In this new Kate Bush Fan Podcast episode, Bush Telegraph duo (Darrell in the States and Paul in the UK) continue to discuss Kate’s fourth album The Dreaming, in their second installment celebrating the 40th anniversary of this iconic album. As school friends, they bought the album on the day of its release, and the next day met Kate at the album signing in London. We hear more snippets of their experiences in 1982, but the major part of this podcast is Darrell’s interview with Teri Reed, senior engineer at Odyssey Studios. Teri talks about his collaboration with Kate, as Odyssey was one of the studios she used for The Dreaming. We find out, not surprisingly, what a generous and warm colleague she was, as well as the extraordinary levels she went to, to get the right sound for a track. For example, why was Teri coaxed into a car park to find a specific sound she needed? All will be revealed. That, and a whole lot more. The final and third episode to follow will be an interview with Nick Launay, another collaborator with Kate. Enjoy!
You can subscribe to the Kate Bush Fan Podcast on iTunes or Spotify or on any podcast app you happen to use, such as Stitcher or Tunein or listen below on Soundcloud.
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Today we wish our friend, Del Palmer, a very happy birthday as he celebrates his 70th! We hope you know how much you are loved and respected by all the fans, Del, and how thrilled we are for the success you shared in this year with Running Up That Hill taking over the world – you can be so proud of your work with Kate, truly astounding.
With love and hugs from, Seán, Krys, Peter and Dave xxx
In this detailed new episode of The Kate Bush Fan Podcast Seán packs an hour looking back over all the amazing landmark events of Summer 2022 when Kate’s song Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) was featured on Stranger Things and became her biggest ever global smash hit – all the summer chart news, the reaction from Kate, the media and the fans! A souvenir of an extraordinary few months.
You can subscribe to the Kate Bush Fan Podcast on iTunes or Spotify or on any podcast app you happen to use, such as Stitcher or Tunein or listen below on Soundcloud.
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Acclaimed author of the His Dark Materials trilogy, Philip Pullman, has released his book, The Collectors, as a slim 80-page hardback edition illustrated by Tom Duxbury. It’s well known that Kate and Philip are friends and mutual admirers of each other’s work (Kate famously recorded the song Lyra for the film adaptation of Pullman’s The Golden Compass). Kate is mentioned in the dedication at the start of the book as having inspired it!
“Filled with the magic of Pullman’s assured pen, this glorious new tale set in the universe of His Dark Materials sees an art-collecting Oxford academic acquire two imposing paintings…on a dark winter’s night in 1970, Horley and Grinstead huddle for warmth in the Senior Common Room of a college in Oxford. Conversation turns to the two impressive works of art that Horley has recently added to his collection. What the two men don’t know is that these pieces are connected in mysterious and improbable ways; and they are about to be caught in the cross-fire of a story which has travelled time and worlds.“
We’ve been celebrating the 40th Anniversary of The Dreaming on our Facebook page with videos of the 5 singles from Kate’s incredible 1982 album. It was released on September 13th 1982. I wrote about it in the special new 40th Anniversary Issue of HomeGround Magazine (available free here). Also coming this month is a two-part Bush Telegraph podcast episode all about The Dreaming album with some very special guest interviewees. Here’s some of what I wrote:
“Earlier this year I was contacted by the editor of one of the UK’s major music magazines, asking to pick my brains about a Kate Bush cover article they were hoping to run. For a change, they were mulling over doing a cover feature on The Dreaming album, 2022 being the 40th anniversary of the album’s release (almost impossible to believe). As we have seen over the last decade, having Kate on the cover of a music monthly can shift a healthy amount of magazines but typically those feature articles will focus on Kate’s very early career, the live 1979 tour or the perennial favourite album – Hounds of Love.
