Dark title, eh?

Worry not.

I promise, it refers only to an earlier post I was working on that I accidentally discarded instead of saving. Apparently, that means something else in WordPress-land than deleting. There’s articles dedicated to recovering deleted posts on their FAQ page – which boils down to “go into the trash tab and hit ‘restore’”, however, nothing on recovering something you accidentally discard versus save.

And why are those two buttons so damn close, anyway?!?

Anyway, that post was depressing, hence this post’s title.

Well, that and the subject matter.

I recently heard an interesting factoid about how much Kate Bush has earned off of streaming royalties since her 1986 hit Running Up That Hill was featured on s5/ep1 – or is it season 4? Can you tell I’m not watching?

In two months she has earned $2.3 million off of streaming royalties. For that song alone.

Ok, let’s set aside that that is probably more than she earned in a year during her heyday and focus on the reality that her most recent 60 days’ earnings is only for streaming royalties! It does not include actual sales or what Netflix paid her for the usage rights originally.

And I couldn’t be happier for her. I think it sets an example of what talent and fame are for a new generation. Or two. Generations who are increasingly conflating talent and fame with pervasiveness and infamous.

Which reminds me of a conversation from earlier about an invasive species of snails, but that’s a different hill.

I’ve been on Kate’s hill in some way, shape or form for about three years now since Meg Myers released a cover in ’19. I thought at the time that it was an impressive homage, staying true to the original – and I loved that about it. Hearing the original now – when the remake had barely faded from my local station’s rotation reinforces that faithfulness and also the reality that it was still just a copy.

I love that the world has lost its mind for this song like a certain college-aged person I used to know. Although, not everyone agrees…

I love that this song is number 1 in 2022, eclipsing its number 3 performance in 1986.

I love that Meg Myers didn’t just pay homage to the original by staying true to it in her remake, but also that she and Kate Bush look like they could be related. And that their photographers clearly studied with the same professors…

Maybe that’s just me.

But after the massive step(s) back our country has taken in the last 10 days from 2022 to 1972 or 1950 or 1868…maybe there’s hope of at least dragging us back to the late 80s. Because reading the news anymore makes me yearn for a life that modern-thinking.

I want my MTV.

At a minimum.