Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site harvard.ARPA
Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!harvard!lo
From: lo@harvard.ARPA (Bert S.F. Lo)
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: Re: Bushmania
Message-ID: <430@harvard.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 16-Oct-85 12:37:14 EDT
Article-I.D.: harvard.430
Posted: Wed Oct 16 12:37:14 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 18-Oct-85 21:24:45 EDT
References: <422@harvard.ARPA> <90@mit-eddie.UUCP>
Organization: Harvard University
Lines: 76

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

Emphasis.                                                          ======

> 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.
> 
> > 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.

OK. Then we're definitely talking about different things when we mean "huge
success".

> > 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.

I'm not saying she's another Frankie. I'm saying that the US music industry and
the buying public have had this habit in the last few years of turning everyone
into one hit wonders, regardless of how long they've been around. Depeche Mode
have been around since 1980 with 4 hit albums and 11 hit singles in England,
yet look what happened to them in the US. "People Are People" goes top 15 and
then the group disappears from the US charts. And what about Bryan Ferry's
recent solo LP ? "Slave To Love" did pretty well on CHR radio but can this be
said for the album or the followup single "Can't Stop The Dance" ?

> > 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....

As I said before, I make no comments on her music, only on her current status
and possible future status as an important force in the American music scene
from a commercial aspect.  Americans over the last 3 years have demonstrated 
an incredible fickleness in music. Very few artists have had more than 1.5
hit singles in this period and even those that manage to hit with an album
don't last long. Look at Sade and Power Station. Lots of initial hoopla. An
album in the top 10 for 4 or 5 weeks then POOF! Gone. And the sad part is that
after everyone in the US has heard those 1.5 hits by an artist, the artist is
more or less washed up (in terms of US success). The only artist in the last 3
years I can remember that has been able to come back after being washed up is
ABC. Oh yeah, and maybe Thompson Twins (if the new single succeeds).

I agree that it will be interesting to watch what befalls Kate Bush. It would
be amusing to see her hit 3 or 4 times and remain a hit, joining the ranks of
Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Duran Duran, Wham! and others.

_________________________Bert S.F. Lo (lo@harvard.ARPA)_________________________