# Kate Bush -- Musical Genius **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 7, 2006, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447 "2006-03-07T23:30:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447/141 "2006-03-12T19:37:57Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > I can’t talk you into liking a song of course, but I think “Rocket Man” is a wonderful cover. It’s too bad you don’t like it if you’re an Alan Murphy fan, because that was the last track he worked on with her before he died (as far as I know). The video is a fun little number with Kate playing ukelele and conducting fireworks. She’s not always the [frown, intense stare]serious artist[/frown, intense stare], and has a wicked sense of humor. Other band members appear in the video, but she didn’t just hire a guitarist to pretend to play in the video. There’s a poignant moment when, during the guitar solo, an empty chair with a guitar on it is shown, in tribute to Alan. I love that. Wow, **Equipoise** , I didn’t know that. I’ll re-listen. It’s true that a lot of her stuff needs a few listens. You might have succeeded. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447/142 "2006-03-12T22:42:35Z")
> [@Hippy Hollow](#): > > Wow, **Equipoise** , I didn’t know that. I’ll re-listen. It’s true that a lot of her stuff needs a few listens. You might have succeeded. Wonderful! I just went to YouTube and watched the video. It’s so fun and playful (I love the look on the ullian pipes player’s face when he’s sitting there with nothing to do yet, as well as Kate conducting the shooting stars and later, fireworks), but the moment when the camera lingers on the empty chair, with a guitar propped on it and a burning candle, is powerful if you know why it’s there, and only associates, hardcore fans and Alan Murphy fans would know. Also on YouTube is another video of “Rocket Man” as “performed” (it’s lip-sync, like the black and white video) on the Terry Wogan show. There too is a guitar propped up on an empty chair. I love how she decided that no way was she going to get someone to replace Alan just to make it look more like a real band. Just go to [http://youtube.com](http://youtube.com) and type in Kate Bush Rocket Man into the Search. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447/143 "2006-03-12T23:59:23Z")
Regarding Kate being beloved and admired and influential… Before this thread ups and dies, I want to post these. It’s not anywhere near complete, I could find many more just by culling through old fanzines, but thanks to a very kind person at the Kate Bush forum who gathered these together, I present these to this thread. > [@](#): > > The Duet > The healing power of Don’t Give Up. > By **Peter Gabriel** > > "When I first heard Wuthering Heights I thought it was extraordinary, very unique at the time. So I was fascinated from the start. Then, during the '80’s her songwriting evolved. She was exploring territory with rhythm and sound that I was playing around with, so there was a common interest and approach. > [@](#): > > **RUFUS WAINWRIGHT** > MOJO magazine, issue 145, December 2005 > > “Kate Bush is an original and there’s a real danger that you become clouded when you listen to her. So many people try to copy her – no names, except for me! I’ve copied her later in my, erm, oeuvre. And I intend to copy her more! You listen to her singing and you realise that what appears to be affected energy, this possession she’s under, is real. > [@](#): > > VARIOUS > [www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,22875-1831244,00.html](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,22875-1831244,00.html) > > The Times of London > October 22, 2005 > > The word on the Bush telegraph > As Kate Bush releases her first CD in 12 years, Stephen Dalton discovers from other musicians what makes Kate great > > Musical movements have waxed and waned, former peers wasted away, but somehow Kate Bush has endured. In fact, in the 12 years since her last album release, she has become more influential than ever, as memories of the leotard-clad teenage warbler from the early 1980s have faded, to be replaced by a genuine appreciation of her musical talents. > [@](#): > > **JOHN CALE** > [www.insidebayarea.com](http://www.insidebayarea.com), November 2005 (link no longer active) > > “I mean, I look at music production from the point of view of what’s going on in general, and all the exciting ideas are in hip hop, with Dr. Dre and (Neptunes mastermind) Pharrell Williams. Although I did just hear the new Kate Bush album [Aerial], and I thought that was a really elegant piece of work, just gorgeous.” > [@](#): > > **DAN HAWKINS** > ‘Classic Rock’ Magazine – Dec 2005 (issue 87) > > Dan Hawkins On Kate Bush > The Darkness Guitarist On An Artist That All The Band Like. > > “I really like Kate Bush. The Kick Inside [her 1978 debut] is the album of hers i’ve