Kate Bush’s Loyal Fan Base Has Done Some Bizarre Things to Show Their Appreciation
Kate Bush’s loyal fan base has been showing their appreciation of her music way before younger generations heard her in Stranger Things. They made films when she retreated from music and assembled in the hundreds to recreate her iconic music videos.
Kate Bush’s loyal fan base came together to make a documentary called ‘Come Back Kate’ after she retreated from the spotlight again in 1993
After releasing her seventh studio album, The Red Shoes, in 1993, Bush again retreated from the public eye. Starting from her fourth album, The Dreaming, Bush’s hiatuses started getting longer. However, this was to be her longest break from music yet.
Bush’s loyal fan base dreaded how long Bush would be away from music. Fans Quirine Racké and Helena Muskens showed their appreciation for her in a 2007 documentary called Come Back Kate. According to the Guardian, the documentary follows Bush’s loyal fan base during the singer’s break from 1993 to 2005. Each fan speaks about their special connection with Bush.
It also follows a woman who had never heard of Bush as she becomes a Kate Bush tribute act. According to Kate Bush Encyclopedia, some of Bush’s loyal fan base celebrates her birthday on a beach in southern England, and “after a 12-year silence, rumours start circulating: Kate is coming back.”
Some of Bush’s loyal fan base has also re-enacted her music video for ‘Wuthering Heights’ for years
In 2013, performance collective Shambush! attempted to set an unofficial world record for the most people impersonating Bush in one place (per the Guardian). Shambush’s The Ultimate Kate Bush Experience was a part of the festival Brighton Fringe. 300 of Bush’s loyal fan base, both male and female, impersonated her to re-enact her music video for “Wuthering Heights” in Brighton’s Stanmer Park.
The experience inspired The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever, which takes place every year worldwide. It was first held in 2016. Shambush! organized the one in Melbourne, Australia. “The best thing about being Kate Bush is the freedom to express yourself. The freedom to be you,” event organizer Adam Francis told the Sydney Morning Herald.
That year, fans in Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney, and Hobart also took part. There were also events in Berlin, Oslo, Montreal, Tel Aviv, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Wellington.
In 2018, the event again happened worldwide, but that year was special. It was the 40th anniversary of “Wuthering Heights.” Hundreds of Bush’s loyal fan base danced in red dresses in Sheffield, Berlin, Melbourne, San Francisco, Sydney, Gothenburg, Dublin, and more.
Sheffield’s event organizer Linda Ball told the BBC, “It was a tremendous day. There was a lot of drama and expressive moves. We had professional dancers at the front doing the routine although there were a lot of hardcore fans who clearly knew the moves anyway.
“It’s never been done before in the north of England so I thought wow, if we could pull this off and do it, what a memorable thing to be a part of. We wanted it to be inclusive and it was. There were men, women and children are joining in. It was fabulous.”
The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever still happens worldwide.
Some fans aren’t happy that younger generations are discovering her music on ‘Stranger Things’
Bush’s music is reaching a younger audience thanks to Stranger Things 4. Her 1985 song “Running Up That Hill” is an important part of the season’s story. However, some of Bush’s loyal fan base isn’t happy. They don’t like that their niche singer is becoming mainstream and don’t like that younger generations are discovering her through Stranger Things of all places.
One fan on Twitter wrote that he was disgusted that fans are now calling Bush’s music the “Stranger Things songs.” Another fan pointed out that Bush’s music isn’t full of (now) mainstream hits like “Running Up That Hill.” They wrote, “can’t wait for all the kids who discover kate bush from stranger things to check her spotify, put on her most recent album, and listen to a 14-minute song about having sex with a snowman.”
Another wrote, “Kate Bush did not go through wuthering heights, run all the way up that hill to make a deal with god & shout babooshka for y’all to be finding out about her in 2022!”
Meanwhile, another loyal fan posted a picture of two rollercoaster carts passing each other, one carrying a bunch of angry zombies and the other carrying ordinary people. They captioned the photo, “The teens discovering Kate Bush via Stranger Things meeting the coalition of witches, former goths and Sylvia Plath-reading homosexuals who’ve stanned her their whole lives.”
Bush has an army of fans. Bush’s most loyal and longtime fans love her because she isn’t mainstream. She’s an outsider, just like them. Now, because of Stranger Things, the world Bush painted for them is no longer theirs. Bush might love that her music is reaching a new audience, but her loyal fan base would rather she stay in obscurity.
