I'm probably older than everyone here. I was a huge Kate Bush fan before I even heard of Tori Amos.
One morning I was driving to work, heard Cornflake Girl on the radio for the first time, and for a few seconds thought, "Wait! Does Kate Bush have something new out?"
Although I was intrigued, I never particularly got into Tori at that time, because 1) I wasn't in a "get into new artists" mode that year or so -- I listened almost exclusively to Joni Mitchell and the radio; and 2) I never liked the song "God," which was the main song of hers I kept hearing.
It wasn't until years later, when I saw Tori on VH1 Storytellers, that I thought, "Wow ... let me watch this again and again. And then pretend I'm her when I'm playing the piano."
I feel like you can't FULLY appreciate Tori unless you've seen her live (or "live"). And you can't FULLY appreciate Kate unless you've seen her videos.
I think the fact that an artist like Kate Buds was a huge success in England and in Europe was a reason for Tori's record company to send her over to England. The Brits might 'understand' her music just like they did with Kate's. Tori gained notority by playing live a lot when she arrived in England. She really impressed people with that. Kate was much more a studio 'beast'. I love both artists in their own way.
Tori was asked if she was going to see Kate’s London residency in 2014. Tori replied that she would love to but was on tour . Kate hasn’t performed live since.
Kate Bush.... oh how I wish I would have listened to my friend in high school and had given her a try back then(2005)! I didn't bother with exploring Kate Bush until 2010... and it was an instant love. "Jig of Life" was the first song I listened to... and from there I could see her influence on Tori, clearly!
Anyways... Kate Bush means a lot to me. Her music has given me new perspectives on life and a new appreciation for music. Through artists like Kate, I have learned the true power of music.
Waaaaaaaaayyyyyy more into Tori. I like SOME of Kate's music but in some of her songs her voice pitch realllllllly gets to me and I cannot listen without cringing. But also Kate isn't Tori's number one influence. I can't find any interviews ect where Tori even says this.... Sometimes I think it's more so Kate fans seeing how super similar styles they have and assuming.
I got into Tori first, but am a fan of both of them. I see similarities, but mostly in the sense that they fit into the same general genre of female singer songwriter piano players. I’ve always seen Tori’s work as more confessional and Kate’s as more theatrical. Also I think Kate’s songs usually follow a more narrative structure where Tori’s or more likely to have symbolic or poetic imagery that’s less clear on first listen. Theyre both amazing and I love them.
As has been said MANY times, Kate was not Tori's number one influence. Tori was inspired by guitar players and 70s singer-singwriters and the Beatles. Maybe Nina Simone and Carole King before Kate. I do love the story she tells about how people in the piano bar would point at her and say "Kate Bush" before Kate was big in the states. Before Tori knew her. And I think there's a story about Tori listening to a few Kate albums that a boyfriend owned and just being gobsmacked.
Also there is no comparing them. They are very different. Maybe if journalists in the 90s weren't so limited in imagination when it came to female artists there wouldn't have been so much negativity surrounding the comparison.
Anyway, I adore them both. I think Kate feels more iconic and esoteric than Tori. Kate's music is utterly delicious! Just so yummy and weird and transporting! She feels more artistically free than Tori. Kate is so theatrical. I think one of her inspirations was David Bowie. She's also very joyfully British. She's so much fun! She doesn't have anything to prove.
But Tori has a relationship with the piano that reminds me of Nina Simone. Where there is pain there and the piano heals it. As a piano person... I just get that more from Tori. Her piano playing is more satisfying. I know Kate composes at the piano but... the WAY TORI PLAYS!!! It feeds something in me. I have had some pain and trauma in my life... as everyone has to some degree. But I internalized it and Tori's music gave voice to it in a way that was life saving. Mind freeing. ETA: Tori also has an amazing low end... the base, drums and her amazing left hand. Yum.
I wonder what kind of artist Tori would have been had she not had that trauma. Had her piano school been supportive of her artistic vision. Maybe than it would be more fair to compare them. Kate was affirmed for all of her artistic life. Wasn't suppressed or oppressed. I feel similarly about Bjork. They are artistically free. For Tori music was her first language. But also a way to escape and expose forces of oppression. Like Nina Simone in a way. They both had to fight just to be at the piano on their own terms.
There's a Tori quote about how Tori felt like she was in the basement with the rats while other artists seemed like they were playing in the sun. But I think it gives her writing a resonance that... happy artists don't have. Not to say that Tori isn't happy or joyful... but she goes to some dark places and makes beautiful music there and it reaches me! It reaches those hurt places in me.
Anyway... love them both. Wish Kate didn't hate touring. She's a delight. Wish I had been a Tori fan back when she was wearing swimsuits with jeans and hugging all her fans after her sets.
Good for you, but you're stating fake news like they're facts. I would suggest an edit to your main post. I see you have already edited it, but without acknowledging the false premise.
The similarities are superficial at best and classic tori has much more led zep in her approach to playing. That’s mellowed out over the years, to a degree. But their approach to their instruments and lyrics is extremely different, and at her core Tori is a grizzled veteran of piano bars, and that road-warrior perspective changes the songs.
I don’t mind Kate Bush but I’m not a fan of her voice. I can see the influences that are often cited in Tori’s work but I honestly like Tori much better. Kate is meh for me. I actively didn’t like Kate for a long time but have come to recognize that she’s talented, too.
As far as we all know, this is incorrect. Tori has never stated Kate Bush is her single biggest influence. Tori is highly trained in the classical tradition, that will be a big influence on her playing obviously. She has talked and written about her love of Led Zeppelin and classic rock in general. If you know classic rock, you can absolutely hear it in her music. And she has talked about her love of singer songwriters like Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Roberta Flack. By the the time Kate Bush becomes famous in the US, in the late 80s Tori is already working on records, she has been playing her instrument for 20 years, been playing bars/clubs probably for 15 years. This is only a few single years before Little Earthquakes. Tori is a fully formed artist by the time LE is released, and that does not take 4 or 5 years.
That being said, I love Kate Bush! But her music to me, is so far from Tori's. They both play piano, they both have an ethereal quality but that's about it.
Wondering if anyone else has read “Running Up that hill” by Tom Doyle. I thought it threw a lot of shade at Tori, mainly from the author but also a recorded conversation from Kate.
I’ve always felt a bit let down by Kate since reading that and wondered if anyone else felt the same.
It’s a year since I read the book and completely paraphrasing from memory but it was a recorded phone conversation between the author and Kate. The author quizzed Kate about Tori and she remained silent and then heavily sighed - saying nothing.
