FEATURE:
Running Up That Road
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1980/PHOTO CREDIT: Patrick Lichfield
Kate Bush: The First Woman
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I am going to write…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush during the Tour of Life in Hammersmith in May 1979/PHOTO CREDIT: Max Browne
a few Kate Bush features where inspiration is pulled from Leah Kardos’s recent 33 1/3 book, Hounds of Love. After the introduction, the first chapter concerns Kate Bush as the ‘first woman’. In that she was the first woman to break a particular record or achieve something huge in music. I had not given too much thought to this. It is amazing considering some of the significant ‘firsts’ that Bush is responsible. Kardos names the times where Bush was the first woman to accomplish something significant. In one case, she was the first person to do something significant that helped reshape live music and its wider horizons. I am going to spend some times with these ‘firsts’. On 17th February, 1978, Kate Bush’s debut album, The Kick Inside, was released into the world. EMI and Bush would not have quite known how popular the album would be. As she was knew and had only released one single – Wuthering Heights – to this point, it would have been quite ambitious to think that the album would sell more than a million copies. That is what it did. With this extraordinarily original music, combined with Bush promoting the album heavily around the world, meant that a debut from a teenage artist sold over a million copies! Not only was this an extraordinary feat for an artist with their debut album. Bush became the first woman in Pop history to release a million-selling debut album. That seems remarkable now. I am thinking who could have challenged her in the years before that. Maybe someone like Joni Mitchell. Though her debut, Song to a Seagull (1968), was not as acclaimed and revered as much as Blue (1971). In years since, there have been women who have sold a million copies of an album. Few do it with their debut. I know Amy Winehouse’s Frank, released in 2003, has sold over a million copies. It does not happen that often. Bush clearing a path and pushing down barriers. Showing that women in Pop could not only write their own album but also have it connect in such a way that it sells over a million copies! There is no telling what impact this had on women in music who followed her.
Also tied to her debut, Bush set another record. Many people know about this. Her debut single, Wuthering Heights, reached number one and, in the process, meant Bush became the first woman in music history to have a self-penned single reach number one in the U.K. That single was released on 20th January, 1978. Again, I can’t think of any other female artists before her that could have matched that. Many female artists had others writing for them. There were not many female contemporaries of Kate Bush who were writing their own music. Again, this would have given a lot of inspiration to women that followed. I am not certain how many female artists in the modern day have achieved what Bush did. In that their single, which they wrote, went to number one in the U.K. Probably less common than you think. Yet Kate Bush would have provided such momentum and push to many female artists. This article from 2023 spotlights Kenya Grace and her single, Strangers. That reached number one. She wrote, performed and produced the track. Kate Bush did not produce Wuthering Heights (that was Andrew Powell). However, Bush did write, produce and perform Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). That hit number one in the U.K. in 2022 when it gained new attention after getting on Stranger Things. Bush was sixty-three when the song went to number one in the U.K. (on 22nd June, 2022). That might be another record in itself. I cannot think of many sixty-three year old women who have a U.K. number one written and produced by them. In an ageist music industry, that was another huge step! Even if Bush was twenty-seven when Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) was originally released (5th August, 1985), she was in her sixties and enjoying this resurgence back in 2022. Bush still able to break barriers and open doors.
I wrote about this recently. How Kate Bush used a wireless microphone to perform. Because she was performing dance and putting a lot of energy into her set, she could not juggle a microphone and focus on her set. It was necessary to manufacture a wireless microphone that means she could sing and move freely at the same time. Even this article says it was Martin Fisher who was a sound engineer who developed and invested the wireless microphone for Kate Bush, I think it is actually Gordon Paterson who is responsible. No matter. I guess there would have been a wireless microphone used in other spheres. In terms of the arts or in the world in general. However, it was new for artists. Imagine how live music could have been different if that wireless microphone was invested sooner. We associate the wireless head microphone with Britney Spears or more obviously Madonna. Many think the Queen of Pop is the person who brought that in. Look at live music now and Kate Bush was not only the first woman to use a wireless microphone. She was the first person! A massive achievement. Bush did not want to lumber a microphone around on stage. Something comparatively lightweight was fashioned. She helped completely change live music. Pop concerts since have utilised this breakthrough. Another first that Bush is responsible revolves around Never for Ever. Her third studio album, it was released in 1980. It reached number one on the U.K. chart. She was the first woman to achieve that. Bush was twenty-two when she held that record. Since, many women have reached number one on the U.K. album chart. Kate Bush was the first. All of these achievements helping to change the culture and inspire women coming through. Amazing that no other woman had hit the top of the album chart here prior to 1980! Bush this pioneer. Also, Bush wrote the album and co-produced it. It was absolutely historic when Bush got that number one. Many people overlook these accomplishments when they talk about Kate Bush. How important she is.
