It’s been all downhill for Kate Bush’s 1985 hit “Running Up That Hill” ever since the Duffer Brothers used the 1985 hit for a pivotal scene in “Stranger Things 4.”
In a rare interview, the singer told BBC One that it felt “extraordinary” to see her song hit the top of the singles chart nearly four decades after its release, adding that she really never expected to see it take off the way it has.
“I thought that the track would get some attention,” she said. “But I just never imagined that it would be anything like this. It’s so exciting. But it’s quite shocking really, isn’t it? I mean, the whole world’s gone mad.”
After the new season of “Stranger Things” dropped on Netflix, the track soared to the No. 1 spot on iTunes and landed on streaming charts for the first time. It’s the first time that Bush has made it to the Top 10 in the Unites States.
“What’s really wonderful I think is that this is a whole new audience,” Bush said of the renewed popularity. “In a lot of cases, they’ve never heard of me. And I love that. The thought of all these really young people hearing the song for the first time and discovering it is, well, I think it’s very special.”
She admitted that she’s been a fan of the series since its debut, so it was touching to see her song used at all, let alone to help a female character find her strength.
“I thought, what a lovely way for the song to be used in such a positive way,” she said. “You know, as a kind of talisman almost for Max. And yeah, I think it’s very touching, actually.”
Listeners have likely developed their own interpretations of the song, especially if they heard it for the first time within in the context of the show. Bush doesn’t often weigh in on the meaning of her songs, and she told BBC that she likes “people to hear a song and take from it what they want.”
But, she did explain the original meaning behind the 1985 hit: “Originally, it was written with the idea of a man and a woman swapping places with each other just to feel what it was like from the other side.”