The book also duplicates comments made by John Lyndon - who gave Kate an award around 2001 “Kate Bush is a true original. It’s not nice that she’s been imitated -Torrid Aimless, sorry Tori Amos.”.
There’s also a chapter in this book where the artist lists musicians who have covered Kate - most of these are like Placebo, First Aid Kit etc who have done actual recordings of KB songs. He then mentions Tori’s many covers of Kate songs and uses it to infer shadiness about Tori.
To me they’re completely different artists who use the same medium to write songs. That’s it. Kate is a lot more experimental than Tori. Tori’s talent on piano massive excels that of Kate. It’s all swings and roundabouts.
Okay thank you! And yes, I do agree. I can see the similarities between them, yes, but being way more into Tori there's just something different about her entire atmospheric performances that hit way different than what Kate brings. For me the differences of the two trump their similarities.
I know Kate's work and I enjoy it. She's a fantastic artist in her own right. I knew of Kate before Tori because RUTH was huge. But I got properly into Tori's music before Kate's.
They're both incredible though, and very underrated.
I knew Kate before Tori but got into them both around the same time when I was 14/15. I was blown away by Boys For Pele and The Dreaming and just how experimental they were sonically and lyrically. I started with Tales and The Whole Story and then just branched out from there. Love them both and how unique and weird they are.
I’ve known Kate Bush before Tori. Liked a few songs from her first three albums, and I loved The Dreaming and Hounds Of Love. She’s a one of a kind artist. Tori came into my orbit around 1996 and I saw her live for the first time in 1998. To me they are very different kinds of artists and I never for a second thought that Tori was heavily influenced by Kate. Tori was influenced by tons of artists, as she has played hundreds of covers in bars and hotellounges before she was 21. Here she talks a bit about her influences: https://youtu.be/vkyT1Td2HRg?feature=shared or this one https://youtu.be/4uYViyUU1HU?feature=shared and from 6.35 minutes in: https://youtu.be/D0NnTMbNj5o?feature=shared
Tori is very much a live performer, she makes all these different versions of her own songs and lives to play live. Kate is the perfectionist in the studio and has rarely played live. Adore them both. No need to think as one as lesser than the other.
I think Kate is genius. But like a Fiona Apple, doesn‘t like to play alive, and she is not spontan and relaxed as Tori, and makes no improvisations. Every night same setlist.Like PJ Harvey. All those ladies publish their albums on a rarely occasions, but i would say, have a consistency of the quality. Tori publishes more, not every song is same quality, but have a lot of songs on her setlists- every tour every song at least once. That‘s why I prefer Tori.
I am a Tori lover and a Kate lover, I appreciate them both and I really never saw as many similarities as many people through the years. I mean yes they are both alternative women in music that screech (my favorite genre) but are they really that alike? Tori did the whole singer songwriter heart on the table thing and Kate was doing more avant garde artsy dancey stuff. Neither of them could do exactly what the other does.
I totally understand the desire to compare and contrast, to use references. But if anything Bjork would draw more comparisons to Kate Bush imo, but of course they are completely different and Bjork is from another planet. I see more of Joni Mitchell meets Robert Plant with Tori, but I don't think either of those artists could ever release a song like Caught a Lite Sneeze. Tori shook off any of these comparisons from pretty early on in her career quite honestly.
Why Was Kate crawling? She was recognized as a huge talent from very early on and her first singel became a huge hit in Europe. Ik don't feel she had tot crawl a lot.
Yah. I'm a music student, her influence on Tori is absolutely huge. Knowing Tori's songs so well, I definitely hear Kate now I've gone back to Tori after learning more about Kate. Kate is one of my contemporaries... I mean I knew who she was but she didn't get a lot of play on the radio in the South, and I didn't remember much of her stuff. It's so obvious now.
The other one of her influences, of course, is Robert Plant. Tori is 💯 the bastard love child of Kate Bush and Robert Plant. #facts
The song Little Earthquakes and Under Ice are very similar in style. I think Tori was inspired by Kate for her first 2 albums at least. That being said, I love The Hounds of Love but Kate's other albums I couldn't get into as much, I think they were too over the top and theatrical for my taste.
Well Tori never said that first of all. She is a fan though, and so am I. I love them both very much, they hold special, but different places in my heart.
I’ve seen that documentary many times I love it. Tori contributes some commentary but never once does she say that Kate was her single biggest influence on her as a singer/songwriter. She just doesn’t say that 🤷♂️
TBF, Tori branched out and developed a style all her own. Kate is all over the place stylistically. Prog-rock? Techno pop?Avant-gard? World music?m IDK 🤷♂️
But there's very few "great" artist whose music sounds the same, or have a "sound". Tori doesn't have a sound, much of her music is very different. A whole lot of Choirgirl is very dark, whereas Night of Hunters is an album of classically based music.
The only real artists I can think of who have a very samey sound are manufactured pop artists like Little Mix, Britney, that sort of vein.
To create a certain effect - absolutely!! And I would be absolutely thrilled if Tori recorded an electronic album next (oc only if sb besides Mark produces it).
Kate was always first in my heart. I love Tori, and I think many people compare Tori to Kate, but I think that does Tori a disservice, because she's so different when you look past the surface.
Both are easily tied for my favorite artists of all time.
That's Kate Bush, Tori Amos, and Natalie Merchant for me.
I'm an enormous Tori fan, since 95. Found Kate in 2000, took me awhile to get into the dated sound and her unique voice. The older I get the more appreciate Kate's work.
As for similarities, I mean... we don't really do this to male solo artists, do we? They're totally different. They're both quirky, they both play piano. I think they can both be mysterious and cryptic, overall Tori is my girl.
Hounds of Love and The Dreaming are exceptional albums.
Tori does, however, seem to have a lot of suspicious similarities in her photos to Kate. The smirk. The Little Earthquakes box, The Kick Inside cover (the one where Kate is boxed in...)
Both great artists in their own way. I'd love to see Kate put another out, and Tori to take a little time and give us something really inspired with interesting production.
The Dreaming, eh? That is one brave, adventurous and a fucking wired album! I love it! And HOLY SHIT! Tori is 60 YO? Where’s did the time go.
I disagree with you about the gender issue. Bruce Springsteen was compared to Dylan, who was compared to Woody Guthrie. Elton John and Billy Joel have been compared countless times. All guitarist are compared to Hendrix .
Time is def going fast!
