Stranger Things 4 bought eclectic English musician Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" back into the spotlight when the song was used to help Max break free of Vecna's curse in the Upside Down and escape back home. Ever since this heart-stopping scene, the decades-old tune has been topping music charts all over the world and, according to CNN, Kate Bush approved how Stranger Things used her music.
Music has power in this universe and the magical potency of Kate Bush's song could well be amplified by its haunting melody and intense emotional register. If "Running Up That Hill" can serve as a shield against the nefarious Upside-Down, then other 80's songs could carry similar potential.
Bela Lugosi's Dead - Bauhaus
Though the English post-punk band Bauhaus technically released "Bela Lugosi's Dead" in August of 1979, the song was a standard alternative anthem of the 1980s. Raw and haunting, the over nine-minute song was the first recording Bauhaus ever made and it was accomplished in one take.
Perfect for the goth sensibility and the soundtrack of an eerie Halloween evening, "Bela Lugosi's Dead" fires up the ectoplasmic energy of classic horror films and lost souls, perfect for the horror movie references in Stranger Things 4. Fueled by a Bossa Nova drumbeat, screeching guitar, and Murphy's scratchy (he was sick at the time) howls to the passing of Bela Lugosi, the song's moody darkness would be perfect to foil Vecna on his own terms.
Mercy Street - Peter Gabriel
With the release of his 1986 album So, Peter Gabriel introduced his devastating "Mercy Street," a song he dedicated to the American poet Anne Sexton. Gabriel found inspiration in her poem, "45 Mercy Street" and imparted a haunting, echoing effect to the vocals by pairing a shadow vocal track one octave below the front vocals, a result he could only achieve when he first woke up.
A masterpiece of melancholy atmosphere, Gabriel's song is a vision of death, a journey through sadness, and frightening emotional truth. There is a sensual magic to the music, something akin in its effect to the flute that hypnotizes the cobra, and this could make the song a powerful talisman in a life-or-death standoff with Vecna.
London Calling - The Clash
This hit from The Clash squeezes into the 80's category by their album of the same name being released in the United States in January 1980. Shifting from their punk rock roots to fuse their sound with elements of new wave, ska, rockabilly, blues reggae, and pop, The Clash exploded on the American scene.
The haunting E minor chords and shrieking backing vocals of London Calling fuel lyrics that plunge into an apocalyptic underworld. With London "calling to the zombies of death," and describing the aftermath of a nuclear disaster of unknown origin, the song is perfect for exposing the weaknesses of Stranger Things' Vecna.
Cat People (Putting Out Fire) - David Bowie
David Bowie was on fire in 1982, riding high on his title track from the horror movie Cat People. While the song is considered one of Bowie's best artistic accomplishments, Bowie himself was dissatisfied with the original and remastered it for his "Let's Dance" album in 1983.
A blending of new wave and goth rock, the song's female backing vocals, and Bowie's raging baritone are designed to reinforce the nightmarish nature of Cat People. This combination, along with Bowie's fantastical stage personas, is right up the otherworldly alley for eluding not just Vecna but the other Stranger Things monsters that Hawkins has had to deal with.
Avalon - Roxy Music
Appearing on Roxy Music's 1982 swan song album Avalon, the title track immediately caught the imagination of fans who kept the disc on the UK Album Chart for more than a year. The amazing female backing vocals were performed by Haitian Yanick Etienne, who didn't know any English at the time.
As a part of Arthurian legend, Avalon is the island where King Arthur's sword Excaliber was forged and his burial site. Shrouded in fog and death, the mystery of Avalon is combined by Bryan Ferry with a soft, evocative ode about change and the uncertainty of the future. Draped in such eerie meaning, there would be no better song than "Avalon" to effectively face the darkness.
She Sells Sanctuary - The Cult
The high-energy 1985 pop hit "She Sells Sanctuary" by the British rock band The Cult was a dance club favorite at the time of Stranger Things. Band guitarist Peter Duffy created the "mystical" signature guitar sound in the piece by engaging all his guitar pedals at the same time.
The supercharged power of "She Sells Sanctuary" veers between the frenetic, erotic, and mythical like a runaway freight train bent on self-destruction. This song's brawniness could serve a desperate hero well during an escape from Stranger Thing's mysterious Vecna or any other kind of boss or demon.
Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) - The Eurythmics
The Eurythmics came crashing full force into the early New Wave scene with their chart-topping 1983 album Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This). The magnetic charisma of Annie Lennox with her sensational voice and androgynous image matched the band's often eccentric, eerie sound in the new age of music videos.
"Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)," generates a hypnotic sway driven by its searching lyrics, Lennox's soulful voice, and David A. Stewart's dueling synthesizers. The lyrics describe a flicker of hope in the depths of hopelessness and could easily become the musical shield for even the best characters in Stranger Things struggling against overwhelming odds.
The Metro - Berlin
The California New Wave band Berlin scored a huge success in 1981 with their release of the single "The Metro" which later appeared on their 1983 album Pleasure Victim. A dance club staple made unique by its heavy use of the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 Synthesizer, "The Metro" was the band's first big hit.
Alternately wistful and lost in the haze of difficult memories, the dreamy atmospherics of "The Metro" carry the meaning and tone necessary to unlock character emotions and traumas, thus making it a potentially effective tool in the conflict with Vecna. As Nancy says, favorite music is "a lifeline back to reality."
The Killing Moon - Echo and the Bunnymen
The biggest hit on the English band Echo and the Bunnymen's 1984 album Ocean Rain was the song "The Killing Moon," a symphonic, solemn ode to the acceptance of fate. The song's chord progression is based on a reverse version of the chords used by Davie Bowie in his song "Space Oddity."
With lyrics like "Under blue moon, I saw you/So soon you'll take me/Up in your arms, too late to beg you/Or cancel it, though I know it must be," "The Killing Moon" delivers a solid punch in the zone of seeming inevitability, a feeling the characters of Stranger Things must defeat when caught in Vecna's multifaceted curses, as he seems to draw power from his victims according to one Stranger Things theory.
Burning Down The House - The Talking Heads
It was 1984 when the American rock and punk-influenced band The Talking Heads released the album Speaking in Tongues and its mega-hit single "Burning Down the House." Hailed as a "new wave funk" song, lead singer David Byrne described the piece as having evolved from a series of instrumental jam sessions, according to Inside Hook.
At times non-sensical and imminently combustible, just like the Upside-Down, the song carries more meaning in the beat of its syllables than the words themselves, though lyrics like "There has got to be a way" speak to hope in the face of great trials. If any Stranger Things character needs to pump up their musical defensive shields in the presence of Vecna, the weird, funky and appropriately-titled "Burning Down the House" could be just the ticket.