I was emphatically enthusiastic about the cover idea and reeled off a list of reasons to the editor why Kate’s extraordinary, ground-breaking fourth studio album still deserved every bit as much attention from the music press as the beloved Hounds of Love – it was indeed time for them to recontextualise this darkly complex, astonishing record. It was the first album Kate produced entirely by herself and of course many of you reading this still regard it as her greatest masterpiece out of a triumvirate of her most acclaimed works that includes Hounds of Love and Aerial. The daring, complex experimentations within are not fumbling towards something more accomplished, they are often more startling than those on Hounds of Love itself. The complexity and inventiveness are insane. In the wider world, The Dreaming is normally mentioned as the album she had to make in order to go on to create her “true” masterpiece, Hounds of Love, but many fans feel it mightily holds up all by itself. This is the one that meant she had “broken free of pop stardom’s strait-jacket, to infiltrate the ranks of art-rock aristocrats” as The Quietus put it. It was Never For Ever that was surely the essential transitional work – The Dreaming was her arrival at an amazing new place in her career, a seismic shift.
Paul Hardiman, Kate and Del Palmer at Advision Studio, recording The Dreaming in 1982 (via Del’s facebook page)
There’s so much fascinating drama and intensity around this particular record’s creation and reception. Kate was only about 22 when she wrote the songs and 24 when she released it, but she still had the guts to produce it herself – she was utterly driven to do that. Years after release we still get insights into the making of the record from some of those that were there – Graeme Thomson did a good job in his Under The Ivy biography getting new insights from studio types like Hugh Padgham, Nick Launay and Paul Hardiman. I imagine what it would be like to have been a fly on the wall during the concentrated experimentation of those sessions across expensive London studios like Townhouse, Abbey Road and Advision on Gosfield Street (hence the “Gosfield Goers” credit) as Kate figured out the new technology and sound possibilities at her disposal – the Fairlight, gated reverb drum patterns, the undeniable influence of Peter Gabriel’s studio work. Crafting layers of utterly new, and to some listeners, baffling soundscapes to press forward her post-Never For Ever ambitions. “I was using different instruments, and everything was changing; and I felt that really the best thing to do would be to make this album a real departure – make it completely different. And the only way to achieve this was to sever all the links I had had with the older stuff”
Original album teaser poster, salvaged from a hoarding in Lewisham in the Summer of ’82 and later restored and photographed by Krys!
“Game changer”. “Jarring”. “Cinematic”. “Pulsating”. “Obsessional”. “Thunderous”. “Sonic Assault”. Wading through the word salad that exists to try to describe The Dreaming album makes one thing clear – forty years later, this remains a record you can’t be apathetic about….
…the Uncut magazine cover feature that eventually surfaced in February this year was, refreshingly, not a re-hashed archive article – a considerable line-up of people involved in the creation of Kate’s dark masterpiece are interviewed by writer Peter Watts, including Preston Heyman, Paul Hardiman, Richard Burgess, Brian Bath, Roy Harper, Hugh Padgham, Dave Lawson, Howard Gray, Danny “Dan Dan the Sushi Man!” Dawson, and Teri Reed…
In 2014 on a BBC documentary Del did finally reveal the truth behind the mystery man on the cover of the record, the ‘Harry Houdini’ that Kate is passing the key to – yes, it was Del himself. A great rehearsal shot of Kate (with key on tongue) and Del in the same pose (Del donning a fetching knitted jumper) appears in the stunning book of photographs Kate: Inside the Rainbow by John Carder Bush. John described the final shot thus: “A slightly cloudy day outside in the kitchen garden at the back of our parents’ house. Apart from Kate looking very beautiful, the ivy behind her is wonderfully textured and full of hidden spaces and shadows amongst the glossy leaves themselves. Ivy may look wonderful, but it likes to slowly strangle any tree it lives on. It’s not poisonous, and in ancient times a poet’s crown was made of ivy.”
