FEATURE:
I'm Still Waiting
Kate Bush and America
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IN other Kate Bush features…
I have discussed her experience with Japan during 1978. She did a promotional jaunt there and performed live in front of thousands of people; she did interviews, in addition to filming a watch advert for Seiko! Various singles have been released especially for particular countries, including Ireland, Japan and Brazil. I have sort of talked about Bush and the reception she got in America. I am going to bring in (a somewhat mean) article as to why America has not fully embraced Bush - but I think this was especially true in the earliest years. I think that, now, there is love for her in America - but there might be some who are new to her music or are not aware of her first couple of albums. By the time The Dreaming arrived in 1982, there was more love and awareness arriving from America. Although that album was not a chart success, many critics noted its incredible variety and originality. American critic Robert Christgau commented how The Dreaming was dense and demanding – so very different to what others were producing in 1982, perhaps. Hounds of Love did much better in America. Perhaps it is the accessibility of that album that meant it was more acclaimed (it reached number-thirty on the U.S. Billboard chart). Subsequent albums have done well in the U.S.; 2011’s 50 Words for Snow reached number-seven on the US Independent Albums chart.
I think a new wave of artists has helped bring Bush’s work to others because they are inspired by her. I am not sure what U.S. radio is like compared to the U.K. when it comes to playing Bush’s songs and which ones are selected, but I assume that some of her better-known singles are favoured to the deep cuts. I guess the fact she does fewer promotional interviews for U.S. media signals she is less popular there, but I think it is just the case she does not fly there and, when she does speak to American press, it is via phone or the Internet. I would be interested to hear from American folk how Bush is perceived in the country and whether she has a huge fanbase there. There is a definite awareness of her music, and I know that many people who saw her perform during her Before the Dawn residency in 2014 hailed from America. If things are better now regarding Bush and her music being taken to heart there then it was slow to begin with. The Kick Inside didn’t get a whole lot of popularity in America. Wuthering Heights, her debut single, did nothing in the U.S., whereas The Man with the Child in His Eyes got to number-eighty-five on the Billboard chart. I can only imagine what the Americans must have thought of Bush when her music reached ears there! A different video of Wuthering Heights was released for American audiences – where she wore a red dress – as the original (her in a white dress) was considered too out-there and intense!
American critics and listeners have become more daring, open-minded and diverse with their listening since 1978 - I am surprised they did not take to Kate Bush right away. Bush did promote Hounds of Love in the U.S. in 1985 and she conducted a signing at Tower Records in Los Angeles. She has done promotion there through the years but, as she developed a dislike of flying and travel early on, cracking America was not on her radar. That is another to consider. For most artists, breaking America is their goal and ultimate dream. This is because there is a massive market and a lot of money there. Commerciality and mainstream success was not a big draw for Bush. She did develop a big fanbase in other parts of the world early on – including Australia -, but America took a while to catch up. It is clear that Bush has a lot of love for her American fans and wants her music to be played there. The relatively lack of promotional junkets and no big live gigs there has not helped, but I feel there has been some snobbishness and dismissal from some U.S. sources. This NPR article from 2011 (just before Bush released Fifty Words for Snow) outlined some reasons why Americans ‘don’t care’ for Bush:
“Kate Bush turned 53 recently. If you're like most Americans, that means nothing to you.
At least, that's the claim set forth by Lee Zimmerman of the Broward/Palm Beach New Times. In a blog post published on Bush's birthday, he laments the lack of traction that the British singer/songwriter has experienced in the United States.
She's too British. It's true that Bush, whose hometown has the veddy English name of Bexleyheath, never toned down her Britishness to universalize her appeal. Her music was cognizant (in ways obvious and not so much) of English music hall, sharp Romantic and Victorian streaks ran through her lyrics and she occasionally delivered her songs in a panoply of accents and vernacular. (See, for instance, the Cockney gangster narrating "There Goes A Tenner.") But if explicit Britishness alone were enough to sink a musical career in the United States, the following list would be nothing but gibberish to all but the most concerted Anglophile music fans: the Smiths, the Cure, Blur, Oasis, Pulp, the Clash, the Sex Pistols, the Kinks. Some carved out successful, sustained American careers. Some just had a hit or two. But all of them were super-British in one way or another, and all of them achieved a level of cultural visibility greater than Kate Bush.
The clear and powerful impact Bush has had on musicians, actors, artists and so many people across America has done a lot to redress some imbalance and ensure that her music is being preserved - but it is a huge market that she never really jumped into and considered to be vital. Maybe her music is a little esoteric, but I feel that is an American perception rather than universal truth. We in the U.K. have always ‘got’ her, so maybe it is a case of the American music market being very different to ours and other nations (from 1978 until fairly recently). It would be interesting to hear if anyone else has any perceptions and truth regarding Kate Bush and the U.S. but, to this date, she is still much more popular in the U.K. – even if her fanbase in America has risen in the last few years/decades. It is clear Bush will never promote her music physically in the U.S. or do any dates there, but she will still do telephone interviews. I think radio stations and word-of-mouth is the way her music will reach new generations and spread wider. I think it is a case of America’s loss if some have not been able to get behind her; perhaps the absence of touring there has been a factor. I, like her, don’t’ think American domination has been the be-all-and-end-all, as it is evident that Kate Bush has…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Jill Furmanovsky
CONQUERED most of the rest of the world!