“Stranger Things” 5 is almost here. The first four episodes of the final season will begin streaming in the U.S. on Wednesday, Nov. 26 on Netflix, and the show will roll out another four episodes on Christmas and the series finale will play in theaters and on Netflix beginning Dec. 31.
But in the run-up to the finale, if you’re looking to really get into the “Stranger Things” mood with some music — one of the hallmarks of the series — we’ve got you covered.
The fifth season is the conclusion of a 1o-year odyssey that millions of people around the world have come along for. The show’s history has been well-covered, and it’s old news that the series was originally called “Montauk” and that Steve Harrington wasn’t supposed to make it past Season 1.
The fan base that surrounds “Stranger Things” loves the show for a lot of reasons: the cast, the storytelling and the emotions it stirs are all high on the list. But the music, which has become almost another character unto itself, has shaped the series over the years, and the songs the show’s team chose have embedded themselves into the zeitgeist of the show itself.
There are a lot of songs in “Stranger Things,” but there are a few that are tied to the series the same way oxygen is tied to our lungs. Here are the 11 songs you should listen to before “Stranger Things” comes back.
Kate Bush: “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)”
At this point, this song hardly needs an introduction for any fan who watched season 4, but let’s break it down anyway. Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink) finds herself as a target of Vecna/Henry/001 (Jamie Bower). She’s also coping with the violent death of her stepbrother, Billy, and has turned to the song to find solace.
After Robin (Maya Hawke) figures out that music can be helpful when attempting to fend off Vecna’s repeated nefarious entreaties into a person’s mind, Max begins listening to “Running Up That Hill” pretty much on repeat throughout the rest of the season.
There’s also reason to suspect the song will be a major part of the show’s soundtrack in season 5, at least as long as Max and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) are around. The season’s trailer showed Lucas carrying a still-comatose Max through a hospital — while also toting a small radio.
The Clash: “Should I Stay or Should I Go”
After Will (Noah Schnapp) disappears in season 1, his brother Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) deploys this song by The Clash to try to communicate with him — and vice versa, as the song will unexpectedly come on when Will is in the Upside Down version of the Byers’ home, attempting to reach his mom Joyce (Winona Ryder) and brother. It’s revealed in the first season that the song was also one Jonathan used to distract Will when their parents would fight, and the song has a strong sentimental meaning for fans.
Metallica: “Master of Puppets”
The Duffer brothers brutally killed off fan favorite Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) in Season 4, but not before a) writing a character so fun and charismatic and that it made his death feel like a crime against humanity, and b) having him launch into “Master of Puppets” ahead of a fierce battle against a swarm of Demobats.
Gaten Matarazzo and Gabriella Pizzolo: “Never Ending Story”
Perhaps the most joyous scene in the entire series takes place in Season 3, as the gang is attempting to flee the Mind Flayer and/or hack into a Russian tunnel system buried underneath the mall (depending on which member of the gang you are). The former group is driving from the Mind Flayer, exhausted and embattled, as the latter realizes they need Plank’s constant — and only Suzie (Gabriella Pizzolo), the supposed girlfriend of Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) that no one else has ever seen or spoken to, can save the day.
Dustin gives Suzie a ring, but she’s understandably upset: she hasn’t heard from her man in days and it sounds like there’s at least one girl around him (plus, she has a book to read). Before she’ll give him what he’s asked for, he has to sing a song — and not just any song, but the theme to “The NeverEnding Story.”
The moment was immediately baked into “Stranger Things” lore, and one need only approach any fan of the series by singing out, “Turn around…” before a sing-a-long will commence. In a show that is filled with a lot of pain and genuinely scary stuff, this scene continues to offer respite and a little bit of fun.
Kyle Dixon: “Kids”
Apart from the pop songs used throughout the series, the original music by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein is also important, good and inherently linked to the emotions the show makes you feel. Two songs are required listening, and the first is Dixon’s “Kids.”
This song hits because it plays at all the crucial moments when you’re rooting for a kid, scared for a kid, hopeful for a kid… pretty much every moment that matters.