From “Kate: Inside the Rainbow” – John Carder Bush (Little Brown, 2015)
…it’s interesting to wonder how Kate feels about The Dreaming album now, from this perspective. In the intervening years she’s been asked far more frequently about Hounds of Love, and it’s obvious that her follow-up to The Dreaming is one she’s very pleased with. No song from The Dreaming was performed live on stage in 2014, although an understanding of how the show came to be structured mostly explains that omission. Guitarist David Rhodes let us know that yes, Kate did initially want to do Sat in Your Lap for Before the Dawn but then this got switched out for Top of the City and, sadly, her 1981 single never made the rehearsal stage – we can only imagine. In the 90’s she recalled looking back at that record “and it seems mad. I heard it about three years ago and couldn’t believe it. There’s a lot of anger in it. There’s a lot of ‘I’m an artist, right!’” With that in mind it’d be fascinating to know how Kate felt relatively recently, listening back to the sparkling new version of The Dreaming she worked on with James Guthrie for her 2018 Remastered project. It remains, a very special treat for our earholes – and in this 40th anniversary year in particular we just need to remember to “Play it Loud”
Filmmaker Mary McCartney has debuted her film about the legendary Abbey Road Studios, If These Walls Could Sing, at the Telluride film festival. The documentary includes interviews with members of Pink Floyd, Elton John, Kate, Ringo Starr and Mary’s father, Paul McCartney. From classical to pop, film scores to hip-hop, “If These Walls Could Sing” explores the breadth, diversity, and ingenuity of Abbey Road Studios. Intimate interviews with leading artists, producers and composers paired with vivid archive footage and session tapes give exclusive access to these famously private studios. From Elton John to Jacqueline Du Pre to Jimmy Page, from Kate Bush to Paul McCartney to Celeste, all found their musical language in Abbey Road Studios. Audiences will experience the creative magic that makes it a revered and sacred space that still produces many of the most recognised records today and makes Abbey Road the most famous and longest-running studio in the world.
Director Mary McCartney
Variety writes: “Kate Bush makes a rare modern appearance in the documentary, albeit audio-only. “It’s amazing having Kate in there because she produced her third album there, directed her video in there… I kind of made contact with her. I know she doesn’t do interviews, but I know she feels real affection for Abbey Road, so over time she kindly agreed to do an audio piece that she wrote and sent to me. Just having her voice talking about the space is pretty special as well.” In the Variety review of the film, they note that “resurgent star Kate Bush talks about the studio’s historic reluctance to repaint, lest even the slightest alteration affect the sound…”
If These Walls Could Sing will be streaming on Disney+ at a date to be announced
The latest edition of PROG Magazine in the UK, out Friday September 9th, has a Kate Bush cover, a feature on her 40 greatest songs and includes 4 Kate Bush postcards and a double-sided Kate poster which features that great Never For Ever cover image they released in 2020. It will be available to mail order from Friday at this site. The magazine writes:
“Kate Bush graces the cover of the new issue of Prog as we present her 40 greatest songs, as chosen by her prog peers from King Crimson, Marillion, Opeth, Porcupine Tree, Eivør, The Anchoress, Jane Weaver and more… We also explore the strange phenomena of Kate’s current resurgence thanks to Stranger Things….”
PROG magazine double-sided Kate Bush poster and postcards with the issue
Lovers of physical formats (and Kate collectors) rejoice! As Kate remains in the US Billboard Hot 100 Top 5 this week at No.5, with incredible radio airplay in the USA still, her US record label, Rhino, is releasing a two-track CD single version of Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) on September 2nd!As with the original 7″ vinyl release, the single also includes Kate’s stunning, fan favourite song, Under The Ivy. It is almost three months since her 1985 hit was first heard on the Netflix TV show, Stranger Things, but the song shows no signs of losing its grip on the US public’s affections – it has been a phenomenon all summer. The direct order link from the Rhino Records site is here – this is a US release so shipping will be calculated based on being shipped from the USA. This is the first time the single has been issued on the CD format. So far there’s been no official comment from Kate on her website about this release.
From the shop description: “The first single from Kate Bush’s fifth studio album Hounds of Love, “Running Up That Hill” was originally released to critical acclaim in August of 1985. Available once again, this CD single stays true to the original, featuring period correct artwork and b-side “Under the Ivy.”
