Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights (Reaction/Request)

[@davidoldham8951]

Great review. Kate was ridiculed by the mainstream in her early career. Even comedians used her for material. I was 8 when I heard this and have been a Kate fan ever since. For me she is the female version of David Bowie; experimental, knowing what she wanted to do. Revered by many artists today. By the way there were three video versions, one in the studio, this one and one at a horror theme park opening. Also, look on youtube for "wuthering heights day", many people round the world dressing up in this iconic red dress and dancing to the song.

[@scouttrooperjohnny]

Wow! I have been a Bowie fan since 10 yrs old and a Kate Bush since 13 yrs old and always! tought she was my Bowie and Bowie was my Kate Bush. Bowie and Bush were indepentend, wrote their own stuff and didn't give a shite what everyone else thought what they were doing.

[@raycornford283]

Singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, dancer, choreographer, director, producer and, most of all, story-teller. Kate is a one-off. Even after all these years, it astounds me to think of the maturity of the writing here. In fact, her debut album, The Kick Inside, reinforced that realisation. That a teenager, in 1978, could embrace some of the topics she did ( sex, incest, suicide etc) was an early insight into Kate's unique and challenging genius.

[@leslieturner8276]

As a Kate Bush fan from the very beginning, I was so happy that a whole new set of people were exposed to her music last year, due to stranger things and since so many people on KZbin reacted to her music for the 1st time, I prepared some notes in advance that I could include in comments, here's my notes regarding Wuthering Heights..(although some of you are already familiar with...). A while before Wuthering Heights was written, a younger Kate managed to catch the tail end of a BBC adaptation of the Emily Bronte novel Wuthering Heights when the ghostly Cathy was outside a window of Heathcliff's house wanting to be let in. Kate shares the same Birthday as Emily Bronte and when she was young she was referred to as cathy. In order to get a feel for Cathy Kate read part of the book, interestingly when she did get round to reading all of it after finishing writing the song, Kate noticed certain phrases from parts that she hadn't initially read had ended up in the Lyrics anyway. Kate said that when she sung this song, she was Cathy, she was channelling the character. Kate's vocal performance is a single take with no edits. Kate had to fight her record company to get Wuthering Heights to be her debut single, EMI had chosen a completely different track from her "The Kick Inside" album, in the end EMI released Wuthering Heights because they thought that it would fail and teach Kate a lesson, instead it became a worldwide smash hit. Hitting number 1 in Australia, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal and the UK. It was at least a top 10 (or better) in nine other countries. A single chart performance that would only be surpassed in 2022 by "Running Up That Hill". ++++++ To add: during this period a 2nd wave of Punk was hitting the UK single charts, so this song was indeed something that was very different and unique. Unique because Kate is self-taught and doesn't follow established song structures, normal key changes or regular timing. This song doesn't follow a standard structure, the guitar does indeed effectively repeat her vocals, the key changes are very different and the there changes to timing in the song. When Kate writes a song, she just puts something together that sounds nice to her. She started writing basic songs from age 11, adding more complex lyrics from 13 onwards, by her late teens she had written about 200 songs, although Wuthering Heights is a late addition to the album. Kate is multi-talented a singer, songwriter, musician, dancer, record producer (she co-produced her 3rd studio album and produced subsequent albums on her own), video producer and director. Kate was also very heavily involved in the staging of her two "tours" the 1979 "Tour Of Life" and the 2014 concert residency "Before The Dawn" whose 22 dates sold out in under 15 minutes when tickets went on sale. She has set numerous records in the UK single and album charts. In terms of Kate Bush songs, I could certainly give you recommendations, one approach would be continue on from Wuthering Heights and listen to her single releases in chronological order to gain an understanding of how she developed as an artist. Or you could listen to more single releases from her iconic "Hounds of Love" album and work backwards or forwards from there. Kate's entire catalogue is full of such marvelous high quality songs, you can't go wrong. Although, if you want to listen to my personal favourite Kate Bush "The Dreaming" you might need to work up to it, since it's "an out there" experimental album, which EMI wasn't very happy with and at one stage even threaten to reject until claimer heads prevailed... I hope that you will continue to enjoy your Kate Bush journey.

[@scouttrooperjohnny]

But you know that David Gilmore of Pink Floyd pushed her talent a bit ;)

[@rosemarymccarron3887]

Greetings from Ireland. This is Kates first hit. She was only 19 years old then.She is half Irish. As she was taking off in music,I was starting a career in art. The book wuthering heights ,we studied it at school. May I recommend an Irish singer..Enya..a beautiful artist. She is very illusive and never gives concerts. She is from the same part of Ireland as myself. She epitomises beauty and femininity as does Kate.☘️

[@Cassandra-xj9yp]

I really enjoyed your reaction to this brilliant song..Kate Bush is prog, if you listen to her catalogue I’m sure you discover more rock than you expected...first no1 written by a female in the uk charts by the way, she’s such a brilliant songwriter producer musician just one of a kind..

