Among the pop, dance, and rap tunes that have dominated the charts this year, MTV viewers may have caught a slightly off‑beat rhythm in the download numbers. “Running Up That Hill,” originally dropped in 1985 by the enigmatic Kate Bush, resurfaced after its placement in Netflix’s hit series Stranger Things. The song’s revival sent it soaring back up the charts and shone a fresh spotlight on a brilliant yet often overlooked artist: Kate Bush.
10 Stranger Things You Didn’t Know About Kate Bush
10 She Shared a Dance Teacher with David Bowie
David Bowie counted Kate Bush among his biggest influences, and while his music speaks for itself, his theatrical flair can be traced back to the same dance mentor they both studied under. That mentor was Lindsay Kemp, a renowned dancer, mime, and choreographer whose workshops shaped both artists’ stage personas.
Kemp grew up in England’s industrial north, splitting time between Liverpool and South Shields. After completing a stint in the military, he pursued formal training under the legendary mime Marcel Marceau. A young Bowie, then 19, spotted Kemp performing in Covent Garden and soon forged a creative partnership that birthed iconic personas like Ziggy Stardust.
When Bush enrolled in Kemp’s dance classes, he initially saw her as a shy mouse that sprang to life onstage. She later dedicated the track “Moving” from her debut album to him, and Kemp famously discovered a copy of the song slipped under his door after its release.
9 Her Collaborations Have Been as Eccentric as Her Music
In today’s music landscape, collaborations are almost a given, with countless features listed after the main artist’s name. Kate Bush, however, kept her partnerships rare and deliberately chosen, each one reflecting her unique artistic vision.
Her most celebrated duet came with Peter Gabriel, former Genesis frontman and “Sledgehammer” maestro. Together they performed live, and “The Man with the Child in His Eyes” stands out as their most beloved collaborative piece.
Bush also ventured into comedy, teaming up with Rowan Atkinson—better known as Mr. Bean—for a quirky track titled “Do Bears…”. The song includes a tongue‑in‑cheek line about a “creep” who drives her “around the bend” and a bizarre solution involving “sleeping with his friends”.
Perhaps the most poetic partnership was with actor Stephen Fry. On her tenth studio effort, 50 Words for Snow, the closing title track features Bush and Fry reciting the word “snow” in a cascade of languages, creating a haunting multilingual lullaby.
8 “Wuthering Heights” Was Written About the Film Adaptation, Not the Book
Kate Bush’s breakthrough single “Wuthering Heights” burst onto the scene when she was just eighteen, penned in March 1977 and released a year later. The track vaulted her into history as the first female artist in the UK to top the charts with a self‑written number one.
Contrary to popular belief, Bush didn’t draw inspiration from Emily Bronte’s novel itself. Instead, she was moved by the BBC’s 1978 television adaptation of the story. After watching the screen version, she composed the song, completing the novel only afterward.
7 Bush’s Impactful Use of the First Synthesizers
Sampling now feels as commonplace as a drum beat, but there was a time when artists had to invent new ways to incorporate recorded sounds. The pioneering instrument that made this possible was the Fairlight CMI, a digital synthesizer and sampler released in 1979.
Peter Gabriel was the first UK musician to acquire a Fairlight, and Bad Company followed, often renting the machine to film composer Hans Zimmer. By the time Bush arrived at her third album, Never For Ever, she was harnessing the Fairlight as a core compositional tool. The single “Babooshka” showcases this, featuring the crisp crack of breaking glass that Bush and Gabriel captured in a nearby car park.
6 Her Team Ushered in the Microphone Headset
Microphone headsets have become a staple for gamers and remote workers, but their origin story traces back to pop icons of the late‑80s. While Madonna and Britney Spears popularized the look, Kate Bush’s groundbreaking tour, The Tour of Life, demanded a more practical solution.
The Tour of Life remains Bush’s sole live concert series, a massive production that blended dance, poetry, music, and even magic. The sheer physical demand often left her exhausted, sometimes collapsing after performances.
Realizing that holding a traditional mic limited her movement, sound engineer Martin Fisher improvised a headset by attaching a microphone to a coat hanger and wrapping it around her head, giving birth to the modern headset design.
5 She Was Banned by UK TV for Killing Actors…in a Video
Kate Bush’s catalog is filled with eccentric themes, but none are as startling as the 1986 track “Experiment IV”. Created to promote her greatest‑hits compilation The Whole Story, the song narrates a covert military project that seeks a sound capable of killing.
The accompanying video featured a parade of British TV stars—Hugh Laurie, Dawn French, and Peter Vaughn—each meeting a grisly demise. The graphic content prompted the BBC’s Top of the Pops to ban the clip outright. Bush’s fascination with horror cinema, evident in her homage “Hammer Horror”, earned the video a Grammy nomination for best concept video in 1988.
4 She Broke Japan by Appearing on Their Version of X Factor
Long before reality‑show juggernauts like American Idol or X Factor shaped pop careers, Bush ventured into the Japanese market, a notoriously tough arena for foreign artists. She entered the 7th Tokyo Music Festival International Contest to promote her tour and astonishingly finished second.
Only limited footage survives, mainly UK news reels, but the clips reveal Bush sightseeing around Tokyo and performing promotional events ahead of the competition. The festival, which has hosted legends like Dionne Warwick, Al Green, and Lionel Richie, highlighted Bush’s willingness to take bold, cross‑cultural steps.
3 She Wrote Music for a Coca‑Cola Fruit Drink
In the mid‑1990s, Coca‑Cola launched Fruitopia, a fruit‑flavored beverage aimed at young adults, backed by a $30 million marketing blitz featuring whimsical names such as Pink Lemonade Euphoria and Citrus Consciousness.
Surprisingly, Kate Bush was commissioned to score all nine Fruitopia commercials. Though she had largely retreated from the public eye, her eclectic soundscapes—filled with world‑wide instruments and eclectic textures—perfectly matched the brand’s psychedelic vibe, turning a seemingly odd partnership into a memorable campaign.
2 She Turned Down a Bond Theme
The 1979 James Bond film Moonraker featured a theme that initially sought a big‑name vocalist. After Frank Sinatra declined, producers approached Kate Bush. She politely refused, citing an upcoming tour (and perhaps a lack of enthusiasm for the song).
The opportunity then passed to Johnny Mathis, who also declined, before the track finally landed with Shirley Bassey, marking her third Bond theme. Bush’s decision left the song in the hands of a seasoned Bond‑theme veteran.
1 The Sex Pistols Frontman Once Wrote a Song for Her About Parrots
Although punk legends the Sex Pistols and the ethereal Kate Bush occupied opposite ends of the musical spectrum, their paths crossed through mutual admiration. Frontman John Lydon, a self‑confessed Bush fan, once attempted a collaboration.
In a 2009 documentary about pop queens, Lydon revealed that Bush asked him to write a song for her. He obliged, crafting a track about the illegal parrot trade in Brazil. However, Bush declined the offering, reportedly replying, “Not what I had in mind, John!” and turned the song down.