listened to most. I actually got into it through the 80s version of Wuthering Heights; they re-did it for the best-of album [The Whole Story, released in '86]. And at the time, I thought it was the only version in existence, because when you’re a kid you’re not totally aware of an artist’s heritage. Then, years later, somebody told me it wasn’t the original, which was on The Kick Inside. The original is so much better than the reworked version. They just put 80s reverb on what is one of the most soulful performances ever - and what an amazing arrangement.” > [@](#): > > **COLDPLAY** > [music.yahoo.com/read/news/19771811](http://music.yahoo.com/read/news/19771811) > Coldplay singer Chris Martin said that the band’s current single, “Speed Of Sound,” was written in the summer of 2004 and inspired by two very different women–British songstress Kate Bush and Martin’s daughter, who was just a few months old at the time. > > “That’s a song where we were listening to a lot of Kate Bush last summer, and we wanted a song which had a lot of tom-toms in it,” Martin said. “I just had my daughter up also, and was kind of feeling in a sense of awe and wonderment, so the song is kind of a Kate Bush song about miracles.” > > [www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/coldplay%20steal%20drums%20from%20kate%20bush](http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/coldplay%20steal%20drums%20from%20kate%20bush) > > Bass player GUY BERRYMAN explains, "We were listening to a Kate Bush song called Running Up That Hill and we were really trying to recreate the drums on that song for this song, and the chords. > > “Some bands are reluctant to admit that they take things from other artists and bands that they listen to and we’re shameless in that respect, we don’t mind telling.” > [@](#): > > VARIOUS > www.musichead.com.au/site/artist.asp?actID=20372&newsID=16622&month=undefined&RandomNo=0.22335527447964293 > Quoted in musichead Australia, 18 October 2005 > > **BJORK:** > She’s got her own universe which is complete and she’s not polluted by things so much, and she’s got a lot of integrity and hasn’t compromised. And I guess as a woman I have to say she’s an incredible producer. It does happen a lot to ladies that they’re looked at as people who turn up and sing and then go home and cook, but she’s definitely one who was an incredible producer and had her own sound which is a collection of feminine things. You see a lot of female singers but they’re singing in a macho environment, just like drums and bass and macho stuff, and they’re like visitors in a man’s world, and it’s kind of impossible to talk about Kate Bush without mentioning that. I like a lot of male music, but I have to say that’s something which is really rare and from my own experience I think it’s harder than you think it is to not be a visitor, but to be a guest in your own house. > [@](#): > > **ANTONY HEGARTY from Antony and the Johnsons** > [www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,1645991,00.html](http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,1645991,00.html) > > “The first singer for me was Kate Bush. When I was seven and we lived in Holland, Kate Bush came out with Wuthering Heights, and it was the first single I ever bought. I still have it. Even though she was only about 16, she just had that aura about her, especially to a child of seven, like she was some sort of mother, or older sister. She was so magical: the world she inhabited was, especially poetically, a sort of fairyland. It was very sensuous and very pagan, and she sang so high - it was madcap. She was so beautiful. You know that slow motion cartwheel that she does in that video? I was doing that for all the neighbours. I’d just put on a sheet and try to do the cartwheel. She was probably my first role model. When I started the I Am A Bird Now album, I said that I wanted it to be intimate, like Cat Power’s covers album. In hindsight, though, I think it’s more like The Dreaming by Kate Bush.” ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447/144 "2006-03-13T00:01:11Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > That would be “Running Up That Hill”? Do you have an idea of where you heard it? That song actually got some airplay on the local, “commercial” FM stations when it was released as a single. Remember, it reached #30 on Billboard’s Hot 100. “Running Up That Hill” was just one of many, many songs that made up the soundtrack of my youth. There have been dozens of songs that have planted seeds in my memory, only to be resurrected years later. “RUTH” just happens to be the latest I rediscovered. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447/145 "2006-03-13T00:01:31Z")
