An interesting thing I looked up is that Kate Bush actually was one of the nominees for “Best Female Music Video” at the 1987 MTV music video awards for “The Big Sky,” along with Madonna, Janet Jackson, and Cyndi Lauper. (Madonna won for “Papa Don’t Preach.”)
They never played her back in the day. And XRT long ago departed from DJ programming. It’s done by a computer algorithm. Sometimes the DJ gets to pick between two alternatives, but they’re not allowed to just play what they want.
Yes The Big Sky was a very audience friendly video and got some rotation on MTV
They never played Kate Bush in the 80s and 90s? That’s certainly not what I remember. Are you certain? I mean, they played anything and everything back then, until they got sold.
She has produced and recorded her own stuff in her home studio since The Dreaming. Unless that’s changed recently: I’ll check.
Absolutely positive. If they ever did it was in the middle of the night. I generally had XRT on dawn till dusk back then, and I would’ve shit my pants if I ever heard her on there.
I found a quote from Lin Brehmer in a 1986 Billboard Magazine in a column called “Out of the Box: Programmers reveal why they have jumped on certain new releases” where he talks about Kate Bush’s “Experiment Four” (Given the column, I presume this means they played it.) I mean, I believe you listened to XRT at all hours of the day, but I also believe I’ve heard her played back then, not just in the past twenty years. It wouldn’t make any sort of sense for a station like XRT not to play her, and clearly she had her fans there, like Lin, who was the music director at the time.
Anyway, I’m derailing this. Back to the AMA.
So what are your top 5 Kate Bush songs (I know it’s hard to rank these things)? What song best serves as an introduction for people who are unfamiliar with her work?
Also, this cover (original by Roy Harper), from a TV special:
Can you link to the quote?
I would’ve thought Wuthering Heights was Kate Bush’s best known song, but apparently not. WH, Wow, and Babooshka are the ones I’ve heard on the radio, WH more than any other.
I’m surprised no one mentioned Wow until Richard Pearse. That’s the first song I think of when I think of Kate Bush.
If asked, I would have said her most well-known would have been either:
Running Up That Hill - because it seems to be the one that gets covered most, including by some moderately well-known acts like Myers and First Aid Kit and Placebo; or
Wuthering Heights - because it’s her most successful single and for many still the most KT song.
with an outside chance of Cloudbusting and Big Sky from MTV play.
I had never heard of Kate Bush until 2014. In 2014 I read about a book with 1001 albums to listen to before you die. I checked out those I didn’t know. That’s where I discovered Kate Bush. She’s now one of my favorites.
One of my favorite songs that hasn’t been mentioned yet is Rubberband Girl.
Bottom right here, if this works:
At any rate, it’s possible I’m conflating XRT with Q101 as to where I heard Kate Bush on the radio often enough in the Chicago market. Q101 did play “Rubberband Girl” a good bit back then.
Love Kate Bush, have done since Wuthering Heights,
No idea what “AMA” means though
“Ask me anything”
Ah! never heard that before.
(well, of course I’ve heard someone say “ask me anything” just never seen it abbreviated like that)
In the context of this thread I had decided it meant “Am Mad About”.
Am Mad About about Kate Bush is redundant.