“When I heard Pink Floyd’s The Wall I thought there was no point in writing songs any more because they’d said it all. After a couple of weeks I realised they hadn’t done everything”: Kate Bush and the making of Never For Ever – her first No.1 album
Kate Bush’s third album, *Never For Ever* (1980), marked her growing independence as a studio artist after she felt pressured by EMI’s focus on her image and rushed production of *Lionheart*. Its success was a major confidence boost, becoming the first album by a British female solo artist to reach No.1 in the UK and paving the way for her more ambitious later work.
The record explored subjects ranging from infidelity and romantic deception to returning to the womb and environmental concerns, making it far more eclectic than straightforward pop. One song drew on *Cyrano de Bergerac*, Rupert Holmes’ “Escape” and the folk song “Sovay”, telling of a wife whose test of her husband’s loyalty backfires when he falls for the imaginary woman she invents.
- *Never For Ever* was Kate Bush’s first UK No.1 album.
- It established her creative independence in the studio.
- The songs explored love, identity and wider social themes.