When I choose
topics for this blog, I try to pick things to write about that aren’t widely
discussed on the internet. That was the
whole reason for starting this thing in the first place, since I wanted to
highlight topics that might be under-reported or absent altogether from on-line
sources. I break from that format just
this once to write about something that is mentioned fairly frequently on-line,
and I’m far from the first person to do it.
You can also reference this site (and this one, and this one, and this one, and this one) to
read similar pleas. But, I always choose
to write about things I care about, and that’s where this post is no different
from my others, and this week I wanted to add my voice to the countless other
music lovers who ask the same thing year after year: Why isn’t Kate Bush in the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
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| Bush in 1986 |
The Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame attracts its fair share of controversy, and far be it from me
to try to explain it all here. But one
of the criticisms that’s dogged the intuition from the beginning is how
inductees are chosen. Only a handful of people control the
nominating process, and they’re often criticized for appealing to their own
tastes as opposed to more popular views (to their credit, popular views aren’t
always right- Nickelback is very popular but shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near
Cleveland). Nominees are chosen each
year from all eligible acts, and the year’s inductees are whittled down from
that list. Only acts who are nominated
that year can get in. Any artist who
released their first album more than 25 years ago is eligible, and by now that
list of eligible acts is huge (and growing).
Acts can be nominated more than once (Chic hold the record- nominated 10
times and still not inducted). Kate Bush
has been eligible for induction since 2003 and has been nominated for inclusion
a whopping 0 times. Yes, that’s right- zero. None.
In thirteen years or so of eligibility, she’s never even been in the
running.
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| The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland; Kate Bush free since 2003. |
Kate Bush
fans see this as a bit of a snub. When
considering musicians who came out of the 70s and 80s it’s hard to find anyone
who was as wildly original or as influential, and therefore eligible for
induction, as Bush. She’s difficult to classify
as a musician, straddling the line between music and art. She’s a keyboard virtuoso, actress, dancer,
and music video pioneer. I think it’s
fair and appropriate to place her on the same level as other groundbreaking
British acts like David Bowie and the Peter Gabriel era of Genesis (both in the
Hall of Fame, by the way). They all
crossed boundaries between music genres and dipped their toes in performance
art, experimenting with elaborate costumes and stage shows. Musically, she truly pushed the limits of
what a synthesizer (a relatively new instrument at the time) could do, and on
albums like Never For Ever created
sounds that I daresay had never been heard before.
That perhaps
raises another aspect of Bush’s music the Hall of Fame might not fully
embrace. Simply put, Kate Bush’s music
is strange. Her voice can range from a
whisper to a shriek to a howl. She
affects accents and plays characters.
She incorporates sound effects in her songs to build moods (breaking
glass and footsteps on Never For Ever,
birdsong throughout Aerial). Thematically, her music is just as
diverse. She’s written songs about
British composer Frederick Delius, philosopher and inventor Wilhelm Reich, and
Adolf Hitler. The second half of her
epic album Hounds of Love is a
concept album that describes the final moments of a girl drowning after falling
through thin ice. She has recorded
albums that might be considered more “normal” (such as her debut The Kick Inside), but she’s truly at her
best when she’s at her most experimental.
Her strangest and most complex work (The
Dreaming, Hounds of Love, the double album Aerial), are clearly her strongest, and perhaps it’s this
strangeness that’s prevented her from becoming more of a mainstream success in
the U.S. She remains somewhat of a
cult figure in the States, and this also might be holding up her
nomination. Other cultish musicians
(like Frank Zappa) have been inducted in the past, though, so maybe there’s
still hope.
Her recorded
work is unique within the music world and remains as lush, strange, and
challenging as ever, but it’s her massive influence on others that also makes
her eligible for inclusion in the Rock Hall.
Reading through Bush’s Wikipedia page (easiest for us researchers with
limited time) the list of musicians she’s influenced is extremely diverse and
crosses through musical styles and genders.
Tori Amos is the artist that’s cited most frequently as being extremely influenced
by Bush, but the list of her admirers is much more exhaustive and inclusive;
Allison Goldfrapp, k.d. lang, Robert Smith of The Cure, Tricky, even unexpected
musicians like Johnny Rotten and Tupac
freakin’ Shakur. Her willingness to
experiment with image and costume also be seen in the work of PJ Harvey. Florence
Welsh of Florence and the Machine is heavily influenced by Bush, and if you don’t
believe me listen to Bush’s “Sat in Your Lap” and “Dog Days are Over”- even the
music videos for the two songs are similar.