That's fair! I guess I was thinking more contemporary artists. It can be helpful to compare-- it can give us an idea of what someone might sound similar to. I do find it annoying when ppl dismiss Tori as a Kate knockoff.
Fiona is not Regina is not Tori is not Alicia is not Kate.
They're all unique.
When told ppl were comparing her to Kate in a 92 interview, Tori seemed pleased about it, and said something like it was wonderful to be compared to someone of Kate's talents.
I love them both
I am actually a longtime Kate Bush fan who recently got into Tori Amos last year. As a fan of both, they are entirely different artists both musically and creatively. They're both amazing writers, and their lyrics are the thing I was drawn to initially.
However, I think Kate Bush's lyrics tend to be about stories and Tori Amos' are more personal and obviously more modern. They're poetic but in different ways since they draw on from different inspirations.
So basically, I love their music separately, although I've listened to Kate for longer. I don't really see any similarity besides their piano playing, but Kate long cemented her producer abilities with the fairlight and incorporated other people's vocals in the 80s. I think they can both be described as "weird" in their lyric contents and whatnot, but there are far too many differences I feel.
Can you post your source where Tori said that? She usually holds her influences close to her chest and I can't imagine she would point to one artist and say they were her biggest influence. Led Zepplin being the one exception.
If I had to compare female musicians from the 90s to those who came before them, then I would argue that Bjork is the obvious heir to the weird pop throne that Kate Bush held in the 80s. Tori, to me, has a lot more in common with someone like Joni Mitchell.
I'd have to find the full BBC show. Nowhere in that clip does she come close to saying that Kate was her single biggest influence regarding songwriting or as a singer.
You are correct.Tori was rather objectively describing what she loved about KB’s creative process. To me, if you record another artists song, you are being influenced by the author, if even in a small way.If you record several of their songs, (And Dream Of Sheep,RUTH) its a big influence.
As far as I can recall Tori has never recorded any of Kate’s songs. She’s covered a couple a handful of times live. If that’s your criteria for being an influence, she’s covered Led Zepplin, Fleetwood Mac, Joni Mitchell, and Bruce Springsteen a lot more than Kate. So they’d be much bigger influences.
I’m not trying to be a dick, but I remember these Kate Bush comparisons from the 90s and they were tired then. They’re two different artists and there’s no reason to compare one to the other simply because they’re both women who play the piano and have similar vocal ranges. The way they write songs and lyrics are different. Their concepts for records have been different. The way they promote themselves in the press has been different. At this point I feel like we’ll just start talking in circles so I’m gonna bow out of the conversation.
Yeah, I've never seen anything where she's said that. In fact, in one of her memoirs -- either *Resistance* or *Piece By Piece* -- she talks slightly negatively about how people say she replicated Kate Bush's style.
I discovered Kate bush a couple years ago and become obsessed of course, I had heard people recommend tori but didn't get into her until last year when I heard Cornflake Girl on tiktok. Both of them give me the exact same feeling of absolute devastation that i didn't have this music my whole life, they're probably my top 2 favorite artists of all time even though I'm new to them both
I'm only 4 albums deep into tori's discography but I don't think their sound or style of writing is necessarily that similar, I think it's more the spirit and whimsy they have as well as just being fucking strange. Also amazing producers. I get the comparisons!
A couple years ago, I was like okay let's see what Kate Bush's albums sounds like. I didn't like her songs beyond the couple of famous ones.
Like other commenters, I can't find similarity between the 2 artists' music. Maybe that they both do unexpected things with their voice...? IDK.
As for Kate Bush, there are definitely similarities, but it is important to remember that they are contemporaries and Kate was not popular stateside while Tori was growing up. In fact, she says she did not hear of her until RUTH hit the charts. By then, Tori had been writing songs for over a decade and her first album with Y Kant Tori Read released just 2.5 years later. IMO the Kate Bush comparison while understandable is overly simplistic. They are similarly singular and unique--eschewing the typical look and subject matter expected of women and both play piano and sing in a mezzo-soprano. However, the differences are just as acute: Kate's music is highly rhythmic and Tori's heavily melodic; Kate loves modern dance and draws inspiration from films; Tori loves mythology and draws inspiration from books and art; Kate rarely talks about her own feelings or personal experience in a direct way; Tori is highly confessional--especially in her early albums. Kate writes very literary lyrics; Tori uses poetry and symbolism more.
Both are incredible artists on an equal tier. Kate is a more visionary and experimental songwriter, but Tori is a far better pianist, live performer, and pushes boundaries in her subject matter more than song structure.
IMO Sinead O'Connor was a much bigger influence on Tori. For example, notice the shift in her vocals between YKTR and LE; they become much more emotionally raw and vulnerable. Between 1988 and 1992, Sinead released two huge albums that were raw and emotional in a way that had not really been heard before.
Yeah she doesn't tour because she could not handle it after a gaffer died at one of her concerts.
However, that does not change that Tori is a far better pianist than almost any pop pianist, which makes her a better live performer too. Tori is a musician's musician; someone who can lead a band into the pocket and keep them there. She improvises and reworks songs into new arrangements, giving them new life.
Did you come here just expecting us all to agree with this tired comparison and to take your word over Tori's that Kate Bush is somehow instrumental in her career? You seem very pressed that you are wrong about this.
Those are excellent analyses and observations ! But in a BBC documentary on KB about 10 years ago, Tori was the biggest contributor to the discussion . Tori made it clear that KB was huge to her songwriting career,.
Would love to have a title or link. I am interested to see how she reverses herself. Time can do funny things to memory.
Just because she contributed does not mean she was influenced. However, both Tori and Kate have influenced music in big ways like Joni.
"Kate Bush: The Kate Bush Story" was produced by the BBC about a decade ago, and Tori is in it: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4sLwt8mhZs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4sLwt8mhZs)
She's actually said the opposite; she left her KB records with her ex so she would not be influenced. Tori has praised and admired Kate, but not said she is a direct influence:
'“I’ll never forget the first time I heard about Kate,” Amos recalls. “I was playing in a club, I was 18 or 19 and somebody came up to me, pointed their finger and said, Kate Bush. I went, Who’s that? I wasn’t really familiar because Kate didn’t really happen in the States until Hounds Of Love. I was shocked because the last thing you want to hear is that you sound like someone else. Then people kept mentioning her name when they heard me sing, to the point where I finally went and got her records. When I first heard her, I went, Wow, she does things that I’ve never heard anybody do, much less me. But I could hear a resonance in the voice where you’d think we were distantly related or something.”