Man! The formatting went to hell on that! Sorry. I was so concerned with checking that the Bolding was working I didn’t even notice all the line breaks. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447/146 "2006-03-13T00:31:03Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Oh yes. The relevance of her lyrical complexity is simply that, as one of her strengths, it’s largely irrelevant in the American market. (Insert boilerplate.) The fact that her songs tend to have complex, literary lyrics INSTEAD OF “soundbitey” little hooks certainly counts against her. I hate to move the goalposts on you … but: when I talk about hooks, I mean instrumental hooks. What made me even bring up hooks at all is that I could vividly recall the percussion of “Running Up That Hill” from just a 30-second clip, despite not having heard the song in 15-20 years. I wasn’t able – from an obviously insufficient 30-second clip – to latch on to anything similar in “Babooshka” or “Cloudbusting”. > [@lissener](#): > > The songs you mentioned all had complex lyrics, yes, but they ALSO had–this is largely what made them exceptions–an imbedded hook. How many people, of the millions that made “American Pie” a hit, were more attracted by the verses’ complexity than by the catchy “Bye-bye” of the chorus? How big a hit do you think it would’ve been WITHOUT that hook? Dunno, but I really think that “American Pie” is a bad example to use for this point. “AP” is one of the quintassential “story” songs in American popular music. The full story laid out in the lyrics and the associated nostalgia has always been the song’s main draw, IMHO. Fans of the song have spent 35 years dissecting the meaning of the lines, even enlisting Cecil’s help on one occasion. Sure, lots of folks don’t approach the song that way … but lots do. > [@lissener](#): > > How many people think “Every Breath You Take” is a tender love song? Or that “Born in the USA” is a patriotic anthem? These examples make a point that you don’t intend – lyrically deep songs that became big hits in the U.S. As long as people were requesting airplay, and were buying the 45s, comprehension of the lyrics wasn’t an issue. In fact, I’d say it’s a testament to The Police’s and Springsteen’s artistry (taking _nothing_ away from Kate Bush) that there songs were essentially aural double-entendres that could grab listeners on two levels. > [@lissener](#): > > Lyrical complexity may not necessarily count against a song … Agreed – that’s something I was trying to demonstrate earlier. > [@lissener](#): > > … but I can’t think of a single instance in which complexity alone \*sold \*a song to the public. What of that? Kate Bush’s lyrical complexity isn’t her sole draw, either, from what **Equipoise** and others are saying. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447/147 "2006-03-13T03:00:06Z")
HUGE THANKS to SkipMagic for taking the time to go through those quotes and remove the line breaks. I appreciate it so much. Here are some more, and I think I’ve gotten the line breaks taken care of. > [@](#): > > **PATRICK WOLF** > [www.thisisfakediy.co.uk/articles/2970.html](http://www.thisisfakediy.co.uk/articles/2970.html) > > _Of all the artist’s you’ve been compared to - Kate Bush, David Bowie, Morrissey - which have you found the most flattering?_ > > I think Kate Bush, of course. The only thing I know about David Bowie is Labyrinth, which is a fantastic movie, but music-wise it’s not something I’m really inspired by at all. So, yeah, Kate Bush - I think she’s very brave, not many English musicians have really dared to be as English as her. She’s very focussed on beauty and magic, and she’s a poet, and she doesn’t give a @#%$, and I’m very, very happy to be equated with her. > [@](#): > > VARIOUS > The Independent, 21 October 2005 > [enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/features/article320996.ece](http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/features/article320996.ece) > > IS KATE BUSH STILL RELEVANT? > > **MUTYA FROM SUGABABES** > I think she is still relevant. It’s nice to see people reinvent themselves. She was a great performer and a great singer. I like that song, you know the one, “It’s me, I’m Cathy…” I love that song. I remember listening to it growing up. I think our older fans like her music. > [@](#): > > **NIGEL KENNEDY** > [gaffa.org/reaching/i89\_mm2.html](http://gaffa.org/reaching/i89_mm2.html) > “She’s just a great musician, so inspired in her attitude to music. I think she’s one of the greatest composers of the century in my opinion. That’s another type of music that relates to my way of thinking. You can call it classical, whatever, it just takes in influences from all over.” > > **ELTON JOHN** > (from liner notes of Elton John’s Christmas Party) > “We have lunch together! She’s adorable. Kate had a child and brought the child up, that’s why she’s been away for so long. She’s a very elfin-like woman. Kate is one of the greatest innovative artists. She’s influenced almost every female artist since. Stevie Nicks, Madonna, Tori Amos - she’s influenced each of