Kate Bush released her only greatest hits album, The Whole Story, in 1986. That combined her best work to that date. Well, the singles at the very least. Early in 1986 – June to be semi-precise -, Alan Jones wrote in the Record Mirror that Bush had single-handedly written all fifteen of her singles. She was twenty-seven at this point. That was unrivalled by any other female songwriter in the world. I am not sure how many women have matched that since. It is quite rare. In terms of solo-penned hit singles. I can’t think of any other artists who have that record. Can you think of any female artists since 1986 that have self-written such a run of singles like Kate Bush did? Madonna co-wrote and had other writers. Taylor Swift co-writes for the most part. It is amazing to consider! I have a few more record/firsts to cover off. Each one makes me admire and respect Kate Bush more! On 13th November, 1993, Bush (aged thirty-five) conceivably released the first ‘visual album’. The short film, The Line, the Cross and the Curve, was a selection of songs from her The Red Shoes album tied to a story. To that point, there had been musical films. The Beatles had been in a few, though they were theatrical releases and one cannot say something like Help!, Magical Mystery Tour or A Hard Day’s Night were ‘visual albums’, because of their sheer length. Bush’s short film was very much the first time a woman in music had done anything like this. In years since, artists such as Beyoncé and Frank Ocean have put out visual albums. Bush was the first woman to do this. Maybe she does not realise that fact now. She also wrote and directed that film. You might quibble as to whether it is a visual album. However, as it was a short film stringing together album tracks, that is what it was!
Cast your mind back to 6th September, 2014. That was when Bush was performing her Before the Dawn residency in Hammersmith. Because of the press coverage and massive popularity, she saw eleven albums of hers in the chart/the top 100. Eight of them were in the top 40. It was a record at that time. The most simultaneous top 40 albums by a solo female artists. Bush was fifty-six at the time. I am not sure whether an artist like Taylor Swift has beaten that since. In 2014, this record was set. Bush once more inspiring and pioneering. Showing just how loved she and her music is. As an artists in her fifties, it also showed how one cannot define women and write them off. Her still very much active, Kate Bush has helped shift perceptions around women in music, especially when it comes to age. I mentioned it early. Bush hitting number one with Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) in 2022. O0n 23rd June, 2022, Bush set a record for the longest gap between number one songs. She was sixty-three when she got only her second number one song in the U.K. – which seems insane considering all that golden music! Her first number one was Wuthering Heights in 1978. Bush was nineteen. A gap of forty-four-years and eighty-three days. She set the record but was soon bested by The Beatles. I think Bush would not have minded being beaten by The Beatles! Now and Then, their final single, went to number one in 2023. Forty-four years and 144 days since The Ballad of John and Yoko came out (in 1969). However, Bush still holds the record for women.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
Kate Bush snatched a record from Wham! The record for the longest time for a song to reach number one. Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) was released in 1985. It took thirty-six years and 310 days to finally hit the top spot. Last Christmas took thirty-six years and twenty-three days to get to number one 2021. Incredible to think that Bush has broken so much ground through the years! That is not all! I did say how Bush was sixty-three (actually, twenty-three days shy of sixty-four) when Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) reached number one in 2022. That record was previously held by Cher, who was only fifty-two when Believe came out! Amazing! As mentioned, as music is still ageist and judges women, Bush hitting number one in her sixties is helping the conversation. That women can succeed and be relevant in older age. In fact, women over thirty or forty are labelled and often seen as ‘too old’ still. Every time Kate Bush does something amazing like reaching number one and reaching a new audience in the process, in her sixties, this gives strength and faith to so many other women! In terms of the ‘firsts’, Bush set her first in 1978. Her most recent happened in 2023. A period of forty-five years between records just shows what a legacy and genius she has. How her music has spanned the decades and continues to influence and connect with people. In 2023, Bush’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) became the first solo recording released in the 1980s by a woman to reach a billion streams on Spotify. Bush was sixty-four. That might seem quite niche, though consider some of the women who were making waves and ruling the charts in the 1980s. Madonna for one! No solo Madonna single has surpassed a billion streams on Spotify. The Like a Virgin (1984) album has passed a billion but no song has come close to a billion streams. I wanted to write this feature so that we can see just how pioneering Kate Bush. Thanks to Leah Karos and her Hounds of Love 33 1/3 book for opening my eyes and inspiring this feature! From Wuthering Heights scaling to number one in 1978 through to Bush passing a billion streams on Spotify for Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) in 2023, what other ‘firsts’ will she achieve in years to come? I don’t think she has done smashing records and breaking down barriers. It is another reason why the mighty Kate Bush is taken to heart by…
SO many people around the world.