When Iโm at the piano writing a song, I like to think Iโm a manโฆ
Who is Kate Bush?ย
A girl from humble beginnings? An idol of creativity? A crazed performer? A musical genius? Kate Bush is all of these things simultaneously, and she is the beginning and the end of pure un-sexed music.
โWhen Iโm at the piano writing a song, I like to think Iโm a man,โ a nineteen-year-old Kate Bush says in the March 4, 1978 issue of Melody Maker, โnot physically, but in the areas they exploreโฆ When Iโm at the piano I hate to think Iโm a female because I automatically get a preconception.โ Feminine music may have progressed from the โsweet and lyricalโ described by the past Kate, but female music is still contained by preconception. Striving to impress their power on a world still emphatically perceived as chauvinistic, women like Beyoncรฉ, Ariana Grande, and Demi Lovato favor โshowcase songsโ, songs that display them in all in their badass womanly glory, songs that say โthis is who I amโ. That is the โfemale musicโ brand, and it most certainly sells.
Once the song is being writtenย whoever is singing that song isnโt necessarily me anymore, it becomes the character.
One artist dared to fight the burgeoning tide of girl power and become both a queen and a king. The release of Kate Bushโs first album The Kick Inside, featuring number one single โWuthering Heightsโ, marked the beginning of her valiant battle with commercial audiences, to prove herself as more than a sex symbol in spandex. She did it by reaching beyond her own inspirational sphere, writing songs from the minds of anyone โ everyone.
โOnce the song is being written,โ Kate says to Countdown Australia in 1980, โwhoever is singing that song isnโt necessarily me anymore, it becomes the character.โ Thus, Kate explains, every element of her performances and music videos further the characters, whether its through extensive costuming or interpretive choreography. The many years between 1978 and 1985 featureย Kate as Wuthering Heightsโ Cathy, an actor playing Quasimodo, an army mother, an unborn child, Houdiniโs wife and the son of Wilhelm Reich, to name a mere few. In โBabooshkaโ, released in 1980, Kate plays two women in one, embodying both an old, bitter housewife and her free, sensual pseudonym in the same song. And when sheโs not playing parts sheโs tackling satire, philosophy, theology, and political activism, often on the same album or in the same breath. Kate challenged commercial music and its perception of what women sing, even how women sing, conquering both high-pitched mewling and deep, exorcised screaming.
Kate Bush, and her music provides a brilliant example of how to channel the male mind without becoming men
โI think itโs awful whatโs happening to peopleโs sense of their own sexuality,โ Kate said in an October 21, 1989 issue of Melody Maker. โWomen are made to feel awkward about expressing themselves as women in a manโs worldโฆ a lot of the time, theyโre behaving like men, because they donโt know how strong theyโre supposed to be.โ
No one supports the advancement of women in the music industry with more passion than Kate Bush, and her music provides a brilliant example of how to channel the male mind without becoming men and, thereby, defeating the purpose of female empowerment. By playing men and women, Kate draws their fears, emotions and deepest thoughts into one body, her body, the vessel that holds a hundred personalities compelled by the power ofย undiluted music.
โฆthe most blessedly crazy artist you can add to your music queue.
Everyone who has yet to experience Kate Bushโsย music has an encyclopedia from which to choose, โ the โcrazy albumโ (The Dreaming), the โfeminine albumโ (The Sensual World), the album that actually addresses the possibility of having sex with a snowman (50 Words for Snow), โ with her, nothing is impossible.ย
Kate guides her listeners into worlds all too similar to our own, using sensuality that is strictly human to reach artistic enlightenment. She is a primitive idol, a modern day goddess, and the most blessedly crazy artist you can add to your music queue.
Pull her up, hit play, and put gender identification aside. Reach for the jams of the immortals.
โA man and a woman, canโt understand each other because we are a man and a woman. And if we could actually swap each otherโs roles, if we could actually be in each otherโs place for a while, I think weโd both be very surprised! โฆ And I think it would lead to a greater understanding.โ โ Kate Bush, Radio One Classic Albums Interview, 1992