them.” > [@](#): > > **KEISUKE OHTA** - Japanese violinist/composer/chat show host > > “So far, I mostly worked with my friends, and some other people. It’s high time that I make my own music. It’ll be like British rock or punk, maybe not punk, but something like Sting, Peter Gabriel, and Kate Bush. I love them. That’s what my music will look like.” > [@](#): > > **LEAH ZICARI** - New York singer/songwriter/guitarist > > my biggest influences and favorite artists through the years are/have been Joni Mitchell, Pat Metheny, Shawn Colvin, Rickie Lee Jones, Heart (the earlier years), Michael Hedges, Pat Martino, Sarah McLaclan, Tori Amos, Kate Bush… > [@](#): > > **CHARLOTTE MARTIN** > > “I am a hardcore Kate Bush follower as well as Peter Gabriel and The Cure. My upcoming album, On Your Shore is very much influenced by Peter’s Security and Kate’s Hounds of Love.” > > Also from the article > > 'Charlotte Martin spent a good part of her teenage years obsessively studying the work of Kate Bush. She’s more than a fan; she’s a devout follower of Bush’s mystical songbook of art and romance, from which she gained enough confidence to find her own voice and style. Now in her late twenties, Martin bows to her idol while composing a theatrical and fearless presentation on her RCA full-length debut, On Your Shore. > [@](#): > > **NIGEL GODRICH** , music producer > Q magazine, no.184, Awards 2001 issue > > What was the best thing about 2001? > > “Meeting Kate Bush. I’m in awe of her. Her records fundamentally enforced what I am as a person. When you listen to stuff as a teenager, you identify with elements in the music. There’s a real hidden wisdom there. It’s beautifully written. If she needs anyone to mix her new album, I’m after the job.” > [@](#): > > **ANJA GARBAREK** , Norwegian artist and daughter of famous jazz muscian Jan Garbarek, was interviewed a few years ago, about her favorite record, whch is Never Forever. > > From the article “Record we never forget” > > Daddys finding > > - When I was 10 years old, my dad brought home the album “Never For Ever” by Kate Bush. He thought that this would be something for me, and from the type of person I was and is. And he was very right. He knows me well. > > www.dagbladet.no/magasine…82902.html > [@](#): > > **THE FUTUREHEADS’ BARRY HYDE** tells the tale behind their showstopping Kate Bush cover. > > "My parents had Kate Bush’s video collection, The Whole Story, which I loved watching as a child. The one for Hounds Of Love is quite scary but also very romantic. Kate and her lover are chased by these men in suits who look like they want to arrest them. > > In July 2001, The Futureheads went on a squat tour around Germany, Holland and Switzerland. Our bassist Jaff had made a compilation which featured Hounds Of Love. We were travelling with another band, Milky Wimpshake, and I overheard them saying they were going to cover it. We figured we could do a better version. We knew it’d be easy because the song has a lot of momentum. It’s like a locomotive train, just building and building. > [@](#): > > **ALISON MOYET** > > “I’m very impressed by Kate Bush. She is pure uncompromising talent and I can only feel envy at the apparent flawless way she has managed her career. Both commercially and creatively successful and still an enigma.” > [@](#): > > **GORILLAZ** list Aerial as one of the best albums of 2005. > Filter magazine, 4 Jan 2006 > > [www.filter-mag.com/news/interior.2907.html](http://www.filter-mag.com/news/interior.2907.html) > > 1. Kate Bush – Aerial (Sony) > Noodle: “Despite her 12 year gap she still has the talent and creativity to release such an excellent magical album. She’s more a force of nature than a singer/songwriter, with a truly gifted way of sounding like she’s describing a dreamstate rather than….just making songs.” > [@](#): > > **ANTONY OF ANTONY AND THE JOHNSONS** > Observer Music Monthly, December 2005 > > OMM: What’s the best thing you’ve heard this year? > > Antony: Kate Bush’s Aerial is absolutely exquisite. It’s so subtle and it’s the kind of record we’ll be listening to in 10 years and we’ll start to grasp what it was that she was doing. > [@](#): > > **KT TUNSTALL** > > [www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/tunstall%20offers%20brit%20to%20bush\_16\_02\_2006](http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/tunstall%20offers%20brit%20to%20bush_16_02_2006) > > On winning the 2006 BRIT award for Best British Female Solo Artist: “I’m going to take the head off of this and give it to Kate Bush, because she has such a great musical brain.” > [@](#): > > **KATIE MELUA** > The Independent, 23 December 2005 > [enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/features/article334766.ece](http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/features/article334766.ece) > > The tracks of my year > What are the musicians’ albums of 2005? From Kaiser Chiefs to