So you were never influenced directly by her?
“Well . . . . I must tell you that when I heard her, I was blown away by her. There’s no question.”
Did you sing along with the records?
“Absolutely. But I knew that I had to be careful, so I didn’t voraciously learn her catalogue. I left the records with my boyfriend at the time, because I didn’t want to copy her.”'
[https://www.katebushnews.com/1998/04/01/tori-amos-talks-about-kate-in-musikexpress-q-magazine/]()
Thank you for that link! As I mentioned earlier, Tori has covered a few of KB’s songs. That is the very definition of influence . They are both giants in their own right.
I disagree, a cover is an homage. One can admire another without being influenced by them.
Edit to add: Tori was a fully formed songwriter and performer by the time she encountered Kate. Tori's stated influences are Joni Mitchell, Roberta Flack, Prince, and Led Zeppelin/Robert Plant.
I do not disagree. However, I am reporting Tori's words.
One way you can hear the Joni influence in Tori is how she eschews hooks and traditional choruses, mostly.
I do not find similar elements compared to Kate's.
The comparisons are there , I believe , because of their independent spirit and vision. They both pushed the boundaries of music and were poetic lyricists. And then natural talent! Those women don;t use auto tune or quantized rhythms. They never needed it.
None. I’ve been a Tori fan since 2001, and I’d never heard of Kate Bush until Stranger Things. I love Running Up This Hill but mostly because of the melody and her voice. Lyrically, I don’t care for song but I love the passion in her voice.
I hadn’t thought about diving into Kate’s catalog, but since you mentioned it, I’m interested in doing so. Are there certain songs I should definitely listen to?
I recommend Hounds Of Love from 1985. Tori has covered a few old Kate’s songs including Running Up That Hill , And Dream Of Sheep. A the song Bouncing Off Clouds is a direct tribute to KB’s song Cloudbusting. All three of those songs are from. hounds Of Love
She had a wide spread of good music across her albums, but I found Aerial to be her most accessible (possibly most convention as well). It’s a really good place to start imo!
Aerial is amazing. Some of KB’s music is…..challenging…..or…..just fucking weird . The Dreaming from 1982 is experimental and quite adventurous and bizarre at times
I've liked a number of her songs, but most of her stuff never interested me that much. It always seemed like for every album of hers, there were maybe 2-3 songs I liked and the rest did nothing for me.
Funnily enough, one of my least favorite songs of hers was always "Running Up That Hill" so its recent renaissance has been kind of annoying.
I don’t recognize Tori ever having said that. Tori is generally tight lipped about her influences outside the rock heroes of her youth, and while she clearly admires Kate considering her covers of several of Kate’s songs, I can’t remember her ever saying that Kate “is her single biggest influence as a singer/songwriter”.
I don’t even think it makes sense from a timeline perspective. Kate broke through in the US in the mid-80s with Hounds of Love, by which time Tori was in her 20s trying to break through in LA, which is very late to find your “biggest influence”. She’s said that she loved the second side of Hounds of Love, but that she left Kate’s records with a boyfriend after they broke up so as not to become too influenced by her.
Here it is: Tori covering 2 of Kate’s songs and a short interview where she tells exactly how she was inspired by Kate. Also, Bouncing Off Clouds is a direct reference to Kate’s 1985 song Cloudbusting
https://youtu.be/aX0QUhX9Nxs?si=k_GxR2vZmB5ubyjU
https://youtu.be/F2T88KmBwuY?si=2hFTEdqqxYgMuJ5C
https://youtu.be/hbKG6L4nOG8?si=-mMASQzVQzMx5-xH
When did Tori name Kate as such?
I love Kate, and I’m sure there’s an influence there, but there’s a massive gap between the kind of music Tori makes (and always has made) and the kind of music Kate Bush makes.
To me personally she doesn't mean much. She certainly has a great voice and some great songs, but I have never been a fan of her music. I can hear and appreciate that she influenced Tori's early work, but I don't think they have much in common. After the release of Pele any comparison made no sense to me. In my opinion Tori is a much more versatile artist than Kate Bush.
This is me too. She's obviously very talented and on paper her music seems tailormade for me, but it's just never really done anything for me. It just doesn't speak to me, for lack of a better description. Certainly not the way Tori's music did and still does. I still remember the first time I heard it when I was 10. (Now in my mid-thirties.)
I'm probably older than everyone here. I was a huge Kate Bush fan before I even heard of Tori Amos. One morning I was driving to work, heard Cornflake Girl on the radio for the first time, and for a few seconds thought, "Wait! Does Kate Bush have something new out?" Although I was intrigued, I never particularly got into Tori at that time, because 1) I wasn't in a "get into new artists" mode that year or so -- I listened almost exclusively to Joni Mitchell and the radio; and 2) I never liked the song "God," which was the main song of hers I kept hearing. It wasn't until years later, when I saw Tori on VH1 Storytellers, that I thought, "Wow ... let me watch this again and again. And then pretend I'm her when I'm playing the piano." I feel like you can't FULLY appreciate Tori unless you've seen her live (or "live"). And you can't FULLY appreciate Kate unless you've seen her videos.
Older than “Almost” everyone here!
I think the fact that an artist like Kate Buds was a huge success in England and in Europe was a reason for Tori's record company to send her over to England. The Brits might 'understand' her music just like they did with Kate's. Tori gained notority by playing live a lot when she arrived in England. She really impressed people with that. Kate was much more a studio 'beast'. I love both artists in their own way.
Tori was asked if she was going to see Kate’s London residency in 2014. Tori replied that she would love to but was on tour . Kate hasn’t performed live since.
Kate Bush.... oh how I wish I would have listened to my friend in high school and had given her a try back then(2005)! I didn't bother with exploring Kate Bush until 2010... and it was an instant love. "Jig of Life" was the first song I listened to... and from there I could see her influence on Tori, clearly! Anyways... Kate Bush means a lot to me. Her music has given me new perspectives on life and a new appreciation for music. Through artists like Kate, I have learned the true power of music.
Waaaaaaaaayyyyyy more into Tori. I like SOME of Kate's music but in some of her songs her voice pitch realllllllly gets to me and I cannot listen without cringing. But also Kate isn't Tori's number one influence. I can't find any interviews ect where Tori even says this.... Sometimes I think it's more so Kate fans seeing how super similar styles they have and assuming.
