The Resurrection of Kate Bush
Back when I first launched this blog, I was a guest on 91x’s Resurrection Sunday, a program then hosted by the late Steve West. Sundays were my long run days, and I spent hours listening to West, including an hour of “Hey Mom, I’m on 91x!” with a guest deejay decidedly not from the industry.
I “auditioned” by first filling out online the 20 songs I’d play, which not coincidentally were Steve West’s favorite songs along with a few rarely played tunes. The legendary disc jockey called, we talked, and I was booked for that weekend’s show. I gave several shoutouts, including to my fellow San Diego Track Club runners then training for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon.
At the following Tuesday track workout, one of the run leaders told me he’d listened the entire hour. “You only picked one good song,” he said. “But it was a good one. I’d listen just for that one song.” That song was Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill.”
I’ve loved that song since the first time I heard it upon listening to the Hounds of Love album the week it was released. Kate Bush didn’t get airtime where I lived, so finding both record outlets that carried her music and fellow fans was rare. I had become hooked on Bush’s hypnotic musical arrangements since hearing The Dreaming travel down my college dorm hall. I immediately bought all her albums as my paltry paychecks allowed. I loved Bush’s deliciously distinct voice and unconventional lyrics. She was different, no doubt. No matter the device – albums, then cassettes, then CDs, then MP3s and streaming services – “Running Up That Hill” was part of my library. One time, I ran 10 miles around Lake Miramar listening to loops of every cover of that 1985 Kate Bush song. Another, I just ran hill repeats with the song itself on repeat (I know, how meta.)
Given how often I played Kate Bush, it was inevitable my own children would instantly recognize her music too. The other week my older daughter texted: So wild that Kate Bush has a hit song 35+ years later. I wasn’t aware the song’s new lease in life came from its prominence in season four of Stranger Things on Netflix. That helped explain the Kate Bush sets popping up on alternative radio stations here. (And if you are interested, her “Cloudbusting” appears in the climactic scene in Palm Springs, a wonderful movie that never got its due.)
The intensely private celebrity is apparently a fan of Stranger Things and gave her blessing to use the song. I’m glad she did. There’s an entire generation discovering an almost-64-year-old British talent that never got enough credit in the United States. Three times she’s been nominated for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame but never made the cut. There’s even a tribute group called Baby Bushka based here in San Diego that no doubt is enjoying a bump in sales.
That said, I admit the sudden popularity is a bit disorienting. She’s everywhere now. When you adore someone’s music in relative isolation for 40 years, it’s jarring to now see people half your age become fans. I hope they appreciate such a unique voice from a woman fortunate to have friends in high places when she was starting out. My guess is she’d be all over Tik Tok (as her current self) right now if she wasn’t so self-conscious of the way she’s aged naturally. (This, by the way, just makes me love her more.) She’s definitely all over the press, which is great news to those of us who rarely saw new material surface from Google updates.
“Running Up that Hill” was definitely Kate Bush’s most commercial work, but she has an entire oeuvre that I just might listen to the next time I decide to circumvent Lake Miramar, this time moving at a much, much slower pace to savor every song.
