The Supersonic Soundtrack of Stranger Things

The Police, ‘Every Breath You Take’
Commonly misinterpreted as a sanguine love song, The Police’s ‘Every Breath You Take’ was actually about a possessive lover. 

‘I think it’s a nasty little song, really rather evil,’ Sting told the New Musical Express in 1983. ‘It’s about jealousy and surveillance and ownership.’

Written shortly after his split with Frances Tomelty, the track was the best-selling single of 1983 in the US and Canada, and still does much of the heavy lifting for Sting’s music publishing income. Belonging to The Police’s fifth and final studio album, Synchronicity, ‘Every Breath You Take’ was used to expert effect in season two of Stranger Things, the tender-hearted Snowball school dance imbued with a sense of lurking foreboding from alternate universe, the Upside Down.

Peter Gabriel, ‘Heroes’
A cover of David Bowie’s track from 1977, Peter Gabriel’s ‘Heroes’ was tapped for season three of Stranger Things. Appearing in Gabriel’s 2010 album Scratch My Back, the glacially slow, cathartic cover reinforced one of the show’s central themes: The triumph of the human spirit in the face of adversity. 

Originally recorded by David Bowie in a West Berlin studio, ‘Heroes’ was conceived as a song about a doomed love affair, after Bowie witnessed a kiss between married man Tony Visconti (Bowie’s producer) and backing vocalist Antonia Maaß by the Berlin wall.

The Clash, ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go’
Music forms a crucial bond between Jonathan Byers and his younger brother Will in Stranger Things, and English punk band The Clash remain front and centre throughout the entire first season. Originally about a breakup, ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go’ takes on horror of cosmic proportions in Stranger Things, as the aural backdrop to Will’s imprisonment in the alternate-dimension Castle Byers. 

Serving as one of the primary means of communication between the real world and the Upside Down, ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go’ originally appeared on The Clash album, Combat Rock from 1982. Long viewed as a gateway song for fledgling punk fans, the track enjoyed a second wind in the 1990s after Levi's used Mick Jones’ snarling vocals for the iconic pool hall commercial. 

Limahl, Never Ending Story 
One of the greatest duets ever from an on-screen tween couple, Dustin Henderson and Suzie Bingham’s rendition of ‘Never Ending Story’ was one for the history books, breaking into song midway through an attempt to thwart a Russian military operation in Hawkins. The ballad was originally the title song from the cult-favourite 1984 film, The NeverEnding Story.

First performed by English pop singer Limahl and produced by Italian musician Giorgio Moroder, the pop culture power of Stranger Things was again on full display in season three, the synth-pop anthem surging 825 per cent on Spotify! 

Nice one, Dusty Buns! 

Kate Bush, Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)
Becoming a smash hit (again!) 37 years after its debut, Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’ went supernova after Max Mayfield used it as her shield against Vecna’s cross-dimensional terror. 

Providing the emotional core to one of the best sequences we’ve seen so far from Stranger Things, Bush’s ethereal masterpiece has since become her second number-one hit in Australia (after 1978’s ‘Wuthering Heights’).

‘How utterly brilliant! It's hard to take in the speed at which this has all been happening since the release of the first part of the Stranger Things new series,’ Bush recently expressed on her website. ‘Thanks so much to everyone who has supported the song and a really special thank you to the Duffer Brothers for creating something with such heart.’