FEATURE:
Flip the Cassette…?
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush (with Bonnie and Clyde) in an outtake from the Hounds of Love album cover shoot/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
Could More of Kate Bush’s Music Be Used in Stranger Things?
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A recent post….
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush with Del Palmer in September 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: Dave Hogan/Getty Images
from Kate Bush News on Instagram asked a very interesting question. As many people will know, Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) was used on Stranger Things in 2022. The track became a favourite of Max Mayfield's; helping her cope with the death of her step-brother, Billy Hargrove. The song was instrumental in helping Max escape the wrath of Vecna. The series in which Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) was set in 1986. That image from the set of the final season of Stranger Things. What do we know about the final season of Stranger Things? It does look like it is going to be an emotional and epic conclusion:
“The Duffer brothers have since revealed a few things since the season four finale dropped on July 1, 2022. For starters, Will is a “big part and focus” of the final season, the showrunners told Collider in an interview following the fourth season. “We’re starting to see his coming of age, really,” Matt said. “Which has been challenging for a number of reasons, some of which are supernatural. But you’re starting to see him come into his own.” Ross added that season five will most likely bring fans full circle to season one, when Will was trapped in the Upside Down, as well as potentially with Steve and Nancy, since she and Jonathan seem to be hitting a rough patch that’s not fully resolved.
Secondly, season five is almost certainly going to have a time jump, considering the actors who play the kids are all approaching (or already in) their 20s, despite technically still being in high school in the Stranger Things world. “I’m sure we will do a time jump,” Ross told TVLine in June 2022. “Ideally, we’d have shot [seasons four and five] back to back, but there was just no feasible way to do that. So these are all discussions we’re going to have with our writers when we start the room up.”
Third, Vecna is back — though fans don’t know in what capacity the show’s Big Bad will return. When THR asked Jamie Campbell Bower how Vecna will factor into the show’s endgame following the villain’s journey throughout the fourth season, he basically admitted he’d be back. And as for whether or not the Hawkins kids can beat him, well, it’s a possibility. “There’s always an opportunity for the good guys to win,” he said. “I think in this case, they’d have to be way smarter than they have been thus far because Henry is not one to forget and not one to let things slide.”
In December 2023, Stranger Things will make its way to London’s West End for The First Shadow, a stage play that takes place in 1959 Hawkins when Hopper, Bob Newby (played by Sean Astin in the Netflix series) and Joyce are all in high school. “When new student Henry Creel arrives, his family finds that a fresh start isn’t so easy … and the shadows of the past have a very long reach,” the play’s description reads. “This gripping new adventure will take you right back to the beginning of the Stranger Things story — and may hold the key to the end.” So, it’s probably safe to assume something in Joyce, Hopper and Henry’s past will come back in some way, shape or form in the show’s ending”.
That cassette of Hounds of Love that was seen on set has led many Kate Bush fans to speculate that another song from the album could feature in the show. I think many would love to think that another Kate Bush album could get an airing. 1989’s The Sensual World finding its way into a big scene. I guess it is understandable why there is such interest in Hounds of Love. The album got new acclaim and attention when Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) was featured in Stranger Things. That single, which did not get to number one in 1985, reached the top of the charts in the U.K. (and other nations). I know that Kate Bush’s music has been used in film and T.V., though the recent inclusion on Stranger Things is different. Bush was pretty involved with the process. Ensuring that the scene in which Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) featured was right. That her music was being used in a meaningful way. She was very pleased with the final result, so it would not be a shock if another cut from Hounds of Love wound up in the final Stranger Things season. It may be the case that the Hounds of Love cassette that was seen on the set is used more as a prop. That it is referred to or is a bit of a red herring. However, given the time period in which the final season is likely to be set, one would not bet against Bush’s fifth studio album featuring. It is likely to be set in 1987 at the earliest. Maybe 1988. That album would still be relevant in that sense.