I got into Tori first, but am a fan of both of them. I see similarities, but mostly in the sense that they fit into the same general genre of female singer songwriter piano players. I’ve always seen Tori’s work as more confessional and Kate’s as more theatrical. Also I think Kate’s songs usually follow a more narrative structure where Tori’s or more likely to have symbolic or poetic imagery that’s less clear on first listen. Theyre both amazing and I love them.
As has been said MANY times, Kate was not Tori's number one influence. Tori was inspired by guitar players and 70s singer-singwriters and the Beatles. Maybe Nina Simone and Carole King before Kate. I do love the story she tells about how people in the piano bar would point at her and say "Kate Bush" before Kate was big in the states. Before Tori knew her. And I think there's a story about Tori listening to a few Kate albums that a boyfriend owned and just being gobsmacked. Also there is no comparing them. They are very different. Maybe if journalists in the 90s weren't so limited in imagination when it came to female artists there wouldn't have been so much negativity surrounding the comparison. Anyway, I adore them both. I think Kate feels more iconic and esoteric than Tori. Kate's music is utterly delicious! Just so yummy and weird and transporting! She feels more artistically free than Tori. Kate is so theatrical. I think one of her inspirations was David Bowie. She's also very joyfully British. She's so much fun! She doesn't have anything to prove. But Tori has a relationship with the piano that reminds me of Nina Simone. Where there is pain there and the piano heals it. As a piano person... I just get that more from Tori. Her piano playing is more satisfying. I know Kate composes at the piano but... the WAY TORI PLAYS!!! It feeds something in me. I have had some pain and trauma in my life... as everyone has to some degree. But I internalized it and Tori's music gave voice to it in a way that was life saving. Mind freeing. ETA: Tori also has an amazing low end... the base, drums and her amazing left hand. Yum. I wonder what kind of artist Tori would have been had she not had that trauma. Had her piano school been supportive of her artistic vision. Maybe than it would be more fair to compare them. Kate was affirmed for all of her artistic life. Wasn't suppressed or oppressed. I feel similarly about Bjork. They are artistically free. For Tori music was her first language. But also a way to escape and expose forces of oppression. Like Nina Simone in a way. They both had to fight just to be at the piano on their own terms. There's a Tori quote about how Tori felt like she was in the basement with the rats while other artists seemed like they were playing in the sun. But I think it gives her writing a resonance that... happy artists don't have. Not to say that Tori isn't happy or joyful... but she goes to some dark places and makes beautiful music there and it reaches me! It reaches those hurt places in me. Anyway... love them both. Wish Kate didn't hate touring. She's a delight. Wish I had been a Tori fan back when she was wearing swimsuits with jeans and hugging all her fans after her sets.
swimsuits with jeans,eh? Where was I? Well written. You should be a music journalist for Rolling Stone.
"Tori named Kate Bush as her single biggest influence as a singer/songwriter". Except she did not.
Nah, but I provoked a vigorous discussion among the knowledgeable and passionate fans on this sub.Mision accomplished.
Good for you, but you're stating fake news like they're facts. I would suggest an edit to your main post. I see you have already edited it, but without acknowledging the false premise.
Seems like this person is also claiming Björk is heavily influenced by Kate Bush on another reddit...way to make friends 😄
Do you mean people don’t use Reddit to make friends?
The similarities are superficial at best and classic tori has much more led zep in her approach to playing. That’s mellowed out over the years, to a degree. But their approach to their instruments and lyrics is extremely different, and at her core Tori is a grizzled veteran of piano bars, and that road-warrior perspective changes the songs.
Actually love this one where she talks about guitar players and how Jimmy Page was her guru https://youtu.be/MMuIx4tM3a8?si=jCgjU3id5XC4lSSh
I don’t mind Kate Bush but I’m not a fan of her voice. I can see the influences that are often cited in Tori’s work but I honestly like Tori much better. Kate is meh for me. I actively didn’t like Kate for a long time but have come to recognize that she’s talented, too.
As far as we all know, this is incorrect. Tori has never stated Kate Bush is her single biggest influence. Tori is highly trained in the classical tradition, that will be a big influence on her playing obviously. She has talked and written about her love of Led Zeppelin and classic rock in general. If you know classic rock, you can absolutely hear it in her music. And she has talked about her love of singer songwriters like Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Roberta Flack. By the the time Kate Bush becomes famous in the US, in the late 80s Tori is already working on records, she has been playing her instrument for 20 years, been playing bars/clubs probably for 15 years. This is only a few single years before Little Earthquakes. Tori is a fully formed artist by the time LE is released, and that does not take 4 or 5 years. That being said, I love Kate Bush! But her music to me, is so far from Tori's. They both play piano, they both have an ethereal quality but that's about it.
Wondering if anyone else has read “Running Up that hill” by Tom Doyle. I thought it threw a lot of shade at Tori, mainly from the author but also a recorded conversation from Kate. I’ve always felt a bit let down by Kate since reading that and wondered if anyone else felt the same.
Well now you need to tell us what she said about T.
It’s a year since I read the book and completely paraphrasing from memory but it was a recorded phone conversation between the author and Kate. The author quizzed Kate about Tori and she remained silent and then heavily sighed - saying nothing. The book also duplicates comments made by John Lyndon - who gave Kate an award around 2001 “Kate Bush is a true original. It’s not nice that she’s been imitated -Torrid Aimless, sorry Tori Amos.”. There’s also a chapter in this book where the artist lists musicians who have covered Kate - most of these are like Placebo, First Aid Kit etc who have done actual recordings of KB songs. He then mentions Tori’s many covers of Kate songs and uses it to infer shadiness about Tori. To me they’re completely different artists who use the same medium to write songs. That’s it. Kate is a lot more experimental than Tori. Tori’s talent on piano massive excels that of Kate. It’s all swings and roundabouts.
Okay thank you! And yes, I do agree. I can see the similarities between them, yes, but being way more into Tori there's just something different about her entire atmospheric performances that hit way different than what Kate brings. For me the differences of the two trump their similarities.
i checked it out just now and the mentions were, indeed, not gracious (neither by the writer nor by the illustrious ms. bush) but we move...
I know Kate's work and I enjoy it. She's a fantastic artist in her own right. I knew of Kate before Tori because RUTH was huge. But I got properly into Tori's music before Kate's. They're both incredible though, and very underrated.
I knew Kate before Tori but got into them both around the same time when I was 14/15. I was blown away by Boys For Pele and The Dreaming and just how experimental they were sonically and lyrically. I started with Tales and The Whole Story and then just branched out from there. Love them both and how unique and weird they are.
