3 Kate Bush Songs To Listen to if You Love “Running Up That Hill”

It’s nearly impossible to have gone through life over the past several years without hearing “Running Up That Hill”. After being popularized by the Stranger Things franchise, the song introduced a younger generation to the pop perfection that is Kate Bush. Now, I think it’s safe to say that we’re all obsessed. In case you aren’t yet, here are a few songs that you’ll enjoy if you like “Running Up That Hill”.

Videos by American Songwriter

“Hounds Of Love” 

This song, which has the same name as the album that’s often considered Bush’s magnum opus, sings of avoidance and a fear of romantic stability.

Bush sings, “Among your hounds of love / I feel your arms surround me / I’ve always been a coward /And never know what’s good for me.”

In terms of production, “Hounds Of Love” bears many similarities to “Running Up That Hill”. For much of Hounds Of Love, Bush used synthesizers and a combination of different drums. Combined with Bush’s vocals, these elements give the project a sort of epic feel.

“Wuthering Heights”

If you love “Running Up That Hill”, it’s likely you’ll also be fond of this song, which Bush wrote when she was just 18. “Wuthering Heights” was Bush’s debut single and made her the first female to reach No. 1 with an entirely self-written song. It’s also sung from the perspective of Catherine Earnshaw, a character in Emily Brontë’s novel. 

“It was a subject matter that had been going around in my head for a long time,” Bush shared in an interview. “I’d originally seen the end of a TV series in England, and it had really stuck in my head. And, uh, I read the book last year, and after reading that I just had to write [Wuthering Heights].” 

“Cloudbusting”

Bush’s 1985 song “Cloudbusting”, like “Wuthering Heights”, was also inspired by a book. The book, “A Book Of Dreams”, details the life of Peter Reich and his relationship with his father. In the music video, a short film, Kate Bush plays Peter, while Donald Sutherland plays the father, a psychiatrist.

Peter Reich would later comment on Bush’s musical interpretation of his memoir. “Quite magically, this British musician had tapped precisely into a unique and magical fulfillment of father-son devotion, emotion, and understanding. They had captured it all,” he told Dazed.

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