Nora Felder, the ‘Stranger Things’ music supervisor who made Kate Bush and Metallica current again, won an Emmy for her work on season four of the wildly popular Netflix series on Sunday.
Speaking to the press after accepting her award, Felder said she would never get tired of hearing that she helped reintroduce Kate Bush and Metallica to a new generation. “It’s always still surreal,” she added. “I’ve always really felt that music can be timeless. It’s just like when you have wonderful artists and writers. The stories can resonate from decade to decade, century to century.”
Metallica’s seminal “Master of Puppets” album figured significantly in “Stranger Things” this past season, which pushed the band back onto the Billboard charts, led to a spike in Spotify streams and inspired scads of TikTok videos.
The musicians made a point of expressing their gratitude for the newfound interest. “They sent me flowers,” Felder said. “They sent me this incredible ‘Master of Puppets’ box set, which I heard — you know, my son’s like, that’s worth, like, $3,000! Their management has sent me notes on their behalf. And they’re lovely. They’re really lovely people. I’m sure you’ve seen they’ve embraced everything. They’ve got lots of new fans and their older fans are kind of like, who’s all these new people? And they’re like, everybody’s welcome in the Metallica family. It’s just wonderful that the music is just bringing people together.”
When asked if she had heard from Bush, who has expressed her delight that “Running Up That Hill (Make a Deal with God)” has reemerged some 37 years after it debuted, Felder said she hadn’t, but she was fine with that. “She keeps to herself — you know, I think a lot of people know that about her. I think she lives on a farm outside of London. She has reached out to the Duffer Brothers to say thank you for everything because she’s completely blown away, as you can imagine.”
As for why Bush’s song touched so many people, Felder said, “I think that many people feel like in the past few years that they’ve been running up this hill and having a really hard time getting to the top, and not even knowing how far the top is. And so I think a lot of people are relating to the song. I think children having to go through a lots of feelings of isolation. And feeling like this song allows them to kind of express how they’re feeling. … All ages are loving it and I’m happy that it’s having another life and I’m hoping it keeps the door open to more timeless music.”