[@natashab3412]

Dancer/ choreographer as well !

[@scouttrooperjohnny]

She is probably the greatest female writer/producer/performer since...

[@Doris9664]

Great reaction, it might help to know she is playing the part of a ghost and was going for a spooky feel in voice and dance. She was only 19 when she released this song that she wrote herself and went to number 1

[@malvanlondon8683]

It was a new, different, and gob-smacking type of song at the time. I heard WH first on the radio and was blown away by it (and her). Then saw it on Top of the Pops soon afterwards. By far, my favourite female singer-songwriter of all time. In my humble opinion she is absolutely peerless!!! So glad that the USA is finally cottoning on in a big way. And the journey only STARTS here. Many more awesome delights to come - in her catalogue.

[@pazwretzky4673]

I've always loved this song, I believe Kate was also an experienced dancer, so she was also the choreographer for her videos...I'd have to agree with you Mike, that during the period this song was released, it was very different to anything in the charts at the time, that's why I love it

[@raycornford283]

You're right about the impact of the song in '78. I remember very clearly the first time I heard this on the radio. I literally stood transfixed. I went out and bought the album, having heard nothing else from it, and was blown away.

[@dominicschaeffer909]

Kate always dances… on many levels.

[@notanotherenigma7759]

Kate was 'found' by David Gilmore. He championed her to a few record companies. She got a deal, but the studio set her up with a producer they liked, but it didnt work. So they got Andrew Powell, who did the orchestral arrangements for Alan Parson to produce. Oh, and the band is also basically the guys from The Alan Parsons Project.

[@WarrenBridges-um5cg]

@notanothernigma7759 Mutual friend Ricky hopper shopped her around with no success. A former EMI executive is on record as saying Dave walked in and said "Here's this girl you're GOING TO SIGN". He said on KZbin "when Dave tells you you're going to sign her, you don't argue".

[@hatake_romina]

You may want to check out James and the cold gun live version from her Tour of life in 1979. It’s a great rocky song and her live vocals and performance are awesome. The thing with Kate is that the stories are her main focus, and the music is made to accompany the idea and feelings that go with a song. So depending on the topic the goes from one genre to another. There are no limits to what she does. Love her

[@glastonbury4304]

Kate is her own genre ❤

[@gayle8153]

The vocals took me off guard at the beginning too, but I really liked this song. It has a memorable melody that you want keep hearing. Another plus is that Josh from Greta Van Fleet likes her music too, so you know it’s got something going for it, hehe😉

[@mpete42]

A great reaction and it is indeed a fabulous, fluid and singing guitar outro played by the great Ian Bairnson. Ian was also in the bands Pilot, the Alan Parsons Project, and also an exceptional session musician, he played for Mick Fleetwood, Kenny Rogers, Jon Anderson, Neil Diamond, Joe Cocker and many, many more, sadly he passed away earlier this year.

[@malvanlondon8683]

Finally, a few other Kate Bush video suggestions for you include Babooshka, Wow, Hammer Horror, Army Dreamers, Hounds of Love, This Woman's Work, Breathing, Love & Anger, Rubberband Girl, And So is Love, Sat in Your Lap, Suspended in Gaffa, The Big Sky, Cloudbusting, The Sensual World, and Experiment IV.

[@frakte]

Breathing is a work of genius. It takes a truly unique mind to come up with something like that.

[@malvanlondon8683]

You chose the right version - as the white dress video (though very good) crops the song at the end. In other words, a good proportion of the instrumental ending is missing on that one.

[@calvinmurty8273]

Interesting you mentioned ABBA as one of the artists of 1978 - Kate was a guest star in one of their TV specials! Do watch the official studio video version. Her dance moves and some video effects really enhance the whole performance ❤

[@dominicschaeffer909]

David Gilmore was instrumental in launching her career.

[@collinbeal]

Her dancing makes a lot more sense when you learn that she didn't study dance, but rather mime. Everything is so deliberate and paints a clear message of the intent

[@warrenbridges1891]

@collinbeal She studied mime under Lindsay Kemp, but also used various tutors to help coordinate her ideas with other dancers. One of her tutors was in the "Hammer Horror" routine.

