FEATURE:
This Woman’s Worth
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush on 25th November, 1980 from the Delius (Song of Summer) performance on the Russel Harty Show in England/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
The Far-Reaching Influence of Kate Bush…from Music to Hollywood
_________
I am going to start off…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush during 2014’s Before the Dawn residency/PHOTO CREDIT: Gavin Bush/Rex
with a little slice of 1985’s Hounds of Love. Some testimony from those who worked with Kate Bush on this album. I am using this feature to return to 2014’s Before the Dawn and the famous faces who were at that opening night, in addition to the artists who also name-check Bush. A galaxy of stars who have each been moved and affected by Kate Bush. However, I was thinking about a passage from Graeme Thomson’s Under the Ivy: The Life and Music of Kate Bush. Youth (Martin Glover) played bass on the album. He noted how her music had this Druidic quality. How there was this mystical magic that ran through it. He said how the music they were making had this Bardic element. That it was part of an old English tradition. How it was not overt, “it was hidden”. Making this classic album with the use of cutting-edge technology. Thinking about how Bush was creating and how good her producing was. A song like Jig of Life. She wanted layers of percussion so handed it to Charlie Morgan an array of Irish instruments. (the lambeg, the bodhran etc.), and asked him to fill all twenty-four tracks with beating and booming. So unconventional and a curveball, there was this layer and world of drums! No other producer would think like that. The home studio she built was designed so there was no glass partition between the live room and the control room. A microphone was used for two-way communication. This was to make her feel less self-conscious. Bush admitted that she would have to psyche herself up and get a little drunk. Whether that was a euphemism or not, Youth observed how there was weed at the sessions. Bush using exotics to get into a mindset. It was this wonderful environment. Songs being added to or having things taken away. Bush knowing the right balance and always open to changing things up. It is no surprising that she has endured as an artist and producer. Someone who definitely made an impact on musicians who worked with her.
I am going to end with Before the Dawn and expand on an idea I posited before. However, think about the run-up to that residency. Bush barely uttered a word and did not do the usual media cycle. There were no huge social media campaigns. Instead, she asked whether people coming to see her could not film it and just be in the moment. The fact that she wanted people to experience the show without being distracted. I might expand on this for another feature. One of the first artists to try to ban phones at gigs. How influential that decision was. However, it is clear that the first night in August 2014 showed what love there was for Kate Bush. Fans travelling from around the world. Few other major artists have such a varied and eclectic roll-call of celebrity fans. Those who she in her own way has touched. David Gilmour, Grace Jones, Marc Almond and Björk in alternance. Rather than it being a fashionable thing, they all were fans of her music so wanted to see something spectacular and pay their respects. Elton John, Paul McCartney and Johnny Depp saw her. Anna Calvi and Gemma Arteton. Daniel Craig and Kylie Minogue queuing up to see her. Some nights on Before the Dawn Bush would hang around the V.I.P. area and chats. Other nights she would go home. Thinking about all of those names and when they first encountered Kate Bush. How they take aspects of her music and career and use it in their own work. That is really fascinating. Although we got some words from celebrities during the 2014 BBC documentary about Kate Bush, there has not been a wider visual or audio examination. Where people from music, Hollywood and beyond talk about Kate Bush, what she means to them and why she is so influential. Maybe Bush would not allow such a project, though it would define and unpick exactly why she is so beloved and important.
