Kate Bush — Wuthering Heights - Official Music Video - Version 2

JUL 01 1978 · 12:00

Kate Bush — Wuthering Heights - Official Music Video - Version 2 (1978) Director: Keith MacMillan (a.k.a. Keef) Era: Pre-MTV Promotional Film Era (1977–1978) - Shot on 26 October 1977 and released alongside Kate Bush's debut single in January 1978, this outdoor version predates the institutionalization of the music video format and represents a foundational artifact of the British promotional film tradition. Exceptionally high. Version 2 is one of the most culturally persistent and widely referenced music videos of the pre-MTV era. Its outdoor setting, red dress iconography, and Bush's physical performance have achieved a level of cultural saturation rarely matched by any video of the period. It functions simultaneously as a historical document of late-1970s British promotional filmmaking practice, an artwork in the theatrical performance tradition, and a live cultural touchstone still actively generating participatory re-enactment nearly five decades after production. Essential acquisition for any archive treating music video history, British pop culture, or gender in popular music. Context: Filmed in October 1977 and released in January 1978 alongside Kate Bush's debut single, this video was created entirely before the MTV era institutionalised the music video as a format. It is one of the earliest British examples of a promotional film treating dance choreography as the primary visual language of a pop single. Bush choreographed the movement herself to embody the ghost of Catherine Earnshaw — a first-person supernatural narrative drawn from Emily Brontë's 1847 novel and the 1967 BBC television adaptation. The song made Bush the first female artist to reach UK number one with a self-written song. The red dress of Version 2 became an enduring cultural icon, inspiring annual mass participatory events ('The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever') in which hundreds of participants replicate Bush's choreography in public spaces. Critics have described the video as a milestone in music video history before the MTV era, with Pitchfork ranking it third on its list of greatest 1970s music videos. Director notes: Both official music videos for 'Wuthering Heights' were directed by Keef. Version 2 (the outdoor red dress version) was filmed on the morning of 26 October 1977 at Baden's Clump, Salisbury Plain, near Sidbury Hill, Wiltshire. Keef has described the production as a rapid single-day workflow: set up Monday morning, shot in the afternoon, edited overnight, and delivered to Top of the Pops by Tuesday morning — consistent with his documented videotape production methodology. Choreography was devised by Kate Bush. The video was produced primarily for the American market. Keef has cited the Wuthering Heights clip as one of his early successes and a turning point that demonstrated visuals could 'flow with the music.'