IN PRAISE OF KATE BUSH -1-
Wieland Willker
"ON RECORD - Rock, Pop and the written word"
Simon Frith and Andrew Goodwin (ed.)
Routledge, 1990, p. 450 - 465
IN PRAISE OF KATE BUSH (1988)
BY
HOLLY KRUSE
(C) copyright
In the American musical mainstream, the most innovative performers are usually
the least commercially successful. This may be less true in Great Britain,
where
avant-garde artists such as Laurie Anderson have reached the number one
position
on the pop singles chart, but even that was considered a novelty, and it
remains
surprising that the most commercially successful female recording artist in
Britain is
Kate Bush. Kate Bush's music integrates intellectually challenging subject
matter
into complex and often experimental instrumental arrangements. Her 1985 album
Hounds of Love, for example, which was a Top 10 record in the United Kingdom,
contained songs dealing with out-of-body experiences, the later life of Wilhelm
Reich, and witch trials; and Bush frames her visions in arrangements that
combine
ancient folk instruments with the latest in synthesizer technology. How has
such an
apparently "uncommercial" artist been able to succeed within the constraints
of the
music industry? This question is the focus of the frst half of my essay. In
the second
half I examine the ways in which Bush's music - specifically that found on
Hounds
of Love-employs intricate musical and narrative structures to convey her
vision of a
human essence that transcends temporal boundaries.
THE MAKING OF AN UNLIKELY POPSTAR
Kate Bush's entry into the music business was in itself unconventional. She
began
writing songs while still in her early teens, and by the time she was in her
mid-teens, she and her family had produced a demo tape that contained fifty
of her
compositions. Though every record label to which the tape was circulated
turned it
down, it was not long after that friends of the Bush family brought Kate's
music to
the attention of Pink Floyd's guitarist David Gilmour. Gilmour was impressed by
Bush's songwriting skill and vocal range and in 1974 financed a three-song
demo for
Bush, made with Pink Floyd's producer Andrew Powell. The tape was sent to EMI,
Pink Floyd's record company, where it was heard by Terry Slater, the executive
who signed the Sex Pistols to a major label contract. Slater was quite
impressed with
the demo and signed Kate Bush, even though she was only sixteen years old. In
recognition of her relative youth, EMI made an unusual move and gave Bush some
money "to grow up with", and Bush spent three years continuing her dance
studies,
honing her vocal skills, and developing a more mature songwriting style. In
1977 she
recorded her first album, The Kick Inside, and the frst single, "Wuthering
Heights",
reached the number one spot on the British pop chart just one month after its
release in early 1978.
Whatever the curiosity value of "Wuthering Heights" the young singer proved to
be no one-shot wonder. Though Kate Bush's next album, 1979's Li.onheart, was a
critical disappointment, it did produce a Top 20 single in the U.K., and
there have
been a couple of British hits on all her subsequent LPs: 1980's Never For
Ever on
which she debuted as co-producer, 1982's self-produced The Dreami.ng, and
Hounds
of Love, recorded in the studio she had now built in her home. EMI is
obviously well
satisfied with Bush's success, but it seems unlikely that the company could
have
predicted Bush's profitability at the time of her signing. Even her earliest
recorded
material dealt with unusual subjects, such as life after death, poisoning,
metaphysical
understanding, and supernatural phenomena; and Bush's vocal phrasing has always
been unconventional. Undoubtedly, then, Bush's contract with EMI was the
result of
several conspiring factors. Though the relative importance of each element
can only
be guessed, EMI's market position and the nature of the recording industry
in the
1970s provide clues into the conglomerate's motives for signing Kate Bush.
That it was David Gilmour who brought Kate Bush to the attention of EMI
certainly helped Bush's career get off the ground. At the time of Bush's
signing in
1974 Pink Floyd was a very important act to the company. The progressive band
released its eternally selling Dark Side of the Moon on EMI's Harvest label
in 1973,
and Pink Floyd was a respected and successful veteran of the art rock scene.
Other
members of Pink Floyd were seeking out fresh talent at the time, and EMI
management would have surely thought it in the company's best interests to
cater to
the band members' whims.
The importance of Pink Floyd to EMI was symptomatic of a larger development
in the British music industry in the early seventies. A number of
progressive artists
were selling substantial quantities of records in both Great Britain and the
United
States. The acid rock of the late sixties had evolved into the art rock of
the seventies,
with bands like Pink Floyd, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Jethro Tull, Traffic, and
Genesis becoming industry mainstays. These artists experimented with
synthesizers
and other emerging technologies in order to create new sound experiences. Once
the commercial viability of these musicians had been proved, record
companies were
eager to jump on the progressive bandwagon. One study of the musical tastes of
British teenagers done in 1972 found that almost half of the middle class teens
surveyed favored "progressive" music over mainstream pop. Undoubtedly the
middle-class teen market was one that record companies desired to tap. EMI had
already shown its commitment to progressive rock by launching the Harvest
label in
1968, and by the early seventies it was clear to industry executives that
adventurous
musicians could actually make money for a company. Thus, in 1974 EMI would have
been more likely to believe that an experimental performance artist like
Kate Bush
could sell records than it might have been later in the decade.
Another factor that cannot be overlooked is EMI's dominant position in the
British record industry during the early seventies. Since 1950 the record
industry in
the United Kingdom had been dominated by two giants, EMI and British Decca, and
EMI's position was strengthened substantially in the early sixties when the
label
signed the Beatles. Although increasing competition from American labels
hurt the
industry leader as the decade drew to a close, EMI remained in control of an
array
ofinterests that gave it both horizontal and vertical control over numerous
aspects of
the recording and distribution process in Britain - even in the middle of
the 1970s,
EMI was still manufacturing one-fourth and distributing one-third of all
records sold
in the U.K.