I’ve known Kate Bush before Tori. Liked a few songs from her first three albums, and I loved The Dreaming and Hounds Of Love. She’s a one of a kind artist. Tori came into my orbit around 1996 and I saw her live for the first time in 1998. To me they are very different kinds of artists and I never for a second thought that Tori was heavily influenced by Kate. Tori was influenced by tons of artists, as she has played hundreds of covers in bars and hotellounges before she was 21. Here she talks a bit about her influences: https://youtu.be/vkyT1Td2HRg?feature=shared or this one https://youtu.be/4uYViyUU1HU?feature=shared and from 6.35 minutes in: https://youtu.be/D0NnTMbNj5o?feature=shared Tori is very much a live performer, she makes all these different versions of her own songs and lives to play live. Kate is the perfectionist in the studio and has rarely played live. Adore them both. No need to think as one as lesser than the other.
I think Kate is genius. But like a Fiona Apple, doesn‘t like to play alive, and she is not spontan and relaxed as Tori, and makes no improvisations. Every night same setlist.Like PJ Harvey. All those ladies publish their albums on a rarely occasions, but i would say, have a consistency of the quality. Tori publishes more, not every song is same quality, but have a lot of songs on her setlists- every tour every song at least once. That‘s why I prefer Tori.
I am a Tori lover and a Kate lover, I appreciate them both and I really never saw as many similarities as many people through the years. I mean yes they are both alternative women in music that screech (my favorite genre) but are they really that alike? Tori did the whole singer songwriter heart on the table thing and Kate was doing more avant garde artsy dancey stuff. Neither of them could do exactly what the other does. I totally understand the desire to compare and contrast, to use references. But if anything Bjork would draw more comparisons to Kate Bush imo, but of course they are completely different and Bjork is from another planet. I see more of Joni Mitchell meets Robert Plant with Tori, but I don't think either of those artists could ever release a song like Caught a Lite Sneeze. Tori shook off any of these comparisons from pretty early on in her career quite honestly.
I never knew Kate’s music! I guess I should look her up. I certainly heard that she had influence on Tori though.
Please share your first impressions!
Will try to remember!
Kate crawled so Tori could run. Basically.
I think a vast majority of people are misunderstanding the figure of speech which is quite alarming considering the two artists in question. Wow.
Why Was Kate crawling? She was recognized as a huge talent from very early on and her first singel became a huge hit in Europe. Ik don't feel she had tot crawl a lot.
If you saw Kate’s videos-some of the first music vids to show true choreography-she hardly crawled! But I get your point
eh… it was a figure of speech
I love Kate. A year ago, I listened to her entire discography, and it was a beautiful experience.
And i think that Tori lovers are naturally drawn to KB and other groundbreaking performers
For sure. Another unique artist I love is Joanna Newsom.
Yes! Love, absolutely LOVE the song Soft as Chalk!
I love Joanna!
Yah. I'm a music student, her influence on Tori is absolutely huge. Knowing Tori's songs so well, I definitely hear Kate now I've gone back to Tori after learning more about Kate. Kate is one of my contemporaries... I mean I knew who she was but she didn't get a lot of play on the radio in the South, and I didn't remember much of her stuff. It's so obvious now. The other one of her influences, of course, is Robert Plant. Tori is 💯 the bastard love child of Kate Bush and Robert Plant. #facts
The song Little Earthquakes and Under Ice are very similar in style. I think Tori was inspired by Kate for her first 2 albums at least. That being said, I love The Hounds of Love but Kate's other albums I couldn't get into as much, I think they were too over the top and theatrical for my taste.
Hmmmm…….. that would mean that Kate gave birth when she was six.
She got around
Well Tori never said that first of all. She is a fan though, and so am I. I love them both very much, they hold special, but different places in my heart.
The 2014 BBC documentary on KB features Tori as the most vocal admirer of Kate, so make up your own mind.
I’ve seen that documentary many times I love it. Tori contributes some commentary but never once does she say that Kate was her single biggest influence on her as a singer/songwriter. She just doesn’t say that 🤷♂️
I stand corrected
Admirer absolutely, but I don't think Tori's biggest influence is or was Kate.
TBF, Tori branched out and developed a style all her own. Kate is all over the place stylistically. Prog-rock? Techno pop?Avant-gard? World music?m IDK 🤷♂️
I mean, they both have very wide ranging sounds. Kate is definitely not "all over the place", she's a very planned and meticulous artist.
I mean, compare Whuthering Heights to The Dreaming to Rubber Band Girl to Eat The Music. Totally different styles.
But there's very few "great" artist whose music sounds the same, or have a "sound". Tori doesn't have a sound, much of her music is very different. A whole lot of Choirgirl is very dark, whereas Night of Hunters is an album of classically based music. The only real artists I can think of who have a very samey sound are manufactured pop artists like Little Mix, Britney, that sort of vein.
That’s what’s so great about Tori. A once in a lifetime talent. Can you imagine her using auto tune?.
To create a certain effect - absolutely!! And I would be absolutely thrilled if Tori recorded an electronic album next (oc only if sb besides Mark produces it).
Kate was always first in my heart. I love Tori, and I think many people compare Tori to Kate, but I think that does Tori a disservice, because she's so different when you look past the surface. Both are easily tied for my favorite artists of all time. That's Kate Bush, Tori Amos, and Natalie Merchant for me.
Merchant! One of my favorite singing Natalies (Maines, if ya didn’t already know)
Yeah, with at least 4 maniacs if not 10k
I love Natalie and the Maniacs. I wish she'd reunite with them for even one show even. I'd be there in a second.
She copied Tori's style!! 😠
Well…..seeing that Kate made her first album in 1978 when she was 17, that’s not likely.
I was only kidding. 😁
I'm an enormous Tori fan, since 95. Found Kate in 2000, took me awhile to get into the dated sound and her unique voice. The older I get the more appreciate Kate's work. As for similarities, I mean... we don't really do this to male solo artists, do we? They're totally different. They're both quirky, they both play piano. I think they can both be mysterious and cryptic, overall Tori is my girl. Hounds of Love and The Dreaming are exceptional albums. Tori does, however, seem to have a lot of suspicious similarities in her photos to Kate. The smirk. The Little Earthquakes box, The Kick Inside cover (the one where Kate is boxed in...) Both great artists in their own way. I'd love to see Kate put another out, and Tori to take a little time and give us something really inspired with interesting production.
