Happy 45th Anniversary to Kate Bush’s debut album The Kick Inside, originally released February 17, 1978.
When Kate Bush was only 19 years old, she released The Kick Inside, her debut album that would catapult her to international fame. And while it had been seen before, with the manufactured teen heartthrobs of the ‘60s and ‘70s, and their female equivalents of the early aughts, none owned their music in the way Bush did. Singers like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera had equivalent popularity, but from songs written by older men. Yes, those stars sounded just as lovestruck as Bush, but their tracks were usually about very adult relationships, or often, just sex. With The Kick Inside, Bush is also in love, but with the world around her (natural, historical, and otherwise), truly capturing the budding artistry of an adolescent on the verge of adulthood.
At the time of the album’s release on February 17, 1978, Bush was already an up-and-coming musician, thanks to the popularity of the album’s first single “Wuthering Heights.” In fact, two of the album’s tracks had been recorded three years prior by family friend and musical mentor David Gilmour of Pink Floyd. Gilmour noticed Bush’s talent very early, taking care to put her in front of music executives and producing early versions of her songs. And though Bush had a strong launchpad for a music career, she took great care to be methodical and precious with her first project.
The tenuous release of the album would be a sign of what was to come. EMI had insisted on using “James and the Cold Gun” as the first single, while Bush pushed for “Wuthering Heights.” The record label had also chosen a busty portrait of Bush for the album cover, causing another disagreement between them and the young musician. The debate between artistry and marketability would be settled by the raging popularity of “Wuthering Heights,” an art rock dream sequence inspired by the Emily Brontë novel, which kicked the cloying ABBA hit,“Take A Chance on Me” out of the number one spot on the charts. The public choosing obscure and intellectual material, anchored by Bush’s otherworldly charm, would be the trend throughout her career, allowing her space for constant innovation and reinvention.
Though The Kick Inside was produced by Andrew Powell, backed by his own fleet of studio musicians, Bush is still clearly the creative force behind the album, writing all of the songs, some long before coming under the corporate guiding hand of EMI. Because of this ownership, there is a jubilant, punk quality to the songwriting. And while in the context of pop music, lyrics like “Beelzebub is aching in my belly-o” would sound bizarre, the theme of a young woman bemoaning menstrual cramps in such a whimsical fashion is truly groundbreaking. And though there is dense metaphor and cultural context to dig through, her coming-of-age is both personal and universal at the same time.
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The album is rich with literary and historical references, but the barrier for entry is lowered by the almost juvenile enthusiasm in Bush’s voice. The album begins with “Moving,” an ode to Bush’s dance teacher, Lindsay Kemp. The refrain, “you crush the lily in my soul,” signifies a coming of age, the transition from adolescence into a more self-aware, yet less self-conscious being.
Shimmering synths coupled with more organic instrumentals, like in “The Saxophone Song,” create a juicy tension that would become a hallmark of Bush’s, living in between an ancient natural landscape and a futuristic alien planet. Bush’s historical breadth also knows no bounds. The title track, based on a haunting British folk song about a woman contemplating suicide to save her family from incestual shame, while dark and strange, explores the depth of a woman’s sacrifice in more relatable surroundings. She takes a remote, ancient story, bringing it back to life to express the omnipresent themes of the feminist struggle.
With “Wuthering Heights,” Bush was the first female artist to have a number one hit in the UK with a song she had written. Along with the rest of The Kick Inside, Bush’s debut was just a taste of the unique vision of an exceptional musician and artist. In the following years, Bush would go on to release several more acclaimed albums and enjoy lasting popularity, while never deviating from her subversive, romantic style. It feels like a stroke of luck, 45 years later, that Bush answered her kick inside, the urge to make art and live a creative life out loud.
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