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Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!harvard!think!mit-eddie!nessus
From: nessus@mit-eddie.UUCP (Doug Alan)
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: Re: Bushmania
Message-ID: <90@mit-eddie.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 15-Oct-85 03:19:34 EDT
Article-I.D.: mit-eddi.90
Posted: Tue Oct 15 03:19:34 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 17-Oct-85 07:37:08 EDT
References: <422@harvard.ARPA>
Organization: MIT, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 70

> Bert S.F. Lo (lo@harvard.ARPA)

> Madonna's "Like A Virgin" had already been knocked out by some K-TEL -
> ish UK top 20 hits collection. That's what Kate Bush dethroned.

Depends on which charts you look at...  In any case, KB is #1 on all of
them....  Which just shows that even though it sometime seems that the
world is overrun by by people with lousy taste, there are a lot of
people out there with good taste too -- which is encouraging.  (There
are other artists who do really well too that also help to show this:
Pink Floyd, King Crimson, etc.)

> Yeah, right. WFNX does not even rank in the top 20 in the Arbitron ratings.
> #1 songs on WFNX are popular among college students and the Spit crowd but
> that's it.

Who represent one of the major record buying groups!  It's a big enough
croud to put The Cure in The Orpheum, which Kate Bush could undoubtedly
sell out if she came here.  Which explains why KB's album is selling
like mad in all the record stores.

KB's huge success isn't just limited to Boston, though.  I know someone
in Maryland who went to buy "Hounds of Love" the week after it came out.
He went to three different types of record stores, and they were all
sold out.  One had just received a shipment of 50 two days previous.
And another had sold their 50 in under a week.  He had to settle for
Husker Du.

> V66 has to be commended for playing a lot of stuff that the CHR radio
> stations and syndicated/network video programs don't touch. However,
> that is the same music that WFNX plays and as I've said, it has a
> limited following.

Maybe, but they are primarily mainstream commercial.  And KB's video was
number one.

And Kate Bush is also now in "active rotation" on MTV (though it's not
the real video).

> I'm making no comments on Kate Bush or "Hounds Of Love" but I have to agree
> that this Bushmania that Doug perceives is exaggerated.

Hey, I just stated the facts.  Her record is being pushed heavily by all
the record stores (and is #1 in one and #3 in another), and there are
TV, radio, and newspaper ads for it.  Maybe I'm a little less ambitious
in my criterion for someone to be a "huge success", but I consider Peter
Gabriel to be a big success, and right now, Kate Bush is in the
limelight in Boston much more than Peter Gabriel ever was.  It's also
very strange to suddenly see TV commercials and stuff for someone who
you have loved for years, but have never before even *ever* heard one of
their songs on the radio.

> Over the last 3 years, there have an uncountable number of 1.5 hit
> wonders that were hyped beyond belief and then disappeared (Dead Or
> Alive, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Depeche Mode, Animotion, Berlin,
> Re-Flex, Real Life, Toto Coelo, General Public, Bananarama, ...).

Kate Bush has been a superstar in England since 1978 -- she's had 5 hit
albums and 10 or so hit singles over the years.  So, I don't think your
saying that she's the next Frankie holds much water.

> Just wait about 5 weeks, Doug, when Kate peaks outside the top 20 in
> the US and suddenly all her new "fans" desert her for someone new.

And if that were to happen, what would it prove?  I wasn't saying that
Kate Bush's new-found success in the U.S. proves anything at all about
the quality of what she does.  It's just interesting to watch....

			-Doug Alan
			  nessus@mit-eddie.UUCP (or ARPA)