In 2025, we have a moment to look around and see why Kate Bush is so important. This woman’s worth. As she has done all the reissues and retrospection and there is this moment before she announces a new album (possibly), we can stand and consider Bush’s reach and influence. Bush, certainly after 2014, confirmed as a national treasure. Even if there is a generation who either do not know Kate Bush or only know her for Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), it is clear that those of a certain age – those over thirty/thirty-five I would say – hold so much admiration for her. She has reached new people. It may not be only for the music. Bush’s bravery, independence and kindness. How she is formidably original and pioneering. There is that issue about the new wave of affection being tied to one time and place. 2022 and Stranger Things; Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and its chart success. I hope that the discourse around Kate Bush widens and there is more investigation of all of the albums. New eyes and fans might define her with one song because she is largely inactive and the catalogue is curated. People who have known her work for longer and were there in Hammersmith to see her in 2014 know the multiple sides of this icon. The earthquake and tidal wave of love that followed her 2022 success showed how many fields her music touches. Reserved only to a select elite of artists, Bush permeates the worlds of music, T.V., literature, theatre, radio, sport, fashion and, as Graeme Thomson writes, queer discourse. This will only expand and broaden as she enters this new phase of her career. Now sixty-six, Bush might now be preparing a new album. One of the most humbling aspects of Before the Dawn was seeing her extended musical family all together. Alongside Kylie Minogue was Alison Goldfrapp, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Florence Welch, Alison Moyet, Ellie Goulding and Bat for Lashes. Making me wonder whether, one day, we will get a tribute album where some of these artists and more tackle a Kate Bush song each (or there are tantalising duets and collaborations!).
The Running Up That Hill documentary found artists like St. Vincent and Tori Amos singing the praises of an artist who left her mark. Artists including Solange Knowles and The Last Dinner Party have covered her music in recent years. It is not a case of artists in their forties, fifties and sixties flocking to see Kate Bush. There is this new breed of younger artists who are also genuinely respectful of Kate Bush and appreciate her genius. Billie Eilish no doubt has been affected by Kate Bush and responds to something primal. You can hear Bush’s influence in Eilish’s work. The same with Olivia Rodrigo. Lana Del Rey, Fiona Apple, ANOHNI, Lorde, Joanna Newsom, and Janelle Monáe. I don’t think it solely because of viral moments or T.V. show exposure that accounts for a younger generation of artists joining an army of Kate Bush fans. What could account for this dedicated love from such a wide and unconnected group of artists? People beyond music too? Maybe it is how Kate Bush rarely did what was expected. Not guided and moulded by a record label, it is her independence and tenacity that no doubt motivated and inspired legions of well-known fans. For the like of me and you too. Her career has, by and large, been controlled by her. Now, at a time when there is overexposure and so much required of artists to promote their work, Bush remains relatively grounded and quiet. She has the sort of life and career that so many people. The reception she got for the Before the Dawn shows proves that she is one of the finest live performers ever. Such imaginative stage design and a superb production, the mix of music, the visual and cinematic can explain why she drew fans from music, film and the stage alike. It is going to be compelling looking ahead a few years and the new wave of artists and those in the arts naming Kate Bush as an influence. It all adds value and stock to this incredible artist.
One of my great regrets is that I did not get to see Kate Bush during Before the Dawn. There has been no definitive decision as to whether she will perform live again or not. If she did come back to the stage perhaps for the final time, what would a show consist of? Parts of a new album combined with elements of earlier albums like Never for Ever, The Dreaming or even The Sensual World? I doubt Kate Bush will want to repeat herself in terms of songs performed. There would have to be a whole new concept and world created. Would she go back to the Eventim Apollo, or would it be another London venue? You can never rule out another residency from Kate Bush, though I would imagine she would do a small run of dates and not twenty-two. As much as anything, we would see another opening night as anticipated as the one in August 2014. With it, another wave of big names who have been influenced by Kate Bush. Whereas Before the Dawn has audience members including Big Boi and Lauren Laverne, a whole new generation of artists, writers and creatives would flock to London to see Kate Bush. It would be amazing! Rather than it being idol stargazing, it would show those who admire her work. How diverse her influence remains. The post-Stranger Things effect. I might write another feature calling for a Kate Bush tribute album as I am surprised it hasn’t happened. In case she has vetoed and blocked the possibility. If we might not see another documentary made about her, we are going to hear from those across a wide spectrum of disciplines wax lyrical about Kate Bush. All adding to the value and legacy of…
A music great.