Peter Gabriel: “Heroes”
Before Will returns from The Upside Down, most of Hawkins presumes he’s dead — a pretty logical conclusion that gains momentum after what is presented as a child’s body is pulled from the lake.
Gabriel’s version of “Heroes” — which begins at nearly a whisper — begins playing as the rest of the kids (Matarazzo, McLaughlin, and Finn Wolfhard, who plays Mike Wheeler, and Millie Bobby Brown, who plays Eleven), who are definitely not supposed to be out at all at this point in the night, watch.
The scene also features an emotional Jim Hopper (David Harbour), who is faced with the grim realization that he’s going to have to tell Joyce Byers her son has died. “It’s not Will,” says Mike as his friends shake their heads. “It can’t be.”
The scene is gentle and sad, and taps into something a lot of us can recall: what it felt like to be a kid and realize you aren’t as powerful as you might think you are, and it’s difficult to think of any other version of any other song that would suit the moment more perfectly. The song was just as effective when it returned at the end of Season 3.
The Police: “Every Breath You Take”
Who doesn’t love a poignant, pained school dance scene? The gang is all gathered for the big Snow Ball dance at school as Sting’s perennial hit plays, and a despondent Mike is languishing alone, heartbroken over the fact that Eleven hasn’t shown up. But then, of course, she walks through the double doors and suddenly, inexplicably, all is right in Mike’s world.
Though Sting’s lyrics are a little creepy in retrospect, the song manages to hit exactly the right mix of yearning and hope (and, honestly, given Eleven’s powers, a light reference to stalking is kind of appropriate).
The show has been especially good at capturing the vulnerability that comes with falling for someone at a young age, and this scene makes that feeling tangible — Eleven admits she doesn’t know how to dance, to which Mike asks if she wants to figure it out, together. It’s easy to focus on the bigger and badder parts of the series, but scenes like this one showcase the writing abilities of the show’s team, and allow us all to tap into a feeling that is otherwise easy to forget as adults.
Madonna: “Material Girl”
Max and Eleven get off to a rocky start after the former is introduced in season 2 — it’s understandable since Eleven doesn’t have a lot of social skills at the time, and sees another girl as a threat.
All that changes after Max convinces Eleven to eschew Hopper’s rule about staying at home and to go to the mall instead. The pair proceeds to have the kind of girls’ outing that is kind of crucial sometimes: shopping, laughing, and talking about how you really don’t need boys, all while Madonna plays in the background.
Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers: “Islands in the Stream”
There’s a second painful entry in the “Characters the Duffer Brothers Beautifully Crafted Only to Make Us Watch Them Die” file, and that’s Bob Newby (Sean Astin), who steps in to take care of Joyce and her kids, even when he doesn’t fully understand what the hell is going on.
Bob is everything that Hopper, Joyce’s inevitable (right, Ross and Matt?) romantic endgame, is not: warm, loving, sweet, and dependable. He’s also pretty cheesy (in the best ways), and in this scene, he invites Joyce to dance to Parton and Rogers’ 1983 hit. She’s resistant at first, but the romantic prowess of Bob Newby is not to be defeated that night.
Moby: “When It’s Cold I’d Like to Die”
Joyce and Hopper go into The Upside Down in Season 1 to find Will — and when they do, it appears he’s not alive. Joyce understandably begins to panic, but Hopper takes over and tells her what she needs to do to save him. The pair begin administering CPR, seemingly to no avail, as Moby’s song, which is from 1995 but still works, plays and Joyce pleads with Will to wake up.
At the same time, Hopper is taken back to the death of his own daughter, Sarah, who died from cancer. It’s a heavily emotional scene that has stayed with fans for understandable reasons, and the song is, was, and remains the ideal choice for the moment.
Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein: Stranger Things
Dixon and Stein knew what they were doing when they put this one together, and there is perhaps no song that is more important to listen to than the show’s main theme.
Honorable mention: Djo, “End of Beginning”
This song isn’t featured in the series but is by Joe Keery, who plays Steve Harrington, and a quick scroll through TikTok or Instagram supports the idea that it has a chokehold on fans and somehow manages to set exactly the right tone. It’s also worth listening to “Charlie’s Garden,” which features a cameo by Heaton.