CD Tracklisting:
1.RUNNING UP THAT HILL (A DEAL WITH GOD) 2.UNDER THE IVY
One of the highlights of the new 180-page special 40th Anniversary Issue of HomeGround – The Kate Bush Magazine is a beautifully evocative and thought-provoking piece by HomeGround’s own Krys Fitzgerald-Morris which explores not just her own fan memories of decades immersed in Kate’s music but also how Kate’s legacy might be cherished and maintained for future generations… “the pleasure of walking through memories.” I think any Kate Bush fan reading this would find themselves moved, but also a little proud, excited and perhaps a little wistful too – I experienced a whole mix of emotions reading this. Entitled “Through Leaves”, Krys firstly writes about the excitement of the early days of HomeGround Magazine; visiting Kate’s wonderful parents, Robert and Hannah, at East Wickham Farm, organising fan events and conventions (all those fans in The Big Sky video shoot!) and actually starring as an extra in the video for Experiment IV along with Peter and Dave from HomeGround. She shares many personal memories, all so treasured.
Dave, Kate, Krys and Peter (and a half-hidden Del!) at the 1990 Kate Bush Club/HomeGround Convention
Krys writes: “Growing older brings things up sharp and close, like what happens to these special things of ours once we’re no longer here. For me it is these treasured cards and letters from Kate, and cards from her parents. Not only these but the letters, cards and manuscripts of prose and poetry from John (Carder Bush). These things have to be preserved for the future.”
To illustrate just how important this will become for Kate’s legacy and to future generations, Krys recounts her own deep dive over the years into the life and work of Vita Sackville-West (1892-1962), the English novelist, poet and journalist who is remembered for the celebrated garden at Sissinghurst created with her husband, Sir Harold Nicolson. Noting that many of Vita’s letters and manuscripts are housed in archives in the UK and USA, Krys describes a very memorable visit she made to Sissinghurst where she was given special access to Vita’s Writing Room (preserved as she left it after her death in 1962) – filled with treasures and mementos from the writer’s life and work. And so, inspired by this, Krys takes the reader on a visit to her imagined Kate Bush Museum, housed at East Wickham Farm, one hundred years from now in 2122. It’s quite something to read. Like I said, a whole mix of emotions for any fan!
Read Krys’s article, and many many others (including contributions from Paddy Bush and John Carder Bush) by getting your FREE download copy of the epic, new 134-page issue of HomeGround Magazine here!
Well, of course we’ve been calling this the “Summer of Kate” here at www.katebushnews.com (for obvious reasons) but Down Under it’s nothing short of a glorious Winter of Kate as she today racks up an EIGHTH non-consecutive week at No.1 on the Australian ARIA singles chart! Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) has also been a huge success in neighbouring New Zealand where she hasn’t left the Top 4 for the last 9 weeks and even enjoyed a fortnight at No.1 in June!Let’s take a quick look at how the single is doing everywhere now, over two months since Stranger Things sent Kate’s masterpiece song into the stratosphere…
[Note: Don’t miss news of a HomeGround/KateBushNews.com fan event in London in September – all details below!]
OFFICIAL CHARTS: USA: The chart situation in the world’s largest music market remains fascinating – this week Kate retains her highest ever singles chart position in America for the second week running on the Billboard Hot 100 at No.3! Kate’s song has now become not just a streaming/download phenomenon but also one of US radio’s biggest hits of the summer of 2022. As Billboard explains: “The ‘Stranger Things’ viral bump is finally starting to recede for Kate Bush’s resurrected hit, but radio is picking up the slack. Radio programmers continue to successfully test “Hill” in callout research, in which they play snippets of the song to listeners along with other potential playlist staples. Also, it’s unusually strong on several top radio formats, rising from No.5 to No.3 this week on the Alternative Airplay chart and from No.10 to No.8 on the Pop Airplay chart.” As one industry spokesperson told Billboard: “…the audience isn’t tired of this thing.” Kate is currently at No.4 on the Billboard Global 200 having topped that weekly chart of charts on three previous occasions. Billboard have all kinds of charts including Hot Songwriter and Producer charts, you can download the latest set of these here. Kate has enjoyed 4 weeks at No.1 on the Hot 100 Songwriters chart, and an astounding 9 weeks at No.1 on the Rock Songwriters chart and 8 weeks at No.1 on the Alternative Songwriters chart. Kate is also No.2 on several Billboard Producer charts also, having spent up to 5 weeks at No.1 on those.
