Let It Be and, honestly, it is a black mark on all of the artists’ résumés.
If Band Aid was intended to raise money for those living through famine in Ethiopia, Ferry Aid was a 1987 supergroup who covered Let It Be following the Zeebrugge Disaster. On 6th March, 1987 the ferry MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsized, killing 193 passengers. Though a tragedy, it did not warranty a charity single! It might have been overdue recognition about the Live Aid oversight. I am sure Bush would have been happy to appear on Band Aid’s single. Even if she was not perhaps as critically acclaimed and commercial successful as she would be later in 1985. Do They Know It’s Christmas? was released on 7th December, 1984. Although there were some huge names on the song like Bono and Boy George, people rarely mention a standout female voice on the song. Kate Bush would have been perfect! Maybe Midge Ure and Bob Geldof did not think of her when they were writing the song, but they would have known who she was. It is a shame that she was not given an invite has said that, if she was asked, she would have said ‘yes’. A cause that she would definitely have given her time and voice to for sure! Given all the work she did to raise money for charities, Bush would have jumped at the chance to be on Do They Know It’s Christmas? The questions around Live Aid is even more intriguing. Consider the fact Hounds of Love was a couple of months away. A perfect opportunity to premier new songs like Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), Cloudbusting, Hounds of Love…or she could have performed songs from her previous albums. Perhaps The Dreaming would not have necessarily translated to the Wembley crowd, though there are songs from The Kick Inside, Lionheart and Never for Ever that could have fit. However, it is the prospect of Bush performing three or four new songs from Hounds of Love that would have been perfect! Imagine people thinking she was retired or not coming back, only to step onto the stage in 1985 in front of a global audience. The biggest audience of her career!
Did the reception for 1982’s The Dreaming and Bush ‘stepping off the treadmill’ contribute to a clear oversight from Bob Geldof?! If Hounds of Love has been released earlier, there is no doubt Bush would have been invited to Live Aid. However, you feel she should have been invited regardless. Granted, between 1982 and 1984, there were few flickers of publicity on the radar. Bush was busy recording Hounds of Love in 1983 And 1984. The narrative from the press did seem to contribute to events like Band Aid not including Kate Bush. It is something that bugs me. I would have loved to have seen Kate Bush being part of something historic. As I say, she is someone who has and still does raise awareness of charities and raises money for them. One of the biggest fundraising concerts in history ignored her. One can forgive some ignorance considering The Dreaming was not a big critical smash. However, Bush was already an established and known artist who should have been on the Live Aid radar. And Band Aid. Things would change from 1985. Bush was promoting again and there was this new appreciation for her. The best reviews of her career. A number one album. Hounds of Love silenced those who thought she had disappeared or was a recluse who had quit music. I can imagine Kate Bush watching Live Aid in July 1985 and being moved by it. Also thinking she should have been there. Some have pointed out that more recognised or successful artists in 1984/1985 like Sade and Alison Moyet were not invited to Live Aid. It was a very male-heavy line-up. In a case of poor timing, Bush released new music so soon after Live Aid. She did participate in the Sport Aid mini marathon at Blackheath, South London on 25th May, 1986. That 1987 Ferry Aid involvement. However, that omission. Omissions: Band Aid and Live Aid with no Kate Bush. Such a shame she was not asked. If she was part of the line-up, I have no doubt that she would have delivered…
ONE of the very best sets.