Kanye West via Katie Melua, the stars tell James McNair about the music that has been the soundtrack to their 12 months, and which artists have moved, rocked or soothed them > > **KATIE MELUA** , singer > Aerial by Kate Bush > > This album was even better than I expected. Her originality and eccentricity always make her stand out from the crowd, and, after the long wait, it was a relief when the album was so special. > [@](#): > > **SNOW PATROL** > The Daily Record, 6 December 2005 > [www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/therazz/daily/tm\_objectid=16451083&method=full&siteid=66633&headline=i-was-too-scared-to-enjoy-live8-name\_page.html](http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/therazz/daily/tm_objectid=16451083&method=full&siteid=66633&headline=i-was-too-scared-to-enjoy-live8-name_page.html) > > The indie rockers will release the new material in April, and Gary [Lightbody] believes it’s their best yet. > > He said: "We’ve experimented a lot more with sounds and odd instruments we’ve never used, and pushed ourselves as far as we can. > > "We’ve been listening to Kate Bush for strange vocal melodies and Gyšrgy Ligeti for strange arrangements - as much oddness as we can. We’re so close to finishing now I’m very excited. > > “We’d love it if lots of people heard this as I know it’s our best stuff.” > [@](#): > > **DUSTY SPRINGFIELD** > Live on stage, introducing her live cover of The Man With The Child In His Eyes. > > “When I came here last year I was surprised and mostly pleased at the musical changes that had happened here … Anyway the thing that impressed me most was that so much originality was around, in particular one young lady came through with a song called Wuthering Heights. And she really has – Kate Bush – has an immense amount of originality and I was absolutely staggered by her. And I would like to sing a song that I think is one of the prettiest ones ever written, certainly by her. It’s called The Man With The Child In His Eyes.” > [@](#): > > Crowe Loves His Girlfriend’s Music 2002-02-26 > > [http://www.celebrities411.com/KateBush/news.html?star\_name=KateBush&headline=Crowe\_Loves\_His\_Girlfriends\_Music&news\_id=7053&celebrity\_name=Kate%](http://www.celebrities411.com/KateBush/news.html?star_name=KateBush&headline=Crowe_Loves_His_Girlfriends_Music&news_id=7053&celebrity_name=Kate%25) > > Hunky RUSSELL CROWE has taken to name-checking his girlfriend Danielle Spencer - in a bid to encourage music fans to listen to her records. Interviewed by British music magazine Mojo for its current edition, Crowe answered that he’s listening to his longtime love when quizzed about which music is on currently on his stereo. He says, “An Australian singer/songwriter, Danielle Spencer. Really good, like crossing Kate Bush with ABBA and putting it to very unpredictable rhythms.” Anecdotal mentions from the Kate forum: > [@](#): > > When **PAULA COLE** won the Grammy in 199?, she thanked Aretha Franklin and Kate Bush as being her biggest influences. > [@](#): > > **SARAH MCLACHLAN** is asked by a member of the audience on her VH1 DVD who her inspirations/influences were musically and she does mention Kate! > [@](#): > > To start, I remember reading an article about **NICOLE KIDMAN** from around the time of Moulin Rouge where she was quoted as saying Ella Fitzgerald (I think) and Kate Bush were among her favourite singers. > [@](#): > > I think the same goes for actors **RUSSELL CROWE** and **GUY PEARCE**. I remember Krys mentioning that Guy Pearce even bought the red velvet dress that Kate wore in TSW video for his girlfriend at the time(who might even be his wife now). > > And **RUSSELL CROWE** is also a fan of Kate’s music as is his wife **DANIELLE SPENCER** who is a musician and whose work has a severe Kate influence. > [@](#): > > Fairly well-known folk musician **BILL JONES** (female) has often mentioned Kate and has covered ‘Never Be Mine’ appealingly on a live disc. > [@](#): > > The Autumn Winter 2005/06 Milan fashion show for the Italian label Byblos, by the designer **GREG MYLER** , was also inspired by Kate. > [@](#): > > Actress **LAURA DERN** is also a big fan and [interviewed Kate](http://gaffa.org/reaching/i94_sp.html) at the time of The Red Shoes album. > [@](#): > > Screenwriter and novelist **DAVID NICHOLLS** is another huge fan and mentioned Kate a lot in his BBC TV comedy drama series “Rescue Me”, as well as in his novel “Starter for Ten”. > [@](#): > > The writer on philosophy **JULIAN BAGGINI** discusses Kate’s lyrics in his book “What’s It All About?: Philosophy and the Meaning of Life”. > [@](#): > > From interview with **JOHN BALANCE OF COIL** by Ian Penman in The Wire, April 2000: > > “The mothership & the fatherland” {on [Coil album] “Astral disaster”} is partly an invocation of one of Balance’s unlikelier icons: Kate Bush. “She’s so hidden,” he comments in hushed tones, “she’s