OFFICIAL CHARTS:Ireland: Kate has today moved down to No.2 after an astounding SEVEN weeks at No.1 in her maternal homeland! Simply staggering Irish chart success. UK: Kate stays in the UK Top 10 for a TENTH week, remaining at No.9 in today’s new countdown – we remind ourselves that Wuthering Heights had a shorter stint, 7 weeks, in the Top 10 in Kate’s home country. Kate has enjoyed three weeks at No.1 in June with her second ever UK singles chart topper and anyone paying attention to her official site knows how she feels about that! Also, very significantly, Kate received an early birthday present on July 29th from the UK record industry when the BPI certified Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) DOUBLE Platinum, with sales of the single in excess of 1.2 million copies! Wow.
Canada: Kate is at No.5 this week in the Canadian chart, down from No.3. She previously peaked at a Canadian chart career high of No.2 a few weeks ago. Germany: Kate remains at No.11 on the German singles chart this week. Kate reached a peak on the German chart at No.4 for three weeks in June. France: Kate is at No.15 in France, having peaked at No.3 for two weeks in June. Italy: Kate has spent 8 weeks inside the official Italian Top 40 peaking at No.18 in June. The Netherlands: Kate is at No.20 in the Dutch charts this week, having peaked at No.3 in June. Kate spent 6 weeks in the Dutch Top 10. Sweden: Kate has had a very impressive run in the official Swedish singles charts where she is currently at No.6. Kate peaked at No.1 in the chart in June and has remained in the Top 7 ever since! Norway: Kate is at No.20 on the official Norwegian chart this week and hasn’t left the Top 20 since she entered the chart at No.4 in June. Finland: Kate has now stayed 8 weeks in the official Finnish Singles Top 20, peaking at number 6 in early June. Denmark: Kate is at No.13 on the Danish singles chart and has spent 4 weeks in the Top 10 there, peaking at No.6. Austria: Kate is currently at No.8 in the Austrian chart and hasn’t left the Top 10 since June, peaking at No.3.
iTunes: Kate is today at an incredible No.2 on the Worldwide iTunes chart, having topped this chart three times previously. She is No.2 in Australia, No.2 in Canada, No. 5 in the USA, No.7 in Chile, No.7 in New Zealand, No.9 in France, No.12 in Norway and No.12 in the UK.
Spotify: Kate is at No.4 worldwide on Spotify right now having topped the weekly global chart three times. She is No.1 in Australia and the UK (Kate has been No.1 in the UK on Spotify for the last 8 weeks!), No.2 in Ireland, No.3 in Canada and also the USA, and No.4 in Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and No.5 in Switzerland. Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) has been streamed almost 400 million times since the song featured on Stranger Things at the end of May, bringing the total on the platform to an incredible 540 million+ streams in total. And finally…
BIG NEWS – Fan event!!! From our own Dave Cross: “Hey kids, I’m thrilled to announce this special event at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern in London, England. HomeGround and KateBushNews.com present; A Deal with God – a celebration of Kate Bush, to raise money for Cabaret vs Cancer on Wednesday 7th September, doors at 7pm.
A gorgeous line up of amazing performers including Jonathan Paul Hellyer, Ginny Lemon, Sadie Sinner, The Songbird Sooz Kempner, Rose Garden with Phil Lawrence, A Fat Child and hosted by Michael Twaits with Pippa Dee Jorge, Veronica Maldonado and Simon Le Vans. Tickets are on sale now.“
From 7pm GMT time this evening, BBC2 television in the UK will be dedicating an entire evening of its schedule to her music and story, to celebrate Kate’s birthday today and indeed her incredible international chart success in Summer 2022!
