Tell me, we both matter don't we?

You might be aware that Running Up That Hill, by Kate Bush, is currently racing up all number of charts worldwide, due in part to its inclusion on the soundtrack of the latest season of Netflix’s Stranger Things. Far be it for me to piggyback on a passing news story to find some kind of tenuous link to my own work in order to write my latest blog entry .. but here we are.

I’m not going to talk about how, within the story, Running Up That Hill is literally a lifeline for Max to survive a horrific demise while stuck in the Upside Down, but rather the response to the song itself as it enjoys its second (ninth?) wave. Running Up That Hill sounds like nothing else in 2022, but it might be instructive to remember that it sounded like nothing else back in 1986, either.

It can be a joy for people to see their favourite singer (or film, or book, or whatever) suddenly and usually somewhat unexpectedly hit the zeitgeist, where a whole new legion of fans can discover what everyone else had been enjoying for years or decades already. But on occasion - and it’s happened in this case, as well - there’s often a very vocal minority (they’re always a minority, and they’re always very vocal) who get, for want of a better phrase, somewhat sniffy about these new people suddenly discovering the work that had been their proud secret for so long. Even Vouge’s apparently non-judgemental take on the matter had to slip a ‘finally gen-z discovers Kate Bush’ line into the headline, as if the average 17 year old is duty bound to already know the music of an artist that, to be blunt about it, has never had a Top 10 single in their lifetime.

It may sound like I’m being somewhat bitter, and that’s honestly not the case: indeed, I’m attempting to advocate for the exact opposite. Rather than being sneering gatekeepers of things that we might think everyone should know already, it might be an idea to remember that we don’t all arrive on this earth with the same knowledge, experiences, privileges, and Netflix accounts. I’d be quite comfortable in saying this includes anything up to knowing, say, how Word or Google Docs works (and be aware that some people reading this might be thinking ‘what, are we still using Word and Google Docs here? What is this, 2012?’)

I honestly believe that it only takes a moment of kindness, and listening, to make a world of difference. So, when someone excitedly puts forward the idea that you already had three years ago (and didn’t work), I’m not sure that it helps anyone to dismiss it out of hand, or - even worse, and I’m sure you wouldn’t do this anyway, right? - in any way judge the newbie for having the idea that you thought was blindingly obvious. Because if you do, they’re unlikely to proffer the next idea, or the next. Eventually, they may not even feel comfortable to have the ideas in the first place. If we just give people the space to talk - and the freedom to come up with the ideas, including the silly, this-may-not-work ideas - well, that way lies potential brilliance.

I mean, stranger things have happened.