one of the aspects of the Goddess.” > > From Interview with **JOHN BALANCE** & **PETER “SLEAZY” CHRISTOPHERSON** of Coil by David Keenan in The Wire, September 1998: > > “We started [“Scatology”, their first full-length album] here at home on a Fairlight Two,” Balance recalls, “same as Kate Bush used to use. I was really into Kate Bush at the time. You can hear that on the record - if you hear the machinery you can. I used to think that actually somehow she was stealing my ideas, … I’ve got notebooks - this was about the time of “The dreaming” - I’d write ideas for songs down and then when I heard “The dreaming” they’d all be on the album. I think that possibly some kind of parallel psychic space is being opened up there.” > > So has he ever met Kate? “No, no, I think I’d be too in awe,” Balance shrinks. “She’s only little!” laughs Sleazy. Balance responds: “Yeah, but she’s powerful…” > [@](#): > > **DREW BARRYMORE** said years ago that when she’s sad, she listens to Kate Bush’s “This Woman’s Work” collection (and when she’s happy and sad, she listens to The Cowboy Junkies.) > [@](#): > > Some time before The Red Shoes, **SUZANNE VEGA** said that she had initially dismissed Kate because of her “interesting” dress sense, but once she actually listened to the music, she realised how great Kate is. > [@](#): > > **SARAH MCLACHLAN** seems to have a love-hate relationship with Kate’s in that she has said lots of times over the years that she was extremely heavily influenced by Kate when she was younger, but then she “grew out of Kate” - cheeky monkey! More recently, she picked “Wuthering Heights” as one of her favourite songs (From iTUNES Canada which meant that she could choose only from TKI and LH.) > [@](#): > > **RITCHIE BLACKMORE** interview in Classic Rock magazine. He describes Kate as “obviously incredible” > [@](#): > > KANYE WEST [in a radio interview] really did say that he was looking forward to seeing Kate Bush at the BRITs. > [@](#): > > In the e-mail Q&A part of Now magazine **TOYAH WILCOX** is asked who do you consider the greatest singer-songwriter of all time? > > She replies > > “Kate Bush. She’s a very good friend of mine and talented beyond belief”. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447/148 "2006-03-13T07:06:09Z")
I hope the skeptics among us read all those quotes. Not that an opinion can ever be proved “right,” or anything like that. Just that my opinion (speaking only for myself) that Kate is an extremely important artist, who has had vast influence, and who is the quintessential “musician’s musician,” places me in pretty good company. At least, I hope that it will make the label “Kate Bush fan” less of a reason for immediate, unexamined dismissal on the subject. Again, not arguing from authority here. Just saying, there’s a difference–if a small one–between being a lone voice howling in the windy wilderness, and being huddled out there with the likes of those quoted above. To reiterate: > [@NIGEL KENNEDY](#): > > I think she’s one of the greatest composers of the century. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447/149 "2006-03-13T16:17:53Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > HUGE THANKS to SkipMagic for taking the time to go through those quotes and remove the line breaks. I appreciate it so much. You’re certainly welcome, although I’m afraid that I’ll now have to disappoint you a bit. My initial assumption–when reading through the code to fix the line breaks–was that you pulled some of your longer posts from various sources, and then included them all into the same quote box. Following your links, however, I saw that giant chunks of the original text were included in your post. I’m afraid that much what you posted in your two bigger posts went beyond Fair Use. Because of that, I’ve gone ahead and removed the extra text. You did mention your source material (and in some, included links), so the Teeming Millions can read more what was originally written if they’re interested. In the future, just post a small amount (I usually suggest a paragraph) and paraphrase the rest. Keep on including, of course, an attribution to the source material. Sorry for the confusion. I should have caught this the first time. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447/150 "2006-03-13T23:45:14Z")
I haven’t read the thread yet. I used to be a big Kate Bush fan back in the '80s. Last year I bought an iPod and put nearly all of my CDs on it, so I listened to Kate’s albums again. It was a bittersweet experience. Sweet because I like the music, and bitter for my Lost Youth. I’m playing a few of the 2,500 songs I’ve put on iTunes so far, and the last one I played was Peter Gabriel’s _Games Without Frontiers_ featuring Kate Bush. _Jeux sans frontieres Jeux sans frontieres Jeux sans frontieres…_ I guess I’d better read the thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447.md?page=7)