Starting at 7pm, a programme celebrates Kate’s debut year, 1978, with many Top of the Pops performances from that year, including Wuthering Heights. Other great content includes the previously seen Kate at the BBC, full of wonderful performances 1978-1994, then the great 2014 documentary, The Kate Bush Story, her 1979 BBC TV special and Queens of Song at the BBC!
Happy birthday, Kate! At the start of this month your fans sent us in photos to celebrate your 3rd week at the top of the charts in the UK, but you can add many millions more beaming faces to those above now, who will all be wishing you a wonderful day today…and thanking you. In the year that you had the biggest (record-breaking!) global hit single of your career, the world watched on as you expressed your astonishment and happiness in the most humble and grateful terms imaginable. There is no-one in music like you. No-one. You richly deserve the planet re-discovering your incredible work in such huge numbers, and we hope that continues to delight you….it’ll be a better world for it. Have a great day with your loved ones, Kate! With love, Seán, Krys, Peter and Dave x
Youtube: Since Stranger Things 4 landed on May 27th, the Youtube views of Kate’s iconic, dance-based video for Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) has sky-rocketed, almost 52 million views have now brought the total for the video (since Kate released it to her official Youtube channel in 2011) to 101 million+ views! It remains the most-watched music video right now in Australia, Ireland and the UK and is Top Ten in 10 other countries. Have YOU seen it? 😉
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Official Charts:Global: Kate has just landed her THIRD week (second in a row) at No.1 on the Billboard Global 200 chart. We can’t stress enough how major that is, the chart ranks songs based on streaming and sales activity culled from more than 200 territories around the world, as compiled by Luminate. Amazing. USA: In the US Kate has remained at No.4 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the second week running (third week in total at this peak) as airplay increases each day nationwide. This remains Kate’s highest ever singles chart position in the the USA, the world’s largest music market. Ireland: Kate has achieved her 5th consecutive week at No.1 in Ireland! Unbelievable. UK: Kate remains in the Top 5 in her home country, dropping two places to No.5, with the ACR chart rule now back in place for a second week, but here’s a chart fact that’s worth remembering: Kate has now, in 2022, matched her 7-week run in the UK Top Ten that she achieved with Wuthering Heights in 1978! If she remains in the Top Ten on Friday she’ll have beaten that career record. Astounding.
Australia: Kate has scored her 5th non-consecutive week at No.1 in Australia (she dropped to No.2 for one week at one point) in the week that Kate congratulated the Brisbane Pub Choir for their rousing performance of Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God). Canada: Kate has climbed back up to No.3 in the Canadian chart. Elsewhere on official charts, Kate is at No.7 in Germany, No. 2 in New Zealand, No.9 in France, No.24 in Italy, No.7 in Sweden, No.10 in Norway, No. 4 in Austria, No. 12 in Denmark, No.23 in Belgium, No. 3 in Switzerland, and No.9 in The Netherlands.
Spotify: Kate is enjoying her second week in a row (third in total) at No.1 the Global Weekly Songs chart on Spotify! An extraordinary success. Last week Kate had achieved 13 consecutive days at No.1 on the streaming giant’s daily global chart. Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) has now had almost 441 million streams on Spotify, with a staggering 328 million of those since Stranger Things 4 arrived on May 27th. On Spotify today she has moved down to No.3 on the Global Daily Song chart, but remains No.1 in Australia, Canada, Estonia, Ireland, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and the USA. RUTH is No.2 in Belgium, Iceland, Latvia, United Kingdom, No.3 in Lithuania, Luxembourg, No.4 in Czech Republic, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, No.5 in Bulgaria, No.6 in Austria, Cyprus, Israel, No.7 in Romania, No.8 in Hungary, No.9 in Germany, Poland and South Africa, No.10 in Singapore, No. 11 in Denmark, France, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, No.12 in Finland and No.14 in Malaysia.
iTunes store: The Whole Story is today No.1 in the Irish iTunes charts! On iTunes currently, Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) is No. 1 in Australia, No.2 in Canada, Czech Republic and the USA, No.3 in New Zealand and Hungary, No.4 in France, Greece, Ireland and the UK, No.7 Brazil, Denmark and Mexico, and No.9 in the United Arab Emirates.
