It's a Kate Bush Christmas! with Peter Gabriel, dancing violins & more!

December 19, 2020 8:58 AM

Kate The Kate Bush Christmas Special is the antidote for those who are tired of the same maudlin, schmaltzy, saccharine, holiday specials on TV. The show (which aired December 28, 1979) has only one holiday song, December Will Be Magic Again, but Kate answers the age-old question: “what would happen if the BBC gave a Christmas special to an incredibly ambitious 21-year-old art rocker who also smokes a ton of weed?”
posted by vespabelle (17 comments total)

During the second chorus, two anthropomorphic, goth violins approach her, and the three point emphatically as her band’s guitarist rips the sickest solo you’ve ever heard.

That would be Alan Murphy.
posted by NoMich at 9:20 AM on December 19, 2020 [1 favorite]

Google cache of the medium article. (if you don't feel like jumping through a bunch of hoops just to read some text.)
posted by Lanark at 9:32 AM on December 19, 2020 [1 favorite]

Watched this last year. Not to be too grouchy about the premise of this article... but maybe this wasn't a "Christmas" special to begin with—rather, a TV show that aired in December that included one Xmas-y song?
posted by SoberHighland at 9:48 AM on December 19, 2020

Not to be too grouchy about the premise of this article... but maybe this wasn't a "Christmas" special to begin with—rather, a TV show that aired in December that included one Xmas-y song?

Nope, it was quite literally a Christmas special and continues to be advertised and played on the BBC as such.

https://www.katebushnews.com/2019/12/17/1979-kate-bush-christmas-special-on-bbc4-dec-23rd/
posted by jeremias at 9:53 AM on December 19, 2020 [2 favorites]

Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel singing "Another Day" is something I have to see.
posted by StephenB at 9:56 AM on December 19, 2020 [1 favorite]

This is absolutely fantastic, thank you for sharing! Just yesterday I was listening to Wuthering Heights with a thought of arranging it for acoustic guitar. But then I found this and decided my meager talents could never approach the sublime perfection of that cover. The world needs more Kate Bush.
posted by Godspeed.You!Black.Emperor.Penguin at 10:08 AM on December 19, 2020 [4 favorites]

how on earth have I never seen this before?
posted by supermedusa at 10:31 AM on December 19, 2020 [2 favorites]

The article is hilarious, thanks for posting it.
posted by TrialByMedia at 10:51 AM on December 19, 2020 [1 favorite]

I watched the first airing of this special sitting in a NATO-era military dorm room in England shortly after I turned twenty, and thought it was just the most incredible thing I had ever seen. Very cutting edge, and all that.

Definitely not Christmas songs.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 11:48 AM on December 19, 2020 [1 favorite]

I would have loved to have seen this in 1979 but I doubt that it aired in the states.
posted by octothorpe at 1:58 PM on December 19, 2020

This is excellent. Thank you.
posted by Siempre La Luna at 3:00 PM on December 19, 2020

Nice. Thanks. :)
posted by Pouteria at 8:11 PM on December 19, 2020

Wow. This is really something! And I say this as a lifelong Kate fan :-)
posted by 41swans at 9:38 PM on December 19, 2020

Where I live has just gone into lockdown and this is the only silver lining for today, so thank you! So awesome.
posted by Jubey at 3:31 PM on December 20, 2020

This is my kinda thing. Nobody that I know of prefers the album Lionheart except me.
posted by ovvl at 5:39 PM on December 20, 2020

While I feel that there should be a few of these - it's exactly the sort of thing the BBC Light Entertainment department loved to do - the only other one I can think of is this programme made by M to promote the release of their second album The Official Secrets Act.

(Note: No Kate Bush Content; No Christmas Content.)
posted by Grangousier at 12:33 AM on December 24, 2020

This was my favorite part of the holidays, thank you
posted by kfholy at 4:43 AM on December 25, 2020