Financial success gave EMI the economic means to invest in the development of
new talent. Moreover, it is in the long-term interest of a large company to
recruit
new talent continually, because "nobody wants to depend on a small number of
acts."
Labels lose artists to other companies, life-style alterations, and death,
as EMI was
painfully aware with the breakup of the Beatles. Record companies depend on a
constant influx of new talent to ensure that the organization will survive,
and, in the
words of one observer, "the larger the company, the greater its need for new
'product.' "
The mid-seventies were definitely a key time for labels to be on the lookout
for
new talent. The British record industry was reaching a stagnation point and EMI
was particularly conscious that it failed to sign the major British
successes in the
United States like the Who and Led Zeppelin. Artist and repertoire (A&R) people
were searching for anything that might prove to be "a 'Next Big Thing,' the new
Beatles phenomenon", that would invigorate the industry. After all, one reason
behind the continuous search for talent is the recognition by industry
executives that
they are working in a "taste," business. The commercial success of a
particular artist
or musical genre is often dificult to predict; therefore, the record
industry must
produce a variety of musical sounds. If, for example, Kate Bush or a Kate
Bush clone
became the Next Big Thing, a label would not want to miss out financially on
the
trend. Record companies, particularly record companies resourceful enough to
carry
numerous failed gambles, see that it is wise to invest in a wide range of
talent just in
case something outside of the musical status quo captures the public's
attention. EMI
may have been gambling when it signed Kate Bush, but it was a gamble that paid.
When "Wuthering Heights," reached the top of the British chart, only EMI had a
Kate Bush, and the idiosyncratic nature of Bush's music made the
construction of a
Kate Bush clone an accomplishment almost beyond the powers of imagination.
In addition, one should not forget that EMI signed Kate Bush at a time when
visually oriented rock performers were growing in popularity. Kate Bush's early
career was aided by her training in dance and mime and her striking good looks.
The visual presentation has always been an important component of Bush's music:
her single "Wuthering Heights" was released with a video at a time when such
promotional clips were rather rare. By the time the video explosion reached
Britain
in the early eighties, old hands like David Bowie, Bryan Ferry, Peter
Gabriel, and
Kate Bush found themselves in advantageous positions from which to exploit the
medium. Bush's lengthy experience in the realm of music video has allowed
her to
direct clips for "Hounds of Love," "The Big Sky," and "Experiment IV."
There is a last point to be made here: although by the mid-1970s U.S. tastes
and
sales strategies dominated the rock scene, and EMI suffered competitively as
a result,
it was still the dominant record company in non-English-speaking markets in
Europe, Japan, and South America - and the company seems to have been aware of
Kate Bush's potential in these markets from the start. Although she is,
formally, a
"singer-songwriter," she did not really compete with early-seventies U.S.
stars like
Joni Mitchell or Carole King. She was a solo performer who gained popularity
with
quiet, though offbeat, songs like "Wuthering Heights" and "The Man with the
Child
in His Eyes." Unlike Mitchell at this time she did not foreground the
acoustic guitar
in her music but instead composed on the piano, and on some early songs,
especially
"James and the Cold Gun," and "Hammer Horror," she relied heavily on the
electric
guitar. And unlike King, Bush was not content to restrict her vocals or her
subject
matter to a conventional pop range. It was, rather, the "exoticness" of her
sound and
image that made her, from EMI's point of view, a possible star in, say, Japan.
The musical climate of the 1970s, EMI's position in the British and
international
music industry, the involvement of David Gilmour as a "gate-keeper,", Kate
Bush's
undeniable talent, and a number of other factors thus interacted at a
specific point in
time to make the addition of Kate Bush to EMI's stable of musical talent seem a
wise maneuver. And once Bush proved a profitable artist, the company probably
thought it best not to tamper with a successful formula and allowed Bush a
great
deal of artistic freedom.
However, though Kate Bush has been a bestselling artist in the U.K. for
almost a
decade, she is virtually unknown in the United States. It was only with
Hounds of
Love in 1985 that Bush received any significant recognition in the United
States.
Though none of her previous albums had been able to crack the Top 100, Hounds
ofLove reached the thirtieth position on the Billboard album chart, largely
on the
strength of the single "Running Up That Hill," which peaked at thirty-one in
November of 1985. But Bush has yet to attain the kind of success in the
United States
that she enjoys in her native England and in Europe; and though "Running Up
That
Hill" brought Kate Bush new fans in American dance clubs, she seems destined to
remain a strangely British and European phenomenon. If her popularity in
non-English-speaking European, Asian, and South American countries suggests
that
factors other than the unusual subject matter of her songs have allowed her to
succeed, these factors have not been suficient to ensure her success in the
U.S.
market.
Putting that to one side, for a moment, perhaps one reason that Kate Bush's
popularity in England has not been duplicated in the United States is
because she is
a very English singer. Throughout most of the history of rock music in Britain,
performers have used accents imported from America. This began to change in the
early seventies when singers like David Bowie and Bryan Ferry employed English
accents, and Bush herself acknowledges the importance of these male artists
in the
formation of her own vocal style.
"I think most of the stuff I have liked has been English. With the majority of
other people well' they were listening to Elvis and people like that and
most of their
heroes were American. The artists I liked, such as Roxy Music and David Bowie'
were all singing in English accents and, in fact' were among the few in
England who
were actually doing so at that time. I mean, Elton John, Robert Palmer, and
Robert
Plant sound American when they sing."