When I saw the photo, I asked whether the second side of Hounds of Love, The Ninth Wave, might feature. That concept of a woman being lost at sea and being rescued. Could that be tied to a Stranger Things plot? If a Hounds of Love song is to be featured, one might feel thew first side will be explored. There are three possible singles, Cloudbusting, Hounds of Love and The Big Sky, that could get a nod. Before moving on, I wanted to use this feature to mention The Big Sky. On 19th March, 1986, for the making of the video for The Big Sky, Kate Bush assembled over one hundred fans on the sound stage of Elstree Studios. She directed the video for that single. Released as a single in April 1986, it reached number thirty-seven in the U.K. I shall wrap up by asking whether Cloudbusting and Hounds of Love might get an airing. As we are approaching the anniversary of The Big Sky’s video being filmed, I wanted to spend time with it. The Kate Bush Encyclopedia gives more details about the video and the reaction to this incredible track:
“Music video
The music video was directed by Bush herself. It was filmed on 19 March 1986 at Elstree Film Studios in the presence of a studio audience of about hundred fans. The Homeground fanzine was asked to get this audience together, and they did within two weeks. Two coaches took everyone from Manchester Square to Elstree studios early in the morning, after which the Homeground staff, who were cast as some of the aviators, were filmed, and finally the whole audience was admitted for the ‘crowd scenes’. The scenes were repeated until Kate had them as she wanted.
Critical reception
The Big Sky is a moment of real, mad bravado. The best and most threatening thing that this bizarre talent has ever done.
RICHARD COOK, SOUNDS, 3 MAY 1986
She has with her every release managed to maintain a uniqueness. She always sounds like herself and she never sounds the same, and that’s a difficult trick.
THE STUD BROTHERS, MELODY MAKER, 3 MAY 1986
Another gem from the utterly brilliant LP, this has more hypnotic pounding rhythms and chants, the orchestra sawing away as if their lives depended on it…
IAN CRANNA, SMASH HITS, 7 MAY 1986
Kate about ‘The Big Sky’
Someone sitting looking at the sky, watching the clouds change. I used to do this a lot as a child, just watching the clouds go into different shapes. I think we forget these pleasures as adults. We don’t get as much time to enjoy those kinds of things, or think about them; we feel silly about what we used to do naturally. The song is also suggesting the coming of the next flood – how perhaps the “fools on the hills” will be the wise ones. (Kate Bush Club newsletter, Issue 18, 1985)
‘The Big Sky’ was a song that changed a lot between the first version of it on the demo and the end product on the master tapes. As I mentioned in the earlier magazine, the demos are the masters, in that we now work straight in the 24-track studio when I’m writing the songs; but the structure of this song changed quite a lot. I wanted to steam along, and with the help of musicians such as Alan Murphy on guitar and Youth on bass, we accomplished quite a rock-and-roll feel for the track. Although this song did undergo two different drafts and the aforementioned players changed their arrangements dramatically, this is unusual in the case of most of the songs. (Kate Bush Club newsletter, Issue 18, 1985)”.
The final Stranger Things season is probably not going to air until next year. This year alone, we have heard a bit from Kate Bush. In fact, the past year has seen her quite active and engaging. Having reissued her studio albums with special vinyl designs, she was also recently named as Ambassador for this year’s Record Store Day UK. That event happens next month. Bush was honoured to be asked. It would be wonderful to think that she once more will consult with the Duffer Brothers about another Hounds of Love song appearing on screen. I know she is not someone who is a fan of repeating herself or doing the same thing, though if that album is important to a character or a story arc, that it is only natural that she would give her blessing. If that Hounds of Love cassette is put into a boombox and played, would we get an important blast of a Kate Bush classic?! As has been noted, the cassette version of Hounds of Love show in that on-set Stranger Things photo is the Greek release. Whatever comes about, people are speculating and getting excited. Perhaps it won’t be Hounds of Love featuring. Maybe there will be some The Sensual World. As a cassette of Hounds of Love was shown, it does seem more likely, if any Kate Bush music is featured, it will be from that album. It will be tantalising to consider what might come! Barely a month goes by now where we are not discussing Kate Bush because of some bit of news. It is wonderful that she is very much out there still in various forms. This new tease from the set of Stranger Things could well lead to another ‘Kate Bush moment’…
VERY soon.