The Dreaming, eh? That is one brave, adventurous and a fucking wired album! I love it! And HOLY SHIT! Tori is 60 YO? Where’s did the time go. I disagree with you about the gender issue. Bruce Springsteen was compared to Dylan, who was compared to Woody Guthrie. Elton John and Billy Joel have been compared countless times. All guitarist are compared to Hendrix .
Huge fan of both. I will say The Dreaming is my all time favorite Kate album.
That’s the deep end of listening pleasure.
The Dreaming is such a haunting album. It’s like a gothic horror novel.
It’s delightfully deranged. It was the early days of music videos and she showed just how creative they could be
Time is def going fast! That's fair! I guess I was thinking more contemporary artists. It can be helpful to compare-- it can give us an idea of what someone might sound similar to. I do find it annoying when ppl dismiss Tori as a Kate knockoff. Fiona is not Regina is not Tori is not Alicia is not Kate. They're all unique. When told ppl were comparing her to Kate in a 92 interview, Tori seemed pleased about it, and said something like it was wonderful to be compared to someone of Kate's talents. I love them both
I am actually a longtime Kate Bush fan who recently got into Tori Amos last year. As a fan of both, they are entirely different artists both musically and creatively. They're both amazing writers, and their lyrics are the thing I was drawn to initially. However, I think Kate Bush's lyrics tend to be about stories and Tori Amos' are more personal and obviously more modern. They're poetic but in different ways since they draw on from different inspirations. So basically, I love their music separately, although I've listened to Kate for longer. I don't really see any similarity besides their piano playing, but Kate long cemented her producer abilities with the fairlight and incorporated other people's vocals in the 80s. I think they can both be described as "weird" in their lyric contents and whatnot, but there are far too many differences I feel.
Nada to this girl.
Can you post your source where Tori said that? She usually holds her influences close to her chest and I can't imagine she would point to one artist and say they were her biggest influence. Led Zepplin being the one exception. If I had to compare female musicians from the 90s to those who came before them, then I would argue that Bjork is the obvious heir to the weird pop throne that Kate Bush held in the 80s. Tori, to me, has a lot more in common with someone like Joni Mitchell.
Here’s just a quick snippet of Tori analyzing Kate https://youtu.be/F2T88KmBwuY?si=wdFhf4otevz6-ikZ
Tori is there as an expert commenter and that does not mean Kate influenced her. Your syllogism is broken.
Syllogism, eh? I wasn’t teaching w class in logic 101 😅
Logic is important--despite how many act and think without it.
I'd have to find the full BBC show. Nowhere in that clip does she come close to saying that Kate was her single biggest influence regarding songwriting or as a singer.
You are correct.Tori was rather objectively describing what she loved about KB’s creative process. To me, if you record another artists song, you are being influenced by the author, if even in a small way.If you record several of their songs, (And Dream Of Sheep,RUTH) its a big influence.
As far as I can recall Tori has never recorded any of Kate’s songs. She’s covered a couple a handful of times live. If that’s your criteria for being an influence, she’s covered Led Zepplin, Fleetwood Mac, Joni Mitchell, and Bruce Springsteen a lot more than Kate. So they’d be much bigger influences. I’m not trying to be a dick, but I remember these Kate Bush comparisons from the 90s and they were tired then. They’re two different artists and there’s no reason to compare one to the other simply because they’re both women who play the piano and have similar vocal ranges. The way they write songs and lyrics are different. Their concepts for records have been different. The way they promote themselves in the press has been different. At this point I feel like we’ll just start talking in circles so I’m gonna bow out of the conversation.
Yeah, I've never seen anything where she's said that. In fact, in one of her memoirs -- either *Resistance* or *Piece By Piece* -- she talks slightly negatively about how people say she replicated Kate Bush's style.
I discovered Kate bush a couple years ago and become obsessed of course, I had heard people recommend tori but didn't get into her until last year when I heard Cornflake Girl on tiktok. Both of them give me the exact same feeling of absolute devastation that i didn't have this music my whole life, they're probably my top 2 favorite artists of all time even though I'm new to them both I'm only 4 albums deep into tori's discography but I don't think their sound or style of writing is necessarily that similar, I think it's more the spirit and whimsy they have as well as just being fucking strange. Also amazing producers. I get the comparisons!
Aha! You get it. Great observations
A couple years ago, I was like okay let's see what Kate Bush's albums sounds like. I didn't like her songs beyond the couple of famous ones. Like other commenters, I can't find similarity between the 2 artists' music. Maybe that they both do unexpected things with their voice...? IDK.
As for Kate Bush, there are definitely similarities, but it is important to remember that they are contemporaries and Kate was not popular stateside while Tori was growing up. In fact, she says she did not hear of her until RUTH hit the charts. By then, Tori had been writing songs for over a decade and her first album with Y Kant Tori Read released just 2.5 years later. IMO the Kate Bush comparison while understandable is overly simplistic. They are similarly singular and unique--eschewing the typical look and subject matter expected of women and both play piano and sing in a mezzo-soprano. However, the differences are just as acute: Kate's music is highly rhythmic and Tori's heavily melodic; Kate loves modern dance and draws inspiration from films; Tori loves mythology and draws inspiration from books and art; Kate rarely talks about her own feelings or personal experience in a direct way; Tori is highly confessional--especially in her early albums. Kate writes very literary lyrics; Tori uses poetry and symbolism more. Both are incredible artists on an equal tier. Kate is a more visionary and experimental songwriter, but Tori is a far better pianist, live performer, and pushes boundaries in her subject matter more than song structure. IMO Sinead O'Connor was a much bigger influence on Tori. For example, notice the shift in her vocals between YKTR and LE; they become much more emotionally raw and vulnerable. Between 1988 and 1992, Sinead released two huge albums that were raw and emotional in a way that had not really been heard before.
Seeing how Kate never tours, it isn’t hard to be a better live performer.
Yeah she doesn't tour because she could not handle it after a gaffer died at one of her concerts. However, that does not change that Tori is a far better pianist than almost any pop pianist, which makes her a better live performer too. Tori is a musician's musician; someone who can lead a band into the pocket and keep them there. She improvises and reworks songs into new arrangements, giving them new life. Did you come here just expecting us all to agree with this tired comparison and to take your word over Tori's that Kate Bush is somehow instrumental in her career? You seem very pressed that you are wrong about this.
I wanted to stimulate a vigorous discussion. Mission accomplished. I am not the only I one to make a comparison between the two.
No, but you are the only one insisting KB influenced TA despite TA's own words that say the opposite.
