Initially, I wasn't going to write about "Running Up That Hill," figuring that everyone and his mother had already weighed in on the sudden surge of popularity for the Kate Bush song thanks to Stranger Things. But then a thought occurred to me. For MEL, I wrote about how Bush has shied away from the spotlight in recent years, only to see her stature grow during her absence. Hope you enjoy.
Recently, as part of KEXP's fall pledge drive, the independent Seattle station asked its listeners to vote for their 10 favorite albums of all time. (My ballot is here.) I was very curious to see how things would shake out, mostly because it seemed a very obvious indicator of who, exactly, listens to KEXP -- or, at least, who goes to the trouble of voting in polls.
This is all very unscientific, of course, but among the things that surprised me about the results was the fact that the highest-ranked album from a female artist was ... Kate Bush's Hounds of Love at No. 50. (I'm not counting the Pixies, which had Kim Deal back during the Doolittle days.) Bush charted higher than Joni Mitchell, Liz Phair, Aretha Franklin, PJ Harvey, Neko Case, Sinead O'Connor, you name it. (And I'm going to take this opportunity to say that I was stunned that the KEXP listeners think so little of I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got that it didn't even show up in the Top 666 albums that the station counted down. What's wrong with all you people?)
What accounts for Bush's strong showing? In general, the KEXP audience tends to enjoy artists who fall into the New Wave/art-pop/slightly goth-y sound of the 1980s. (The Cure's Disintegration is all the way up at No. 8.) So I've been trying to give Hounds of Love a chance of late; my wife has the album and is a fan. We'll see if I become a convert.
"I'm getting Kate Bush/Siouxsie Sioux vibes from this," notes one YouTube commenter. I agree. I've had a hard time connecting with Sharon Van Etten's earlier work, but this one has a little more juice to it.
