Originally published at: Kate Bush's 1985 hit, "Running Up That Hill," back on the charts thanks to Stranger Things 4 | Boing Boing
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Really thrilled for her. I was a big fan back in the day when Hounds of Love came out. Good to hear another generation is discovering her talent.
Now, let’s hook them into Tori Amos. They are going to love her.
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I heard this at the store yesterday and I feel like the composition feels timeless in a lot of ways.
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I remember exactly where I was when I first saw the video/heard the song – the living room of an old school B&B in Wales, summer of 1985. I had spent the summer in the UK on a work exchange program from the US, and was doing some end-of-summer travel. Terry Wogan introduced the video on his chat show. I was captivated, and Hounds of Love on vinyl was one of the first things I bought when I returned to the US.
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I hadn’t heard of that, what a delightful story.
Another tie-in is that Hounds of Love is like Rumors, all killer no filler.
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Did Orbinson’s Oh, Pretty Woman chart in 1990 thanks to the movie? I know I certainly heard it on the radio, and was confused because thanks to trips to grandmas, I knew it was an old song.
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I love that this song, if you actually pay attention to the really quite literal lyrics, would be a flex for Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion and she got it all over the place back in the early 80s!
What a writer/producer/performer/groundbreaker/artist.
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It’s also been interesting in that thanks to this I’ve finally read the real intent behind the song, I’d interpreted it differently, as a plea from someone physically handicapped, yelling at god for making them that way and suggesting that if god would swap places with them, no longer an omnipotent being but able to feel the hurt, if god really loved them, god would not have made them that way.
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But those kids aren’t listening to it correctly!
Of course, though, my way of listening was terrible. It involved a Sony Walkman, unsafe volume levels, and 35 years later, hearing aids. I listened the shit out of Hounds of Love. What a record.
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The lo-fi synth sound is undeniably cool, and has been coming through in a wave of modern music. The completely sincere and authentic emotional lyrics and vocals with creative vocalization and phrasing is so refreshing after the mid-90s - mid 2000s era of everything dripping with irony. There are current artists/songs that I keep on a playlist that feel like they’re echoing a lot of this 80s earnest power/vulnerability pop: Carry the Zero by Frances Quinlan, Settle Down by Kimbra, Moral of the Story by Ashe, Wildfire by RVBY…
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The video is beautiful also, even viewed through the dim haze of VHS 
. She must be or have been a dancer from how she moves. It makes me feel old to see people move like that. Though if I’m being honest, I couldn’t move like that when I was 20 either, but at least the attempt wouldn’t have been painful. 
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Wow, talk about firing old neurons. It turns out there was a cover ofthis song that I thought was canonical, that I loved, that I now realize was indeed a cover.
I’m certain I heard it on TV, but I have no idea where, and now I can’t find the specific cover, either.
Thanks, Gareth. I am now going to be descending into the bowels of YouTube cover versions for hours… 
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This is one of the many songs that I wished had been a bigger hit back in the day. It’s remarkable how many unorthodox songs went to #1 in the 1980s, while other unorthodox songs stalled out in the lower reaches of the charts. This is no weirder than Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) or Come on Eilleen or Rock Me Amadeus.
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The Wogan appearance was a lipsynced live performance, which was apparently used by MTV in preference to the official video:
Kind of ironic that it’s “lo-fi” now, given that it was played on a Fairlight that cost as much as a house…
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I was listening to Kate Bush incorrectly years before the Zoomers were even born.
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I only knew Mr. Orbison because of that song. I remember that later the radio stations started to play His other songs and the clips of His songs and the ones palyed by the Travelling Wilbury’s could be appreciated on MTV and other local shows.
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It’s been awesome watching generation tiktok discover Kate. Just wait until the hear The Man With The Child in His Eyes!!! Kate Bush - The Man with the Child in His Eyes - Official Music Video - YouTube
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Since we’re posting excellent covers of the original:
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