Joanna Newsom’s song “Leaving the City” could be a Kate Bush song, and the album that song appears on (2015’s Divers) is a direct descendant of Bush’s
stranger and more experimental albums like Never
For Ever and The Dreaming.
It’s easy to
make the case for Bush’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but
it’s hard to overlook the one glaring issue that may be keeping her from
getting in- when it comes to inducting female musicians, the HoF has an
absolutely awful track record. While
researching this post, I looked over the inductees to the Hall, choosing to
focus on everyone inducted since the year 2000.
I did it this way because Bush has only been eligible since 2003, and I
wanted to focus on her era of eligibility.
The breakdown isn’t particularly diverse, and looks something like this:
Since 2000,
103 acts have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. That’s counting acts, not individuals (most
inductees contain multiple band members, though some are solo performers).
Of those 103
inductees, only 8 have been female solo performers: Bonnie Raitt, Brenda Lee,
Patti Smith, Madonna, Darlene Love, Laura Nyro, Donna Summer, and Linda
Ronstadt.
An additional
6 inductees have prominent female members:
Talking Heads, Pretenders, Blondie, ABBA, Heart, and Joan Jett & the
Blackhearts.
One inductee
contains multiple women (but no men): The Ronettes.
In total,
that’s only 15 acts that are comprised of all women or some women. This works out to about 15% of
inductees. If you calculate only the
percentage of the inductees who are female solo performers, it’s less than 8%
of the total. 8%. Compare that to male
solo performers, and the imbalance becomes even more glaring. 30 male solo performers have been inducted
since 2000, making their contribution about 30% of the total.
O.K., you
might say, that’s just the numbers since the year 2000. Female inductees may be a little scarce
lately but surely the entire history of the institution doesn’t look this
bad. Well, not so fast. Going back all the way to the first year of
induction (1986), only an additional 7 female solo inductees can be found
(Aretha Franklin, LaVerne Baker, Ruth Brown, Etta James, Janis Joplin, Joni
Mitchell, and Dusty Springfield).
That brings
the all time total to 15. The Hall has
been inducting members for 30 years.
Hundreds of acts and musicians have gotten in. Only 15 of those inductees have been female
solo performers. That averages out to 5
a decade. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
people, you can do better. Start by
inducting Kate Bush.
Ultimately,
what’s it all matter what some music executives in Cleveland think? Why do Kate Bush fans take it so personally? After all, not being included in the HoF
doesn’t change her music. We can still
listen to it and be inspired by it whether her name is on the list or not. She’ll keep releasing albums (albeit slowly) regardless
of whether or not she’s included. She
might not even care herself. But fans
can take these things personally and see induction as validation for a life’s
work- just look at how much fans of the band Rush pushed to get them
inducted. They were relentless in their
support of the band and eventually succeeded.
Kate Bush fans need to do the same thing (and I don’t mean to offend any
Rush fans, because I know you’re a dedicated lot and I respect that, but Kate
Bush is way more eligible for induction then Rush). Induction also means preservation. The Hall of Fame is also a museum, and induction
means that her legacy, both musical and material, can be preserved for future
generations.
I close with
a personal story about my introduction to her music, a story that I think underscores
the personal connection that Kate Bush fans have with her music. When I was in
college 20 years ago I found a second-hand copy of The Dreaming at the local Salvation Army (on cassette no
less). It cost a dollar. I knew who Kate Bush was but didn’t really
know that much about her music. I bought
it on a whim but was hooked from the first time I heard it. It was complex and strange and it made me think.
It certainly wasn’t a passive listening experience. I was studying art and was close to receiving
my BFA degree, and I realized that
this album was art too. It had to be interpreted. It was challenging and dense but also
alluring and beautiful.
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| This is the album cover I'm referring to. |
I
was working as a DJ at the college radio station at the time and I eagerly
raided the stacks of vinyl, looking for more Kate Bush albums. It was always fun looking through the old
records at the station since students would often write comments or reviews on
the record sleeves. Sometimes they would
be general comments like “this is good” or “don’t waste your time”, and
sometimes they’d be warnings to future DJs, like “track 7 uses the F word” or
something like that. As I browsed
through the Kate Bush albums I found a simple three word comment written on one
of her records that remains one of the most accurate and succinct statements I
could ever find on her music. The record
was the 12” single for the song “Sat in Your Lap” and the cover features a bizarre
looking portrait of Bush wearing an odd striped costume (see right). Scrawled across the cover were the words
“weird but good”. I couldn’t have said
it better myself.
The Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame holds their annual induction ceremony tonight (April 8) in
New York City. Kate Bush will not be in
attendance. Here’s hoping for next year.
