All Hail Kate Bush

Stranger Things season 4 dropped over memorial weekend and THE song of the season is “Running Up That Hill” by Kate Bush, and the popularity of the song on platforms like TikTok have made the near four decade old song a top ten hit again. The song, from her 1985 album Hounds of Love, has been re-recorded a handful of times (a well known cover was done by Placebo and most recently by Meg Myers) but there’s something truly unbeatable about the original.

Kate Bush herself even spoke out on the occasion and in welcoming new fans, on her website recently she stated,

“You might’ve heard that the first part of the fantastic, gripping new series of 'Stranger Things’ has recently been released on Netflix. It features the song, ‘Running Up That Hill’ which is being given a whole new lease of life by the young fans who love the show - I love it too! Because of this, Running Up That Hill is charting around the world and has entered the UK chart at No. 8. It’s all really exciting! Thanks very much to everyone who has supported the song.

I wait with bated breath for the rest of the series in July.

Best wishes, Kate”

It’s incredible to witness a song you grew up on given a new audience, especially a song as epic as any of Kate Bush’s discography.

Kate Bush started writing music at age eleven, the very same age she began teaching herself piano. At 16 she had recorded a demo and sent it out to various folks, and it was David Gilmour of Pink Floyd that helped her really get her music out there. He helped her record a more professional demo tape and helped spread it, and EMI signed her. By the time she had released Hounds of Love, she had already released four studio albums, The Kick Inside, Lionheart, Never For Ever and The Dreaming. The Kick Inside gave us one of her most ecclectic and unique sounding songs, Wuthering Heights. She was inspired to write the song by the book of the same title and ended up creating one of the most iconic songs of the 1970s, something truly unforgettable. By the mid 80's, she already had her first Greatest Hits album, many awards and a duet with Peter Gabriel under her belt, on top of a handful of albums. She was already a prolific songwriter by the time she hit thirty.

Kate has maintained a quiet, private life, as she's previously said it wasn't about the fame for her, it was about making her music. She stopped touring in 1979, after her first tour, and only did a series of live shows again in 2014 doing a residency in London. The shows, titled Before the Dawn, were more than just concerts. They were an artistic vision, complete with actors, costumes and set pieces. The 22 shows in 2014 brought Kate Bush to a new series of fans, but nothing as huge as Running Up That Hill's re-explosion from the success of Stranger Things. You can't go on TikTok today without hearing it all over the app. Memes and edits galore of the song have helped deliver the 37 year old song into the hands of all new people. It's a wonder to behold, to see people fall in love with a song you've loved your whole life. It's delightful to watch people discover even more of her music from their exposure to Running Up That Hill. Cloudbusting is one of my favorites, and I'm quick to recommend it when a friend falls in love with Kate Bush for their first time.

Kate Bush is one of those artists who never gets old, and that's why it's easy for whole new generations to become a fan when they hear her themselves for the first time. I wish sometimes I got to hear Running Up That Hill again for the first time, but I'm living vicariously through everyone discovering her today.