[@Muckylittleme]

The pitch is depicting the ethereal tortured spirit of Cathy as is the interpretive dance. This is made a little more obvious in the original official version as she has amore ghostly dress on and some special effects making her appear more like an apparition. It is not really a good song to introduce someone to Kate's music, especially if they go in blind and don't understand the artistic choices. Kate actually has an amazing voice with great range and as an independent artist she often adds her own unique vocal style upon songs. Think how brave she was to choose this as her initial single release against all contrary advice. For more conventional Kate vocals and song writing try "This woman's work"

[@natashab3412]

Tupac's fave , Big Boi too. This women's work is gorgeous Many have already mentioned her other stellar works & Most Wuthering Day Ive loved Kate since hs. ? That's a very long time. Lol )

[@juliansanchezharris5773]

Honestly had no idea. That's so cool!

[@ijustneedmyself]

Don't forget Prince! 😊

[@warrenbridges1891]

If you like guitar, the live version of "James and The Cold Gun" off this album is a must watch.

[@ericodijk]

This particular video was not the original, which was set in a studio. This version here is made when she was here, in the Netherlands. Back then it was common for an artist to make a video in the tv programme but for Kate they went outside into the woods. This was a very unique song and indeed, when released it was like you said, whooowww what's that. Indeed, in a VERY positive way. She recorded it when she was 18-19 and she was discovered at 16 by David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, who secured a record deal with EMI for her. By the way, when played live, she would dance like this and never miss a single note.

[@joecampos5624]

This was amazingly different

[@brettmccutcheon-vigil8943]

A couple thoughts (and I apologize if they have been brought up already). Number 1: Her voice is a little higher than her normal because the character Cathy at this point in the story is a ghost. I prefer version 1 video because the white dress and glow around her add to the ghost character. Number 2: You mentioned that the video is very "low budget." If you watch more of her videos, you can see that she is very good at expressing herself with minimal sets and props. Anyway, thanks for the reaction!

[@joecampos5624]

You should react to the man with the child in his eyes..very beautiful. She sings in a regular voice...

[@IlNyaPasdOrchestre]

Somehow this song scared the shit out of me when I was a little kid.. now I find it's a banger :|

[@trevorchapman1694]

You missed that it's tell the story of the novel. She's Kathy the ghost calling out to Heathcliff , her lover thus the high pitch and the dance moves

[@yesie8375]

Hi just found this channel. Once you read the book watch the movie. My favorite version is the latest one

[@scouttrooperjohnny]

Hey dude, love your video! I would reccomend the song Kate Bush and Elton John did back in the year. Called "Snowed in at Wheeler Street". Its brilliant.

[@pawlee77]

You should check out the Anna Maz cover of Wuthering Heights.

[@kentmains7763]

The Faerie Goddess.

[@heatheroliver3408]

Cathy died and comes back as a ghost to see her lover Heathcliff and she is asking to be let in his window.

[@joecampos5624]

She's a ghost that's come back for her lover

[@kathrynfehon82]

Here’s the Sydney Most Wuthering Heights Day 😊 kzbin.info/www/bejne/sH2uhaF4Z92ogrM

[@joecampos5624]

James and the cold gun is more rock

[@greggiovanni1825]

Great observations but, (I'm not the first to say this) Cathy is NOT happy and NOT is 'the good place'. 😁❤

[@stefannils2032]

You Americans should learn to appreciate difference it makes life wonderful BTW hate heavy metal

[@Yeedeed]

Did I say anything specific in this video that made it seem like I do not appreciate differences, or was that just more of a general comment? Also, if you hate heavy metal, isn't that not appreciating differences? Not picking a fight, just a genuine question

[@stefannils2032]

@@Yeedeed most British people hate heavy metal it's big in the states but not here simple as

[@WarrenBridges-um5cg]

@@stefannils2032 I started off in 1968 as a 13 year old, collecting Led Zeppelin, then Deep Purple, then Black Sabbath, then Uriah Heep, then Rainbow. All British bands before Kate came on the scene. Now, I have every one of her albums and singles. Plus, everything she's EVER recorded with other bands such as Big Country, Go West, Roy Harper, Midge Ure, Peter Gabriel, Prince. I just paid $US300 for an extremely rare "Night Of The Swallow" 7 inch single. I'm not American and I STILL love hard rock & metal. You're comparing fans from not only different countries, but different eras. It seems like you're the one who needs to learn how to appreciate. Not to mention, some manners.

[@stefannils2032]

I love Kate Bush, but can't stand heavy metal punk.yeah velvet underground nirvana ska music soul aretha Franklin, my tate is very varied, but heavy metal I don't think so it's awful