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From: nessus@MIT.EDU (Doug Alan)
Newsgroups: rec.music.gaffa
Subject: The final word on the censorship of the RuTH video
Message-ID: <9104261750.AA05997@twitch.media.mit.edu>
Date: 26 Apr 91 17:50:36 GMT
References: <9104260602.AA16917@MIT.EDU>
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Reply-To: Doug Alan <nessus@mit.edu>
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I'm afraid I'm responsible for starting this misguided rumour that the
"Running Up That Hill" video was too erotic for the U.S. market.  I
made this assumption years ago before the video was released in the
U.S. when an acquaintence of mine, who had seen the video long before
I was able to see it, told me that it was like the "Hammer Horror"
video (which is far more shocking in its eroticism than the "Running
Up That Hill" video).  This comparison of the RuTH video with the
"Hammer Horror" video, combined with the knowledge that EMI-America
had told me that there were problems with "suitability" of the RuTH
video, led me to conclude that the video was too erotic for the
American market.  I passed on this news and my assumption (though I
told him it was only my assumption, and not a proven fact) to Peter
Morris of Homeground via a phone conversation.  He has apparently
continued to pass on this rumour ever since.

The truth of the matter, however, was told by John Carter Bush at the
Kate Bush convention in November of '85, so Homeground should also be
aware of the accurate reason for the U.S. consorship of the real video
for RuTH.  It *is* true that MTV refused to play the real video for
RuTH.  Their refusal to play the real video lasted for the period of
time that the song was in rotation on MTV.  During this time they
played only the Wogan TV clip.  Once the song was taken out of
rotation, they started playing the real video in altrenation with the
Wogan clip.  The reason for their refusal to play the real video,
however, was not due to any eroticism in the video, but rather due to
the fact that the video was not lip-synched.  MTV has (or at least
had, at the time) a policy that "breaking" artists who have not yet
achieved popular success in the U.S. market, must appear to sing in
their videos.  MTV took this complaint to EMI-America, which took the
complaint to the Bush family, which decided to send EMI-America a tape
of the Wogan appearance to placate the philistines in the U.S.  MTV,
now happy with a video which fit nicely into their pigeon-hole for
"breaking" artists, promptly put it into rotation.  EMI-America
distributed both videos to other TV stations, giving the stations the
choice of being either philistines or bastions of taste and culture.
A year later, MTV, in their infinite wisdom and hypocracy, nominated
for best video by a female artist Kate's real video that they had
previously refused to show.

I hope this sets the record straight!

|>oug

"This whole damn world is wild at heart and weird on top." -- Peanut