FEATURE:
Making Waves: A Busy Year for Promotion
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1980/PHOTO CREDIT: Andy Phillips
Kate Bush’s 1980
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I recently shared a couple of interviews…
where Kate Bush was speaking with Paul Gambaccini about her favourite music. It was for his BBC Radio 1 show. Those interviews happened at the end of December 1980. It marked the end of a busy year of promotion for Kate Bush. Ignoring the print interviews and any T.V. exposure, Kate Bush was definitely busy when it came to audio promotion. It was interesting discovering that interview with Paul Gambaccini. Bush was involved in a two-part interview. She was revealing her favourite Folk and Classic music in addition to her chosen Rock and Pop. As you can imagine, there were quite a few unusual and esoteric choices from her. What was really intriguing is how varied her selections were. She raved about Captain Beefheart and Steely Dan. We had this rare opportunity for Kate Bush to discuss the music that is important to her. It is an interview not many people know about but everyone should check out. If you look here, you can see that there are some awards honours alongside the interview. Bush won at the Capital Radio Awards in March 1980. When she was speaking with Kid Jensen in April 1980, Bush was talking about her work. She also revealed that she had a partner (Del Palmer) and that took away some of the pressure. She was never one to reveal too many personal details, though there are these moments where she took us inside her private life. Despite the fact a lot of the audio from 1980 is not great and could do with cleaning up, it gives you a sense of how busy she was that year.
I don’t think people realise how busy artists like Kate Bush were. 1980 was when she releases Never for Ever. That came out in September. At this point in her career, Bush was not considered a national treasure. Maybe still seen as a curiosity of this rather strange artist, there was some of this misconception and dismissal too. Against this, there was some love. Maybe more people starting to accept her talent and promise. In June 1980, there was a Roundtable on BBC Radio 1 where Babooshka is reviewed. Among those assessing the song is the recently-departed Steve Wright. He notes that the song is quite commercial. He admires the raunchiness of it and Bush’s talents as a vocalist. It is very touching hearing him speak highly of her! Wind back to April, and Breathing was not getting the same acclaim. Music can divide people, I know, but it was fascinating hearing a contrast in views between Breathing and Babooshka. Mainly male figures in the music industry giving their thoughts on Kate Bush. The interviews from 1980 are really nice. On 25th April, 1980, Annie Nightingale spoke with Kate Bush. It is an interview that the majority of people would not have heard of. I really love it. Quite a deep and affectionate discussion. Listening to the interview archive makes me wonder whether there is a way to clean up the audio and keep it somewhere. I don’t think there is a website where we get all of Kate Bush’s audio archive from through the years. 1980 is especially compelling and diverse.
In July 1980, Kate Bush was interviewed by Capital Radio. She said how she felt she was being accepted on a male level. Not being dismissed the same way many female artists were at the time. A realisation that her music was starting to penetrate. Bush turned reviewer in August 1980 for BBC Radio 1’s Roundtable. On 5th September, 1980, hearing Never for Ever dissected and reviewed is a real treat. Some positive vibes and feedback coming from that clip. There is a lot of really interesting and varied audio to be discovered from 1980. Producing Never for Ever alongside Jon Kelly, maybe Kate Bush felt that she had more responsibility this time around. Needed to do even more promotion. Between 1978 and 1980, Bush had practically been promoting non-stop. She was very engaging and willing to talk about her music. In turn, many others had their thoughts on her. Something I did not know about her is that, In December 1980, Bush recorded some Christmas jingles. For BBC Radio 1 and Capital Radio, she wrote some unique and cool jingles for the stations! A Michael Aspel interview from the middle of December is worth listening to. We then end with that two-part chat with Paul Gambaccini. He dove deep and wondered what music Kate Bush was inspired and moved by. We are very lucky to have this interview archive. Thanks to Kate Bush News for ensuring that we can discover it! I think we get more context and insight into the year and how her music was being perceived. Never for Ever is quite an underrated album. One that didn’t get all positive reviews. Even so, there was appreciation and fascination from those in radio. Hearing Bush talk about her music and process is really eye-opening and wonderful. These interviews let us into a busy and important year from…
A truly wonderful artist.