Hall of Fame Inductee #2 Kate Bush

For the second alumni inducted into The Wasteland’s new Hall of Fame, I wanted to have as much of a contrast to my first pick as possible. Therefore I have chosen a musician, who is a singer songwriter of extraordinary range, who is British and a woman. The Wasteland Hall of Fame #2 is the inimitable marvel that is Kate Bush!

There were several female names within music that I debated, and I am sure all of them will end up with a place in these hallowed halls in due time. But, I have settled on Kate Bush because her work has had the most personal influence on me. I discovered her very early on in life, hearing her on Top of the Pops singing Wuthering Heights aged… probably 4 1/2. It was her debut single. It stayed at number 1 for 4 weeks, and came complete with her ethereal dancing as an early effort at a pop video. It was a formative experience of great wonder!

Although she never had another number one single (to date) in her career, there would be 7 more top 10s and 25 more top 40s. A diverse mix of dreamy fantasies and driven anthems that had one thing in common – they were unforgettable songs so unique in style that it has always been hard to hear anyone else cover them or imitate her. They usually came with an odd video, and almost always had a narrative storytelling element that most pop songs ignored. She began writing at 14, with such unfathomably mature songs as The Man With the Child in His Eyes, and is still writing today without fear of being different or the pressure of conformity.

But it as an album artist that she truly flew! In 1985, aged 12, I was given a copy of Hounds of Love for Christmas that year. I was not only a bit disappointed, but a little embarrassed to own it – until I listened to it! It remains one of the best headphone albums of all time! And is indisputable in my top 10 albums ever! Aerial had the same effect some 20 years later, when it was a new, mature, confident Kate Bush emerging from a period as a mother and a relative recluse for someone so famous to prove that she was an actual musical genius, and always was, you had just forgotten.

She has the ability to transport me to another place of pure imagination like no other artist ever has. Her music is not just something distracting for a short time, but an entire landscape to frolic in. I will never forget the pure emotion of hearing my daughter sing This Woman’s Work (Which I actually knew and loved best from the movie She’s Having a Baby, with Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth McGovern)at her school concert!

Oh, and she is also an active humanitarian and patron to many excellent causes and institutions. Kate Bush, Thank you for all the wonder you have given the world, you a genuine pioneer a role model and a bone fide legend!

A top 5 was difficult, but here is what I will say:

1. All of Hounds of Love, 1985

2. All of Aerial, 2005

3. This Woman’s Work, 1989

4. Army Dreamers, 1980

5. Don’t Give Up, 1986

If you’d like to leave a comment on this entry into the Hall of Fame, or suggest a future alumni, please do…