CROSSING THE LINE

THE 1990s

CROSSING THE LINE

IN A DECADE THAT SAW HER BESET BY BEREAVEMENTS, A BREAK-UP AND LIVING UP TO HER OWN IMPOSSIBLY HIGH STANDARDS, KATE’S PERSONAL PROBLEMS TOOK THEIR TOLL ON HER CREATIVE OUTPUT, LEADING HER TO SERIOUS DELIBERATION AS TO WHETHER SHE WOULD CONTINUE TO MAKE MUSIC AT ALL…

MARK LINDORES

The 90s would be tough for Kate but she would find success in the States and feel the “magic” of her newborn son Bertie as the decade came to a close

As rave, rap and grunge rose to prominence in the early 90s, whispers began to circulate as to whether the everexperimental Ms Bush would in any way be influenced by current musical trends, or if she would remain infamously ambivalent to what was happening outside of her creative cocoon.

Aside from This Woman’s Work, a boxset which compiled almost everything she had released to date, fans were teased with oddities that revealed little about her coming musical direction. In terms of new output, the first to materialise was the soundtrack to a Comic Strip Presents episode, GLC: The Carnage Continues, and a reggaeinfused cover of Rocket Man for the Elton John and Bernie Taupin tribute album, Two Rooms. “Because I was such a big fan of Elton’s when I was little, I was knocked out to be asked,“ Kate said. “When I was starting to write songs, he was the only songwriter I knew of that played the piano and sang, so he was very much my idol.“

“I’VE BEEN VE RY AFFECTED BY THESE PAST THEY’VE BEEN IN TWO YEARS. TENSE – INCREDIBLY IFEEL I’VE LEARNT A LOT AND I THINK MY NEXT ALBUM IS GOING TO BE VERY DIFFERENT. I HOPE PEOPLE FEEL IT‘S WORTH THE WAIT“

KATE BUSH

Next, rumours began that Kate was collaborating with another renowned male superstar after she had been spotted backstage on Prince’s Nude Tour. Though neither of the notoriously private artists commented on the speculation, the inclusion of a thank-you to Kate in the liner notes of Prince’s Diamonds & Pearls in 1991 was taken by some as confirmation that he would be working on her album, given that she didn’t appear on his.

An unexpected appearance on a dance anthem was Kate’s next appearance in the Top 10 the following year when dance act Utah Saints sampled Cloudbusting for their track Something Good. “We hadn’t a clue how Kate would react when we sent her a tape of the track. Especially since we’d nicked the strings and drums of Cloudbusting as well as the vocals,“ recalled the band’s Jez Willis. “We didn’t want people to think we were taking the piss… we wanted it to sound cool rather than quirky. We never actually spoke to her but she must have been cool with the song as she even agreed to sell us a 30-second clip of the video. The only trouble was, we had to edit Donald Sutherland out. If we’d kept him in, it would have cost us an arm and a leg.“