Kate Bush – artist, musician, composer, pianist, poet, dancer, mime, producer, visionary, and total bad ass

Kate looking beautiful, as always

I don’t think this photo needs a caption…

Kate Bush with a fabulous biker jacket

“Consider the options for a glamourous girl singer with an acute sense of melody; consider that she’s taken the riskiest, most uncommercial route; and consider whether this album should be regarded with patience and admiration, even when it occasionally slips right over the top.” ~ Colin Irwin, “Melody Maker,” September 11, 1982 (discussing “the Dreaming”)

Disclaimer: with the exception of the above quote, I am not referring to any outside sources for this…so all of this is what I think, so if any facts are wrong, it’s because I have purposely not looked to outside information.

“Disclaimer” #2: If you’re not really into Kate Bush enough to read all of my text (I went a little crazy with it), I include a couple youtube videos at the bottom…her work really does speak for itself…

I think if there is any artist out there, dead or alive, that I would love to have a nice dinner & some wine with, it would be Kate Bush.  Probably because I have sooooooo many questions for her.  But bottom line — the woman is a bad ass and to me, she has created probably the most unique and ultimately influential career path of any female artist alive today.

What do I appreciate most about Kate Bush? Her willingness to be WEIRD…or, uh, “out,” in the more jazz-oriented terminology.

I think – especially those of us in the arts – so many of us are looking for inspiration in one way or another.  And I truly find artists inspiring when they move beyond norms & stereotypes, when they create new paradigms,  and while steeping themselves in the existing ideology, they ultimately really move beyond it and develop something quite new and beautiful.

From her first record, “the Kick Inside” in 1978, Kate Bush (discovered by the always-fabulous Dave Gilmour from Pink Floyd) set herself up  to be a very, very beautiful, very feminine, young, lyrical-sounding, piano-based (generally) “pop” singer-songwriter.  But holy moly, little did the world know that the innocent (and kind of annoying) “Wuthering Heights” would lead to the uber-experimental (and weird as hell) record, “the Dreaming.”  And then, of course, she put out what many consider to be her masterpiece, “Hounds of Love.”

I think Kate Bush is one of those people who can be so many things at once.  Check out the video for “Babooshka” (there are two videos out there, but I’m talking about the sexy one)….I mean, wasn’t every man (and woman) drooling over her in that?  I mean, SEX POT.  The point is, she can be that uber-feminine, sexy, beautiful gal (check out attached photo)…and combine that with a highly skilled composer and visionary who has no problem seeming totally mad (i.e. crazy & weird in the most beautiful way) in some key points in her work.  Stellar and unique and interesting and intriguing combination, no doubt.

I remember the first time I heard “Running Up That Hill.”  I was in Paul Myers’s car (drummer from “Asciento” in Boston), and wonderful & manly but sensitive Paul really liked (loved perhaps) Kate Bush.  That record, “Hounds of Love,” pretty much changed my life in a similar way that Tori’s “Boys for Pele” did.

“The Kick Inside” I bought about a year later, and it accompanied my first year of graduate school in NYC.  “Lionheart” was literally the soundtrack to Neil Gaiman’s “American Gods,” and “Never For Ever” was my January 2005, freezing-cold-New-York-City-single-gal record…as was “the Dreaming” — I guess both of those last two accompanied Gaiman’s “Neverwhere” and “Smoke & Mirrors.”   I received “the Dreaming” for Christmas in 2004…I believe I put it on my Christmas list, and received it from my parents.  Probably my best gift that year!

I can’t really rate Kate above Tori because Tori’s music has been my best friend since I was 15 years old…but Kate’s music has literally revolutionized the way I think & feel about music, art, and performance in music.  “The Dreaming” really blew things open for me, especially since she released the record in the very early 80s…basically when I was a baby.  I mean, that record is wicked experimental even by today’s standards.  No doubt.

