Modern Rock Tracks No. 1s - Kate Bush and "Love And Anger"
Before the entire world finally started running up that hill with her, Kate Bush wrote a haunting reflection on finding someone to confide in when you need to unburden your mind
Kate Bush - “Love And Anger”
Weeks atop the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart: 3 (Dec. 9 to Dec. 23, 1989)
Billboard Hot 100 chart toppers during this time:
Billy Joel - “We Didn’t Start The Fire” (12/9/89 and 12/16/89)
Phil Collins - “Another Day In Paradise” (12/23/89)
Kate Bush is an interesting artist to discuss retrospectively, because of all the artists I’ve covered in the 1980s portion of the Modern Rock Tracks chart, she’s the one with the most recent run up the Billboard charts. A lot of ink has been spilled over the amazing run of Bush’s “Running Up That Hill,” which unceremoniously peaked at #30 on the Hot 100 in 1985 but then managed to become one of the biggest hits in the summer of 2022, peaking at an unbelievable #3 on that same flagship U.S. chart while topping other charts around the world. Obviously, the Netflix show “Stranger Things” had a lot to do with that success (the main sequence in question is linked here, but spoiler alert if you haven’t watched the show). In today’s popular music landscape, it showed how long-forgotten hits could potentially find new life, a larger audience, and a new peak on different music charts.
(Another interesting footnote on “Running Up That Hill”: If this Substack is still around long enough to cover chart-toppers in the 2020s, we’ll be discussing this song again. But not Kate Bush’s version. Charts are weird sometimes.)
We are all at least tangentially familiar with Kate Bush these days because of this recent success, but in the late 1980s, she fit the mold of so many others I’ve covered thus far: legacy British act known for several top-10 success in her native U.K., adored by an underground contingent of U.S. fans but stayed relatively unknown until the launch of the MRT chart. It is in this environment that we will discuss the one and only MRT chart topper performed by Kate Bush: “Love and Anger.”
Bush is hardly an unknown in the U.K. I was surprised to see just how many hits she had on her home country’s flagship chart. I was equally surprised to see she topped the U.K. chart with her very first single, issued at age 19: “Wuthering Heights.” It’s definitely something. The U.S. was in the throes of disco fever during this song’s British ascendency, which may explain why it never charted here, but it’s also stylistically something that never really had a zeitgeist moment in the U.S.
She had another ‘70s top-10 U.K. hit with “The Man with the Child in His Eyes,” which was her first song to chart in the U.S., hitting #85 on the Hot 100. Into the ‘80s, she landed another British top-10 hit with “Babooshka,” with a performance-heavy video behind it. Eventually, she scored her then-biggest U.S. hit with “Running Up That Hill,” which topped out at #3 on the British charts and was a top-10 smash in myriad other countries.
From the time “Hill” peaked on the charts until the release of her album “The Sensual World” in 1989, Kate Bush only found modest chart success. She was featured on a Peter Gabriel single “Don’t Give Up” in 1986, which became her last top-10 British hit for nearly 20 years and peaked at #72 on the Hot 100. The video is worth a watch if you’re interested in seeing two very gifted musicians sing while embracing and spinning around in a perpetual circle for nearly seven minutes.
But when Kate Bush signed on to Columbia Records for U.S. distribution in 1989, the first single released from “The Sensual World” was “Love And Anger,” and it immediately found itself in heavy rotation in the closing weeks of 1989. Within two months, it topped the charts and stood in that spot for three weeks.
If you’ve listened to the links of her previous songs, it’s clear that, artistically, Kate Bush is in a different realm than the rock and synth acts we’ve covered to this point. I feel like her music belongs in its own genre, like something you’d hear if you went to the theater or opera house, with a voice that could easily belt out one of the timeless classic songs from Disney cartoon movies of that era. In a way, it’s refreshing to see the alternative charts of the era embracing female artists who fall outside of the traditional rock mold, as it highlights the eclectic nature of “alternative music” as something more than any one type of musical expression.