Apple Music: On Apple’s own Spotify streaming equivalent, Apple Music, Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) is Top Ten in no less than 37 countries! Shazam: Kate is the No.1 most searched for song in the USA and No.2 worldwide having been No.1 for many weeks.
If you loved the gentle, orchestral version of Running Up That Hill that plays over the end credits of the Dear Billy episode of Stranger Things, a Variety article discusses the production of the “lullaby” orchestral / full choir version of Running Up That Hill by composer Rob Simonsen, heard over the end credits of Episode 4: Dear Billy. The article includes an Instagram clip (above) of the recordings taking place in Air Studios in London.
Finally, for the third re-print of the Kate Bush edition of their popular “Ultimate Music Guide” bookazines, Uncut Magazine has added a feature about the current success of Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) and chat to Stranger Things Music Supervisor, Nora Felder, about how the song came to be used on the show. Nora was nominated for an Emmy this week for her work on the show. This third, updated, re-print of this bookazine is available to order here.
Kate Bush: The Ultimate Music Guide (3rd re-print)
Kate is this week back at No.1 on the formidable Billboard Global 200 singles chart, the one that covers the combined chart performances from around the whole world! She has knocked Harry Styles off the global top spot, the second time Kate has achieved this staggering feat with her song, and once again basically has “the biggest song in the world” as Billboard describe it themselves. In the USA today, thanks to ever-increasing American radio airplay and formidable download sales and streaming figures, Kate has climbed back up the US Charts to No.4, returning to her highest ever placing in the Billboard Hot 100! Can she climb even higher? This is her SIXTH week in the US Top Ten. Anecdotally, we are hearing from fans in the US that Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) is being played everywhere.
Kate has also climbed back up several other national charts; to No.6 in The Netherlands, No.5 in Germany and No.2 in Switzerland. Tomorrow we will see if she has risen further in the Canadian charts and that incredible Billboard Global 200, where she is currently back up to No.3. See Friday’s news post for more current global chart news, including Kate at No.1 in Ireland and Australia for the 4th time in each country.
Spotify updates: The song is at No.1 globally on Spotify this week, and yet again on today’s Daily Global chart, her 13th time topping it! Also very significantly, Hounds of Love has climbed to No.7 on the Global Albums Weekly chart on the world’s largest streaming music platform! Spotify have launched a newly curated “This is Kate Bush” playlist (see it below) that features 50 tracks from throughout Kate’s career and could well help listeners explore other corners of Kate’s catalogue. Her monster hit just continues to astonish.
On her official website, Kate has graciously congratulated LF System who take over the No.1 position in the UK charts after Kate had a three week run at the top. The ACR rule now applies again to Kate’s track, so Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) has to achieve twice as many streams as other songs to achieve the equivalent in converted sales, hence the drop to No.3 on the chart. Kate writes:
Many, many congratulations on the UK No. 1 single for LF SYSTEM. So many of you have loved the last two episodes of Stranger Things, released last Friday. We’ve received an overwhelming number of messages. I just want to say again, how very proud I am that RUTH has been included in the shows in some small way.
Thank you everyone for supporting RUTH with such positivity. It’s lovely to see the song continuing to do so well around the world – it’s just boomeranged back to No 1 in Australia! Hope you can get a chance to enjoy the arrival of summer. Best wishes, Kate
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Finally, something we haven’t linked here before was this solid hour-plus Youtube discussion about Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) from the Produce Like a Pro Youtube channel. It includes chats with those involved in the song and Hounds of Love album, such as drummer Stuart Elliott, engineer Brian Tench and engineer Nick Launay (talking about his work on The Dreaming).
Last week Part Two of Stranger Things 4 landed on Netflix and continued to break viewing records for the streaming service. As expected, Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) featured again in an epic scene in which all the characters in the show were pitted against almost insurmountable odds. An intense version of the song (called the TOTEM remix, from soundtrack composer duo Patrick Buchanan and David James Rosen) was used and is rapidly spreading across Youtube and beyond.
