FEATURE:
Beyond Expectation…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
Why the Modern Impact of Kate Bush’s Music Moves Me
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THIS documentary…
IN THIS PHOTO: Sarah Louise Young in An Evening Without Kate Bush/PHOTO CREDIT: Shay Rowan
will no longer be available to listen from this link soon, though I do feel that it should be available somewhere else, or it is going to be repeated at some point. The series, Superfans!, is from BBC Radio 6 Music. Where Amy Lamé speaks with dedicated fans of legendary artists. Kate Bush was featured last month. It was insightful hearing from different people who have been fans of her work for years. Why she means so much to them. Everyone from Neil Hannon (The Divine Comedy) and Sarah Louise Young (who is the star of An Evening Without Kate Bush) revealed their unique relationships with Bush and her music. I did learn quite a lot from the documentary, and I am going to refer to it again for another feature. One thing I did overlook is the extent of the important male fandom. I know that superfans include Guy Pearce and Elton John are massive fans. I was surprised both were not interviewed that for that podcast. I always write about how Kate Bush connects with women. Female artists that have incorporated her work into their own. I have overlooked men and how Kate Bush captivates them. I might have thought a lot of male attention was because of her beauty or something not related to the songs. The odd song or two. That is not the case. So many men have a deep understanding of her work and it goes way beyond Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). That song is back in my mind now. Not only did I hear from male devotees of Kate Bush. There were also some fascinating words from Dr. Lucy Bennett. She is the co-founder and co-chair of the Fan Studies Network. Bennett noted how Kate Bush’s work resonates with women because there is a vulnerability and openness to it. She cited This Woman’s Work as an example of where that is especially and potently true. I shall come back to my thread of men who hold Kate Bush dear.
There was a moment when she talked about Hounds of Love and the phenomenon around that. Especially Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). I have said it multiple times, though I shall repeat it here. 2022 saw it featured on Netflix’s Stranger Things. It created this whole new interest in Kate Bush. I always refer to artists and famous people who are inspired by Kate Bush. What is more affecting and impressive is the variety of ordinary fans from all corners of the global who are fans of Kate Bush. TikTok and the viral spread of he music there is one of the great joys. Hundreds of TikTok videos were examined. This was by Dr. Lucy Bennett and Dr. Rafal Zaborowskui from King’s College London. They looked at hundred of TikTok videos and noted how people were not only listening to Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). They were dancing to it too. How Bush’s music does provoke physical interaction and revelation. Dr. Bennett also said how a previous study saw her speak with people following Kate Bush’s 2014 residency. Before the Dawn. That request not to use phones and film the shows. How that pre-technology nostalgia came in. People connecting with the shows who were not distracted by technology. Bush, in the flesh, was so powerful and meaningful. That is interesting. Though technology and modernity is instrumental in ensuring her music reaches new people. It is a powerful connective tool where fans can share their relationship with her music. A song like Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) has a very special place in many people’s hearts. They were using the song to tell their own stories. I have never considered this when writing about Kate Bush’s influences. How it is as meaningful to people we have never heard of. Her songs have saved lives, brought people back from the brink of suicide and death. It has saved relationships and also made them confident to come out and reveal their sexuality. Something deep and truly profound.
And we may never know the absolute degree to which Kate Bush influences and touches people. From someone living in an apartment in New York who is battling addiction, to someone in Australia who is very young and is agog at the majesty and power of her music. As Bush does not tour and is not seen in the spotlight much, platforms like TikTok are a way of sharing their impressions of her music. Also, important when it comes to discovering he music in the first place. That new study convinced the term, affective nostalgia. Older fans who were reconnecting with the song, and a curious new generation hearing it fresh. I also enjoyed hearing Dave Cross speak about meeting Kate Bush and his relationship. He co-founded the Kate Bush fanzine, Homeground, in the 1980s. He founded it with Krystyna Fitzgerald-Morris, Peter Fitzgerald-Morris, and he is very involved with her music and career as part of Kate Bush News. You have fans having a borrowed nostalgia for a time they did not live through. Though you also have those who were fans from the start. In 1985, when Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) was first heard. There is this emotional space on TikTok where fans can connect the music and interact. Dr. Bennett notes how it is not about replacing one audience with another. More about renewal, where different generations have this meeting point. Something that would have been harder pre-technology. As there are not Kate Bush fan conventions or fanzines anymore, how easy is it for these different generations to interact naturally and easily? Some interaction I am sure, though viral moments are an accelerant of that fire. TikTok is a platform where fans around the world can have this shared feeling. That Superfans! episode ended with Lewis and Kenneth from Watford. They are teenage fans. Discovering her through her use in videos on YouTube (often in the background), what is also notable is the shift of technology and how she is discovered. Once it was radio and the music press. Now, video and streaming is more instrumental. No big revelations there, though her fandom has widened and expanded like never before because of this easy access and how we can also interconnect and speak with one another online. In a positive way when it comes to Kate Bush. This community. Us Lovehounds.
@ryleebranscum this is the coolest thing ever #fy #strangerthings #el #eleven #target ♬ Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) - Kate Bush
What was common through those interviews was how Bush’s music was a break from regular Pop. It is genuinely different and much more fascinating. Neil Hannon noted that. As did the teens at the end of the episode. How a song that is over forty years old seem radical and fresh today, as it is a break and breath of fresh air from the, ironically, TikTok Pop. The same-sounding stuff. Though Kate Bush’s music is more significant than the fact it is original. That physical connection with songs like Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), and how people are able to express themselves through her. On 30th July (Kate Bush’s birthday), Lewis and Kenneth are going to a series of Tube stations around London and playing Kate Bush songs on the piano. Raising money for War Child. You can find out more here. I think that her male fandom should be acknowledged. The feeling that it is mostly women who understand her music. I have overlooked it. How young children and older men love her music. There may be different reasons they love he music compared to girls and women. This 2024 article ended by saying that Kate Bush “has always been, every woman’s secret teenage soul, and most men will never ever understand”. I do feel that this is wrong. Superfans! showed how all genders have deep affection for Kate Bush. They understand her music and it is as much a part of their soul as for women and girls:
“All very understandable. By the ever-punishing metrics of the modern music industry, Bush represents a vanishing utopia of female musicianship: the artist left alone to stay true to herself to make the music she wants to make at the pace she wants to make it. Call Bush “precious” to female musicians and they’d probably laugh bitterly in your face: for them, “precious” would be the impossible dream.
With the recent death of One Direction’s Liam Payne, there’s been a lot said about the pressures of the music business, particularly regarding the young. One is reminded that Bush was also young when she started out: 19 at the time of her first hit, Wuthering Heights (the first number one to be penned by a female); even younger, a veritable child star, when she started writing material.
Yet here she is, still running up that hill, decades later. Though, as yet, seemingly with no interest in capitalising on her new Gen Z fanbase, to perchance dust down the leotards and take a whirl around the heritage circuit. Even though if she did, the fuss might make the response to the Oasis reunion resemble a lacklustre raffle at a village fete”.
All of this fandom and appreciation of Kate Bush is for music that was released years ago. When she does eventually put out a new album, there will be another swell of affection. Even more people discovering her music. A whole new relationship and dynamic. New music and Bush in the 2020s, I do feel that we cannot assume it is only women or a certain type of person that love her music. From artists through to men and boys around the world, there is that shared love. Each person has their own relationship with the music and reasons for loving Kate Bush. And that is something…
TRULY wonderful to see!