When a series holds as much cultural power as Stranger Things does, it’s always interesting to sit on the sidelines and watch what music, movies, games, and other references suddenly enter the popular zeitgeist. And thanks to Max’s impeccable music taste, the chosen idol of ascendance for Stranger Things 4 is Kate Bush. Bush’s absolutely perfect 1985 single, “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God),” is featured prominently in the season. And it’s now charting. To which I say: what’s up, new Kate Bush fans?! It’s about time — we’ve been waiting for you!
Without getting into spoilers, one of the series’ protagonists, Max, blasts “Running Up That Hill” to help cope with her trauma. To anyone who endured the hell known as Being A Teenager While Also Dealing With Trauma, having a favorite song that helps gets you through is a deeply, deeply empathetic idea. (Mine was “Feel Good Inc.” by Gorillaz. A true child of the mid-2000s.) Stranger Things 4 released on Friday. By the weekend, “Running Up That Hill” was already climbing the charts. As of the following Tuesday, “Running Up That Hill” is number one on iTunes and in Spotify’s top five. In other words, Stranger Things 4 is leading people to discover the brilliance and majesty of my lord and savior, Kate Bush. And I deeply hope that adventure goes beyond just “Running Up That Hill,” because Bush’s discography is worth exploring.
I half-jokingly call Bush “the lady Prince” — because, like Prince, she was an artist ascendant in the 80s who kind of did it all. Bush composes, sings, plays multiple instruments, dances, produces her own records, and writes amazing and witty lyrics. Her first single, “Wuthering Heights,” was released when she was just 19 years old and charted at Number One. Prior to her widely-regarded masterpiece Hounds of Love — to which “Running Up That Hill” is the opening track — she built her own 48-track recording studio from scratch because she was tired of dealing with renting studio space.
While Bush’s music regularly charted in the 80s, she became relegated to a more “underground” vibe in the following decades. In other words, she became the kind of music icon that people who have a degree in music will talk your ear off about (guilty). But, for the life of me, I don’t understand why she’s not a “mainstream” feminist music icon. She became a bit of a “if you know, you know” artist. Perhaps Bush’s music became less ubiquitous because she became increasingly experimental. Or perhaps it’s because Bush has only released three albums between 1993’s The Red Shoes and now. Her only tour since 1979 was a multimedia residency at the Hammersmith in London. The residency won accolades in both the theatrical and musical worlds.
The pre-Stranger Things modern-day vibes around Bush are exemplified by a rumor (via the New Yorker) that went around in 2017 that Coachella refused to book Bush because the festival’s CEO felt modern American audiences wouldn’t “understand” her. Bush’s team later denied that Bush had any interest in Coachella in the first place. Regardless, Max singlehandedly showed the premise behind the rumor to be dead wrong. The current ascendence of “Running Up That Hill” is doubly sweet because, even at the time of its release, the highest it ever peaked was number 3 on the UK Singles Chart. That made it Bush’s second-highest charting song, next to the aforementioned “Wuthering Heights.” Stateside, it just reached the top thirty of the Billboard Top 100.
If you’re looking for more, my favorite Kate Bush album is The Dreaming. Its opening track, “Sat In Your Lap,” is imaginative, infectious, empowering, and one of my all-time favorite songs. (An excellent example of Bush’s clever lyrical turns: “I hold a cup of wisdom / But there is nothing within / My cup, she never overfloweth / And ’tis I that moan and groaneth.”) The second track, “There Goes A Tenner,” was my first favorite Bush track and narrates a bank robbery, backed by brilliantly cheeky piano and brass. The Kick Inside and, of course, Hounds of Love are also great places to start. And so. welcome to the new era where we endeavor in the light of Stranger Things 4 to give Kate Bush every ounce of the recognition she deserves.
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