Lyrically, the song matches a lot of Kate Bush’s themes of love, friendship, deep thoughts and introspection. In “Love and Anger,” she reflects on how difficult it can be to express one’s innermost thoughts or concerns if you don’t know for sure who you can rely on to be a confidant. She talks about how she has something buried so deep, she “doesn’t think she can speak about it.”
It could take me all my life
But it would only take a moment to
Tell you what I'm feeling
But I don't know if I'm ready yet
My kids are like this. Granted, not everything they keep to themselves is a deep, introspective thought unwilling to be dredged up to the surface; sometimes it’s because they felt bad about breaking something or forgetting to do something. But the point of the song is, regardless of what it is you might be holding inside, you need to be sure you’re ready to release it, and that you can confidently express that emotion to someone willing to listen.
After that struggle, Kate Bush’s narrator conceded that yes, eventually, you should be able to connect with that person or people:
You might not
Not think so now
But just you wait and see
Someone will come to help you
We’re all built like that. There’s no one alive that can get through their days without finding an outlet for their emotions and feelings, but it’s the risk of being hurt that creates the confusion. Kate Bush infuses an intensity to that moment in her performance, coupled with a wide range of musical influences coming together to create that sense of simple chaos. It’s a well-arranged piece of music.
Despite the success of this song on the MRT charts, it never made it on to the Hot 100 and ultimately faded from the U.S. charts entirely in the early weeks of 1990. It took another 15 years for Kate Bush to reach the top 10 of the British charts, hitting #4 with “King Of The Mountain” in 2005. It did not chart in the U.S.
Kate Bush might not be your cup of tea artistically. I know her songs, even “Running Up That Hill,” are not really in rotation on my typical playlists. But she is definitely an interesting and talented artist, with a very unique and powerful voice. “Love And Anger” wouldn’t have been a legacy hit for her even before her resurgence in 2022, but it’s a decent part of her extensive catalog.
Rating: 6/10
Chart Check: A look at other notable MRT chart songs from this time period
Beavis and Butthead make their debut here, as does Lenny Kravitz and the short-lived band Dramarama (no relation to the rama of bananas). Big Audio comes back again, as they seem to be a recurring favorite of alternative radio program managers of the era. And there’s also Flesh for Lulu, because why not?
“Love And Anger” as reviewed by “Beavis and Butthead”: It’s not terribly surprising that Mike Judge’s slacker teenagers disliked this track. It’s hardly in the vein of Metallica or AC/DC, so it’s not a surprise that the boys were quick to make fun of it. But as a time capsule of the era, I thought it’d be fun to include in this week’s review.
“Let Love Rule” by Lenny Kravitz: Kravitz makes his first appearance on the MRT charts with his debut single, a relatively mellow version of the electric rock he’d become famous for in the coming years and decades. His initial offering to the alternative rock audience peaked at #5 behind Kate Bush.
“Contact” by Big Audio: Still officially charting as “Big Audio” during this period, the band continued to find themselves in a happy place with alternative radio. “Contact” would be the third top-10 single for the band on the MRT chart, peaking at #6 behind “Love And Anger.” I don’t know what it is that I find so hypnotizing about this band, but much like Kate Bush, they have a style all their own, and it must have been transfixing to hear this and “Love and Anger” in heavy rotation at the same time.
“Time And Space” by Flesh for Lulu: I try to highlight whatever bands I see on the charts that have odd names or are artists I’ve never heard before, and Flesh for Lulu checks both those boxes. A London-based band, Flesh for Lulu never charted higher in the U.S. than they did for “Time and Space,” which peaked at #9 on the MRT charts behind Kate Bush. It’s a solid track, one that seems to channel Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi while emulating the sound of some of the more popular British acts of the moment.
“Last Cigarette” by Dramarama: Not to be confused with Bananarama, the guys in Dramarama make their MRT chart debut here with “Last Cigarette,” which peaked at #13 behind “Love And Anger.” This song feels like a transitional track between ‘80s anthem rock and early ‘90s grunge.