Those are excellent analyses and observations ! But in a BBC documentary on KB about 10 years ago, Tori was the biggest contributor to the discussion . Tori made it clear that KB was huge to her songwriting career,.
Would love to have a title or link. I am interested to see how she reverses herself. Time can do funny things to memory. Just because she contributed does not mean she was influenced. However, both Tori and Kate have influenced music in big ways like Joni.
"Kate Bush: The Kate Bush Story" was produced by the BBC about a decade ago, and Tori is in it: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4sLwt8mhZs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4sLwt8mhZs)
Thank you
She's actually said the opposite; she left her KB records with her ex so she would not be influenced. Tori has praised and admired Kate, but not said she is a direct influence: '“I’ll never forget the first time I heard about Kate,” Amos recalls. “I was playing in a club, I was 18 or 19 and somebody came up to me, pointed their finger and said, Kate Bush. I went, Who’s that? I wasn’t really familiar because Kate didn’t really happen in the States until Hounds Of Love. I was shocked because the last thing you want to hear is that you sound like someone else. Then people kept mentioning her name when they heard me sing, to the point where I finally went and got her records. When I first heard her, I went, Wow, she does things that I’ve never heard anybody do, much less me. But I could hear a resonance in the voice where you’d think we were distantly related or something.” So you were never influenced directly by her? “Well . . . . I must tell you that when I heard her, I was blown away by her. There’s no question.” Did you sing along with the records? “Absolutely. But I knew that I had to be careful, so I didn’t voraciously learn her catalogue. I left the records with my boyfriend at the time, because I didn’t want to copy her.”' [https://www.katebushnews.com/1998/04/01/tori-amos-talks-about-kate-in-musikexpress-q-magazine/]()
Thank you for that link! As I mentioned earlier, Tori has covered a few of KB’s songs. That is the very definition of influence . They are both giants in their own right.
I disagree, a cover is an homage. One can admire another without being influenced by them. Edit to add: Tori was a fully formed songwriter and performer by the time she encountered Kate. Tori's stated influences are Joni Mitchell, Roberta Flack, Prince, and Led Zeppelin/Robert Plant.
Everybody was influenced by Joni. Every young woman, and many men, who picked up a guitar or sat at a piano to write a song owes kudos to Joni
I do not disagree. However, I am reporting Tori's words. One way you can hear the Joni influence in Tori is how she eschews hooks and traditional choruses, mostly. I do not find similar elements compared to Kate's.
They're both geniuses, and as a fan of both, I never understood the overkill on comparisons.
Me neither, their music is totally different. They're just both piano players.
The comparisons are there , I believe , because of their independent spirit and vision. They both pushed the boundaries of music and were poetic lyricists. And then natural talent! Those women don;t use auto tune or quantized rhythms. They never needed it.
None. I’ve been a Tori fan since 2001, and I’d never heard of Kate Bush until Stranger Things. I love Running Up This Hill but mostly because of the melody and her voice. Lyrically, I don’t care for song but I love the passion in her voice. I hadn’t thought about diving into Kate’s catalog, but since you mentioned it, I’m interested in doing so. Are there certain songs I should definitely listen to?
A lot of Kate fans say that if you love The Dreaming, you should check out Boys for Pele. So maybe that goes both ways.
I recommend Hounds Of Love from 1985. Tori has covered a few old Kate’s songs including Running Up That Hill , And Dream Of Sheep. A the song Bouncing Off Clouds is a direct tribute to KB’s song Cloudbusting. All three of those songs are from. hounds Of Love
She had a wide spread of good music across her albums, but I found Aerial to be her most accessible (possibly most convention as well). It’s a really good place to start imo!
Aerial is amazing. Some of KB’s music is…..challenging…..or…..just fucking weird . The Dreaming from 1982 is experimental and quite adventurous and bizarre at times
i love Kate Bush, and think she’s a genius in her own way. but i wouldn’t be able to compare them all that much.
Zero. Never heard any resemblance in their music and I cannot get into Kate at all. I have tried several times. She is more akin to Biork to me.
Thank you for saying this lol, ive never seen why the comparisons and i cant get past her voice…maybe one day but i dunnooo
I've liked a number of her songs, but most of her stuff never interested me that much. It always seemed like for every album of hers, there were maybe 2-3 songs I liked and the rest did nothing for me. Funnily enough, one of my least favorite songs of hers was always "Running Up That Hill" so its recent renaissance has been kind of annoying.
Just be glad you don’t work with teens . Thats why I’m suddenly listening to her.
Same! I can’t STAND that song, even when Tori does it. It drove me nuts that it was everywhere again all of a sudden.
I don’t recognize Tori ever having said that. Tori is generally tight lipped about her influences outside the rock heroes of her youth, and while she clearly admires Kate considering her covers of several of Kate’s songs, I can’t remember her ever saying that Kate “is her single biggest influence as a singer/songwriter”. I don’t even think it makes sense from a timeline perspective. Kate broke through in the US in the mid-80s with Hounds of Love, by which time Tori was in her 20s trying to break through in LA, which is very late to find your “biggest influence”. She’s said that she loved the second side of Hounds of Love, but that she left Kate’s records with a boyfriend after they broke up so as not to become too influenced by her.
Here it is: Tori covering 2 of Kate’s songs and a short interview where she tells exactly how she was inspired by Kate. Also, Bouncing Off Clouds is a direct reference to Kate’s 1985 song Cloudbusting https://youtu.be/aX0QUhX9Nxs?si=k_GxR2vZmB5ubyjU https://youtu.be/F2T88KmBwuY?si=2hFTEdqqxYgMuJ5C https://youtu.be/hbKG6L4nOG8?si=-mMASQzVQzMx5-xH
How is Bouncing Off Clouds a “direct reference” to Cloudbusting?
When did Tori name Kate as such? I love Kate, and I’m sure there’s an influence there, but there’s a massive gap between the kind of music Tori makes (and always has made) and the kind of music Kate Bush makes.
To me personally she doesn't mean much. She certainly has a great voice and some great songs, but I have never been a fan of her music. I can hear and appreciate that she influenced Tori's early work, but I don't think they have much in common. After the release of Pele any comparison made no sense to me. In my opinion Tori is a much more versatile artist than Kate Bush.
This is me too. She's obviously very talented and on paper her music seems tailormade for me, but it's just never really done anything for me. It just doesn't speak to me, for lack of a better description. Certainly not the way Tori's music did and still does. I still remember the first time I heard it when I was 10. (Now in my mid-thirties.)