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As a result, Kate’s song has climbed BACK to the summit of many charts (not that she had slipped far at all!) and, briefly here’s the current chart picture:
Official charts: Kate is No.3 in the UK charts today, after having been No.1 for a staggering 3 weeks. Kate is No.1 again today in Ireland for the fourth week in a row! Kate is No.1 again in Australia for her 4th non-consecutive week at No.1 in that country. Kate is No. 2 in New Zealand. As radio airplay in America builds each week, Kate has climbed back up to No.6 in the US Billboard Hot 100. Kate has climbed back up to No.4 in the Canadian charts. Kate has climbed back up to No.3 on the Billboard Global 200 (which covers the whole world!). Elsewhere on Billboard Kate is enjoying her 5th consecutive week at the top of the Hot Alternative Songs chart.
iTunes:Kate is currently No.1 in the world on iTunes. Around the world, Kate is No.1 in Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Hungary, Luxembourg, New Zealand and the United States, No.2. in Chile, France, Ireland and the United Kingdom, No.3 in Poland and Switzerland, No.4 in Mexico, No.5 in Brazil, No.6 in Belgium, No. 7 in Denmark, No.9 in Austria and No.10 in Norway, Poland and Spain.
Spotify: Kate has today once again reached No.1 in the Global Weekly Spotify chart. Always worth pointing out that, amazingly, this means that no other song was streamed more last week on the world’s biggest streaming music service. Kate is also today No.1 yet again on the Spotify Daily Global Chart, her 10th time on top of this chart now. Around the world she is still No.1 on Spotify in Australia, Canada, Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the United States and Top 10 in 22 other countries. Mind-blowing. Also, Babooshka has now passed 100 million streams on Spotify!
We had some lovely words of thanks to Kate from Stranger Things actress Sadie Sinkin this Vulture interview this week. “….The amount of times that I’ve listened to her music over the past two years is ridiculous. It’s gotten to the point where I feel like I’ve created her in my head. I need to reach out in some way. I would love to write her a letter or something, because she played such a big role in Max’s journey. I owe her so much. Okay, let’s get a message out to Kate right now. Sadie, what would you tell her? A giant thank you. Not only from me, but from the character of Max and from Stranger Things in general, because she’s added so much heart to the show and her music has made such an impact on season four. It’s so wonderful knowing she thought my scene had so much heart, because I think she really played the biggest role in that.”
Press: A great article in The Quietus by Matthew Lindsay recently is well worth a read. “This song once more finds itself dropping into a bitterly divided world. But in this world polarised by misunderstanding and division, it’s unsurprising that ‘Running Up That Hill”s searing pursuit of empathy and understanding still cuts so deep, and resonates so powerfully.”The Guardian have a wonderful feature in which stars discuss what Kate’s music means to them, including Brian Molko, Peaches, Sharon Van Etten, Mike Scott from The Waterboys and Russell Mael from Sparks.
Music producer Rick Beato shares with his 3 million Youtube followers exactly what it is about the song structure of Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) that delivers such an emotional wallop. And yes, that D against E♭ dissonance is <chef’s kiss emoji>…
Director Taika Waititi claims today in an NME interview that at one point he was going to use Kate’s music in his newly released film Thor: Love and Thunder “…Yeah, there were a bunch of Kate Bush songs I wanted to have in there. We were gonna have ‘This Woman’s Work’, which was gonna be great for [a scene with] Natalie Portman’s character.”
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And to finish off this update two wonderful videos capturing the viral nature of Kate’s track and also how it has now been embraced worldwide as the anthem the world didn’t realise it needed right now; empathic, galvanising, hopeful, powerful, moving, comforting and renewing.
Korean outfit MayTree have an excellent a capella take
And, what happens when 1600 strangers in Australia have a few drinks, then learn to sing Running Up That Hill in 3 part harmony? Pub Choir joy. No wonder she’s been Number 1 there for four weeks!
