katefans@chinet.chi.il.us (Chris Williams) (04/26/91)
Vickie here. I'm coming in a bit late on this discussion, but I have a
chance to post and I'm taking it.
I became a fan in mid-1981. I had been a fan of Peter Gabriel since 1973.
When his 3rd LP came out I saw the name "Kate Bush" in the credits
(for B-VOX? I didn't know what the hell that was, though I later figured
it out) but I had no idea who she was. Just a session singer, thought I.
I was penpals with another Genesis fan (I was, up to and including "Abacab")
and she asked me what female singers I was into. None, I had no albums
by females in my record collection, unless Jefferson Airplane counts.
And Fleetwood Mac. I had no albums by solo female artists though.
She sent me a compilation tape with 3 different artists and I put the
tape in and pressed Play:
1) Sally Oldfield-What a pretty voice! Nice. Yes, I like it.
2) Lene Lovich- WHAT IS THIS??? I had never heard ANYBODY like Lene
before in my LIFE!!! I had never heard anyone doing anything
weird and silly with their voice before. Her swoops and screams
and trills and yelps were all new and fascinating to me. It was
great and I kept rewinding and playing her over & over again.
I was sure the artist on Side 2 couldn't possibly be anywhere
near as interesting, even though she'd played with Peter.
Oh well, I'll turn it over and give a quick listen, then I can
come back to Lene. Have to get some Lene Lovich albums tomorrow.
3) Kate Bush-ohmygodwhatisthis???????? Well, 30 seconds into the first
song, Wuthering Heights, and I knew I'd begun a love affair that
would last me the rest of my life. Words cannot describe....
Needless to say, Sally & Lene were totally forgotten.
I played WH over & over & over again and I was actually afraid to
listen to the other songs because I was sure they would be an
awful let-down after the sheer brilliance of WH. I shouldn't have
worried though. They were wonderful of course and the next day I
went out and bought TKI & Lionheart. I couldn't find N4E though
my friend sent it to me the next week. I played this tape for
EVERYone I came in contact with, but no one was interested. I was
desperate for information about her but had no way of getting it.
Then my friend sent me a Record Mirror with a cover story on Kate.
Sat In Your Lap was just being released in England and the article
was about that. It went into background information too and I was
astounded to learn that she was very well known in England and the
rest of the world. I wrote a letter to Record Mirror and asked them
to please print my name and address in hopes that sympathetic Kate
fans would send me the fan club address (the KBC had been mentioned
in the article) and give me some more information about Kate. RM did
print my letter and the first response I got was from a non-fan who
offered to obtain Kate items in exchange for American bondage magazines!
Uh, I never wrote him back. The next day I got a second letter and it
was from Peter David Fitzgerald-Morris. It seems I'm the first American
fan he'd had a chance to contact. After that I got a flood of letters
from Kate fans. It was amazing. Everyone was so nice! I immediately
learned that Katefans are the sweetest bunch of people on the face
of the earth. I got a job as a truck driver (yes-the "Big Rigs"-I was
probably the only truck driver in America rolling down the interstates
to the tunes of "Wuthering Heights", "Army Dreamers" etc.-Kate kept me
awake many a night) and lost contact with most of them. I didn't meet
another Katefan in person until I met Christopher in December 1982.
If anything, my level of love and respect has grown over the years.
The more I found out about Kate, the more in awe I was of her. Everything
about her is so wonderful. Her music (first and foremost), her lyrics,
her artistic integrity, her videos, her voice, her philosophy, her looks,
her childhood, her devotion to her family.....everything about her!
She's my hero!
Favorite album: The Dreaming (Forever & Ever, Amen!)
Favorite songs: Sentimental-Wuthering Heights, Other-Night of the Swallow
Favorite B-sides: Under the Ivy, Dreamtime, Walk Straight Down the Middle
Favorite Cathy Demo: Tie between Davey & Frightened Eyes
Favorite video: Sentimental-Wuthering Heights, Other-whatever I'm watching
Least favorite album: Don't have one. Whenever I try to make a list like
this, Lionheart always ends up at the bottom and,
since I DEARLY LOVE that album, I think like this:
The Dreaming
The Ninth Wave
Lionheart The Kick Inside
Hounds of Love The Sensual World
Never For Ever
I'm trying to make a circle, or a clockface, something like that.
Anyway, nothing ever gets put last, because all of her albums are
perfect at different times in different moods. They change places
within the circle, only TD remains my constant favorite, followed closely
by TNW.
Vickie (one of Vickie'n'Chris)