British musician Kate Bush had hit the peak of her career in the market so far when she sang the song “Running Up That Hill” on stage in 1987, accompanied by Pink Floyd’s guitarist David Gilmour. Gilmour was luck for her; because it was, he who discovered herself and recommended her to EMI.
Do you see the strange twist of fate? It was this song that made Kate endear to new generations at the last turn and updated her by taking the sepia photos of the past.
In the first episode of the fourth season of “Stranger Things”, which premiered on Netflix, what happened when “Running Up That Hill” was heard from Max’s walk men, played by Sadie Sink, in a scene recreating the eighties. The song went viral on social media, became one of the most listened to on Spotify in England, and all eyes were on Kate. Kate, who has been making albums at long intervals in the last period of her career and probably preparing for retirement, has reached a whole new generation, a young audience. The song, which was also shared on TikTok and Twitter, surpassed Harry Styles; the names who apply the latest model marketing strategies have been eating her dust.
You know these names well; Tori Amos, Sinead O’Connor, Alanis Morissette, Fiona Apple, Björk and countless other female musicians who oppose the traditional notion of femininity… Kate was the saint of them all. Symbolizing the coexistence of provocative and innocence, this Greta Garbo-like woman disappeared in 1993 after her album “The Red Shoes”.
His lovers, who were patiently waiting like a prophet, spread a thousand and one rumors about her while they hungrily inhaled every molecule, they found traces other. She started to become crazy was even said. However, in reality Kate had moved to a new home and raised her child. In the meantime, the pregnancy period of the album “Arial”, which she was going to release, was exactly 12 years.
“Running Up That Hill”, which was included in the opening of Bush’s fifth album “Hounds of Love” in 1985, actually came to the fore once again 10 years ago, played in the 2012 London Olympics, but did not make as much noise as “Stranger Things”. In those days, she only made it to the UK’s top 10, but it wasn’t enough to get Kate back into music.
Music media wrote that Kate was depressed prior to the recording of her “Hounds of Love” album and was “like a pontoon”, trustee of the meal (the metaphor belongs to the British music press), although it wasn’t evident in the cover photo taken by her brother John. Whatever she had become, Kate still had a strange and mysterious beauty. In this album, she opens the doors of a magical world with a fairy tale and reflects her adolescent state to her songs for the last time.
In an interview she gave in 1985, she stated that the song “Running Up That Hill” describes the relationship between a man and a woman, and the effort to understand each other. I wonder how this theme is reflected and interpreted by new generations in the course of time, is unknown for now. Likewise, what Kate thinks and how this resurgence will affect her career in her late period.
While some expressed that it was strange that the song and Kate were discovered by the new generation through a popular TV series and digital platforms, they did not hesitate to express their sadness, while others were quite happy with the discovery of the song that reminds them of their youth. Kate is now 65 and has been the music industry’s most reclusive figure for years, choosing to stay away from the crazy crowd. There is only one expectation for us, the fans of all time, from what has happened: will there be a new album?