Kate represents to me the ultimate combination of feminine beauty, vulnerability, and total bad ass-edness…she has no problem being weird, doing crazy things with her voice, utilizing kind of bizarre looking choreography, using unusual instrumentation, moving WAY beyond forms of typical pop songs (while still releasing so many amazing “traditional” pop songs like  “Symphony in Blue,” “Running up That Hill,” “Cloudbusting,” etc., etc., etc.)  In a way, she really transcends any sort of stereotyping.  Part of the reason I love her sexiness in Babooshka (and elsewhere…I mean, the woman is freakin’ gorgeous) so much is because she is so NOT AT ALL LIKE any of the “sex pot” (I mean the quotes quite literally here) gal-“musicians” out there today.  Ahem, I won’t mention any names, but let’s just all laugh in unison…

I think the important thing with experiencing Kate’s records (up to and including “Hounds of Love”), is seeing her perform live.  She only did one tour (in 1978 when she was only 19, which is effin’ amazing in itself), but she’s done a handfull of TV performances since then, most of which during the 80s and early 90s…I get the impression she sort of dropped off the map since then – not musically, but because she is an extremely private person.  Very respectable, I think, especially when Dave Gahan from Depeche Mode sights you as his first crush!  I swear I saw that on some VH1 special a couple years back…youtube probably.  😉  I think she was much, much more in the public eye very early in her career, and my guess is that she got a bad taste in her mouth regarding stardom.

Within her first five albums & the performances, Kate combines very, very, very dramatic performance-art-esque approaches to performing her material, utilizing dance & mime in a very theatrical way.  The costumes, the miming, the dramatic “face dancing,” etc.  She studied dance, btw, with Lindsay Kemp who also worked with David Bowie.

Another thing I LOVE about Kate Bush is her total lack of pretentiousness in interviews and open skepticism of fame and everything that goes with it.  To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever encountered such a genuine artist (except a handful of exceptionally artistic people very close to me).

I also very much appreciate Kate’s subject matter which is hugely influenced by literature.  I recently discovered that her song, “the Sensual World” was actually influenced by the last part of Joyce’s “Ulysses,” which I have unfortunately not read, and I don’t think KB was able to get the rights from the Joyce estate.  Anyway, as someone who has always been vitally interested in personal, introspective songs dealing with immediate emotions, relationships, etc., I think the spectrum of Kate’s subject matter is so incredibly interesting.  In other words, it’s quite a bit more interesting than the things I naturally gravitate towards.

Some of my faves (i.e. tunes and/or videos to check out):

1. Army Dreamers — war protest tune, apparently she sings with an Irish accent in this one, but I can’t detect it

2. Leave it Open — “we let the weirdness in”…need I say more?

3. Sat in Your Lap — rhythmic, powerful, visceral, scary, totally bizarre…and catchy, to boot…uber scary video as well with quasi-KKK & ram’s head/faun costumes.  WEIRD.  Move over, Matthew Barney!!!! (Youtube video below…)

4. Egypt — beautiful, lyrical, sensual tune off “Never for Ever”

5. Delius — quite jarring (in a sedate sort of way) after Babooshka…soundscape sort of feeling. Romantic, dreamy, kind of weird.

6. Get Out of My House — I always wonder if Trent Reznor has checked out this song.  It has that masculine, angry aggressiveness combined with typical Kate Bush theatrics.  Apparently it was inspired by Kubrick’s “the Shining.”  Scary vocals!  LOVE this song.  It almost borders on industrial.

7. Moving — my favorite off “the Kick Inside.”  Love the piano.  Love her live performance & choreography.

8. Kashka from Baghdad – about a gay couple…fabulous tune

9. The Ninth Wave from “Hounds of Love” — that entire side is totally unbelievable, particularly “Waking the Witch.”  “Hello Earth” and “Morning Fog” are my feeling-totally-emotional-and-dramatic songs.  That’s not to diminish their profundity.  Really, that entire record is a masterpiece and I find it deeply moving.  Also very comforting.

10. Anything else from ‘the dreaming.’ The most experimental pop record I’ve ever heard.

There are a few I love off her more recent records, but I’ve been listening to the first five A LOT.

I almost cringe at the thought of dissertations, I can’t help but be curious as to who out there is including Kate Bush in their dissertation on 20th & 21st Century women & music.  The woman puts almost everyone else to shame, and I say that with total honesty.

Link for “Sat in Your Lap,” probably the most bizarre video I’ve ever seen:

Here’s a video from her 1978 tour (her only tour in fact); this predates Sat in Your Lap by about 3-4 years.  What  a transformation!  She was also apparently one of the very first to use the headset…way before Madonna, ya know?

“Get Out of My House,” from “the Dreaming.” Check out how different her voice is in this.  Crazy.

Happy Kate Bush listening!!!  🙂