'I don't know that perfect love exists in any human being, but I don't think it can be encouraged enough.' 'It's very much about love, really - trying to keep it alive,' Bush told Blitz in 1985. However, 'Running Up That Hill' is no compromise: It's a singular statement made by a strong, confident protagonist asserting their worth. Bush's uncompromising creative vision is legendary, and so it's deeply relatable to read that even she grappled with reconciling her artistic intent with commercial forces. People who don't conform to societal expectations or stereotypes often struggle to find their place in the world, or have to suppress parts of their personality to fit in.

This backstory certainly gives 'Running Up That Hill' additional resonance. And normally I always regret any compromises that I make.' 'I felt I had to be grown up about this, so we changed it to 'Running Up That Hill.' But it's always something I've regretted doing, I must say. 'I'd just spent two, three years making an album and we weren't gonna get this record played on the radio, if I was stubborn. Still, Bush was conscious of the lukewarm reception to her previous album, 1982's 'The Dreaming,' and didn't want to pre-emptively undermine the chances of success for 'The Hound of Love.' 'Although I was very unhappy about it, I felt unless I compromised that I was going to be cutting my own throat,' she said in an early '90s interview. 'For me, that is the title - but I was told that if I insisted, the radio stations in at least 10 countries would refuse to play it because it had 'God' in the title,' she told Q in 1989. Perhaps unsurprisingly, 'Running Up That Hill' was originally called 'A Deal With God.' However, Bush's label was worried about the commercial implications of the title's religious overtones. The song hovers between the physical and spiritual worlds, suspended in gauzy, hazy consciousness that's akin to the dreams people have just before waking. 'Running Up That Hill' is warm and enveloping, with galloping rhythms, those mysterious squiggly effects, and Bush's sturdy, conspiratorial vocals. Although these instruments were common in the '80s, Bush's production and songwriting approach elevates the song. The song's origins date back to 1983, when Bush and then-boyfriend Del Palmer started working on the music that would emerge on 'Hounds of Love.'īush wrote the song using the cutting-edge Fairlight CMI, while Palmer contributed a Linn drum rhythm. 30 in 1985, and one of her biggest global singles. Noted Kate Bush mega-fan Big Boi dissected the song for Pitchfork last year, praising the lyrics and production, while a remix of the song played in the closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.īush's catalog has many high points - and her songs 'Cloudbusting' and 'Hounds of Love' have also been covered quite a bit - but 'Running Up That Hill' looms largest of all. It's been covered and interpreted by dozens of other artists, including Tori Amos (who pairs Bush's song with her own 1994 hit 'God' during live performances), Placebo, Chromatics, First Aid Kit, and Jade Bird. That malleability explains partly why 'Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)' - which was released 35 years ago, on August 5, 1985, and appears on the 'Hounds of Love' LP - is one of the most enduring singles of the '80s. The 'Two Minutes To Late Night,' version, meanwhile, tapped into the original's propulsive underbelly, swapping keyboards for jagged guitars and adding theatrical metal flourishes. Meg Myers' approach is pop-leaning and hews close to the futuristic sounds of Bush's take: The song surges forward thanks to booming drums, pulsating keyboards and Myers' gutsy vocal delivery.

Sonically, the two versions of the song are quite different. In June, the metal talk show 'Two Minutes To Late Night' released a ferocious take on the song featuring searing lead vocals from Emma Ruth Rundle (Marriages, Red Sparowes) back-up singing from the show's co-host, Jordan Olds and instrumentation from members of Mastodon, Old Man Gloom and YOB.

This wasn't the only 'Running Up That Hill' cover to make waves this year. For good measure, right after topping the Rock Airplay chart, Myers also spent two weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Rock Airplay chart with her cover of Kate Bush's 'Running Up That Hill.' The milestone was a long time coming: As the magazine noted at the time, the song had been on that chart for 29 weeks.

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