This week in 1978, a very young Kate Bush defied EMI record executives to pick Wuthering Heights (possibly the most literary and therefore one of the strangest hit singles in history) as the lead single from her 1978 début album, The Kick Inside. It subsequently hit the top spot in the charts, making Bush the first female performer to land a self-penned number hit in the U.K.
Watch below as she debuts the song on the UK's preeminent music program Top of the Pops, showcasing her incredible, timeless talent with her spellbinding delivery of alt-pop brilliance.
Kate Bush | 'Wuthering Heights' [Top of the Pops, 1978]
The success of Wuthering Heights, the first of a string of number one hits for the singer, made Kate Bush a cultural phenomenon. After becoming the first female performer with a self-written number one, she backed it up by becoming the first British solo female artist to top the UK album charts and the first female artist to enter the album chart at number one.
She was also credited for her pioneering use of the Fairlight synthesizer and the headset microphone, for producing her own albums, and for evolving an ahead-of-its-time sound that combined heavy bass with swoops of celestial high notes and her own remarkable voice; earning her admiration from peers like Prince, Peter Gabriel, and Elton John (who collaborated on songs with her), and credit for inspiration from younger artists like Tori Amos, Björk and St. Vincent.
Revist the wildly original Wuthering Heights music video below.
'Wuthering Heights'
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