Artist Playlists
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From her 1978 debut smash "Wuthering Heights" onwards, Kate Bush was a critical darling whose records also caught the ear of the greater record-buying public at home. Her early adoption of the Fairlight CMI sampler gave '80s albums The Dreaming and Hounds of Love an endearingly eccentric edge that broadened her appeal among adventurous American ears as well. After the mature The Sensual World and The Red Shoes, Bush took an extended break until 2005's Aerial. In 2014, she surprised fans with her first live performances in 35 years. - Since she catapulted her theatrical, literary pop songs into the world as a teenager, Kate Bush's idiosyncratic genius—typified by unapologetically female themes—has inspired generations of pop innovators. Her influence can be traced through this playlist, as R&B crooner Maxwell honours her tremulous soprano, Björk mines her experimental craft and Yeah Yeah Yeahs exalt her elemental power.
- The otherworldly elixir of artists who inspired Kate Bush's musical incantations brings together global folk, rock, mystical jazz and the dreamiest, most captivating vocal melodies. Her gorgeous songs combine a heaping dose of strutting, androgynous glam (Elton John, T-Rex, David Bowie, Roxy Music) with equal parts prog wizardry (Jethro Tull, Peter Gabriel) and acoustic enchantment (Nick Drake, Laura Nyro, Joni Mitchell).
- Beyond the New Wave waltzes and bohemian rhapsodies that established her as a visionary in the late '70s and early '80s, Kate Bush's experimental tendencies unfurled: She lost herself in passion (“Feel It”) and hungrily communed with the natural world (“Hello Earth”). Though less familiar than her earlier hits, the muted, jazz-inflected reveries on 2011's <i>50 Words for Snow</i> are a testament to her limitless imagination.