The Song That Bombed in the 80s but Took Over the Internet 30 Years Later: “Running Up That Hill”

In 1985, Kate Bush released a song called Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) — an art-pop track full of cryptic lyrics, pounding drums, and emotional chaos. It was weird. It was brilliant. It was so Kate Bush.

Critics loved it, fans adored it, but in the U.S., it never became a hit. MTV didn’t know what to do with a barefoot British woman spinning through fog and symbolism. Radio programmers were busy with hair metal. The song peaked modestly, and Bush went back to her cult-favorite corner of music history.

Then, nearly 40 years later, it rocketed to number one on charts around the world.

A Song from Another Dimension

If you’ve ever heard Running Up That Hill, you know it doesn’t sound like any other pop song from 1985. No sax solos, no neon synth gloss. It’s moody and intense, built around a thunderous drum machine and Bush’s haunting voice pleading for a “deal with God.”

The song is about empathy — literally wishing you could swap places with your lover to understand their pain. It was ahead of its time: introspective, gender-fluid, emotional in a way pop wasn’t ready for.

Bush was one of the first artists to use the Fairlight CMI sampler, which gave her music a dreamlike, otherworldly sound. It was experimental art disguised as a pop single, which meant most of the world shrugged and moved on.

Until the kids of 2022 discovered it and collectively said, “Wait, this slaps.”

Stranger Things Brought It Back from the Dead

When the fourth season of Stranger Things dropped in May 2022, a key scene featured Max Mayfield running for her life — literally — as Running Up That Hill blasted in the background.

The moment hit like lightning. Gen Z flooded TikTok with edits. Spotify streams exploded. A song that once peaked at #30 in the U.S. climbed to #1 globally, nearly four decades later.

Kate Bush herself had nothing to do with it — no marketing campaign, no remix, no nostalgia tour. It was pure organic rediscovery. And it made her the oldest female artist ever to top the UK charts.

A Rare Artist Who Owned Her Own Work

Here’s the best part: Kate Bush has always been fiercely independent. She wrote, produced, and released her music on her own label, which meant when Running Up That Hill blew up again, the royalties went straight to her.

While most artists from the 80s were still paying off bad record deals, Bush was earning millions from a song she made in her twenties. In a rare statement, she thanked new fans and said she was “so moved that the song has been given a whole new lease of life.”

It was like watching an artist get the recognition she always deserved — just a few decades late.

The Lesson

Music has a strange afterlife. Some songs are built for the charts, others for the future. Running Up That Hill was a time capsule waiting to be opened — a mix of myth, emotion, and timeless production that finally found the world it was meant for.

Kate Bush didn’t change. The world did.

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Kate Bush’s 1985 single Running Up That Hill flopped on release but became a global hit nearly 40 years later thanks to Stranger Things. Discover how a haunting 80s anthem finally found its moment.