Warning: This article contains spoilers for Stranger Things Season 4 part one.
It’s been awhile since Stranger Things was last on our screens, and boy, have we missed it.
Not only does a new season mean we inch closer to finding out all the secrets of the Stranger Things universe, we also get to watch Eleven and co. take on a new big bad in Vecna, which is very exciting. It also means we get a new soundtrack jam-packed with some of the hottest tracks of the 80s.
The Stranger Things soundtracks have always been iconic, but this season, music plays a more pivotal role to the plot of the sci-fi series than ever before.
In Season 4, Vecta, the big bad of the moment, kills his victims by first putting them in a trance, before snapping their bones like twigs and leaving them with their eyes gouged out. It’s… a lot!
Over the course of the season, though, we learn that music can be truly lifesaving, as it breaks the trance long enough for the potential victims to free themselves.
We see this in action when Vecta has Max in his grasp. Her friends come to her aide, and play her favourite song, “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)” by Kate Bush, on her Walkman. It snaps her out of the trance, and Max spends the rest of the episodes playing it on loop to protect herself.
It’s a powerful scene, and has introduced the iconic and catchy track to a whole new generation of fans, who made Kate Bush trend on Twitter over the weekend of Season 4’s release. It also sent the track running up those iTunes charts (sorry, we had to), where it quickly hit Number One.
i just have to say the inclusion of kate bush’s running up that hill (a deal with god) in stranger things 4 episode 4 changed the trajectory of my life and permanently altered my brain chemistry thank you kate bush thank you sadie sink
— ⁂ (@gob1inatrix) May 28, 2022
dear billy is genuinely the best episode in the entirety of stranger things, i was on the edge of my seat the whole time. the last 5 minutes? masterpiece. the incorporation of running up that hill? incredible. sadie sink? emmy award worthy #StrangerThings4
— eman (@actuallyeman) May 27, 2022
can’t believe they’re going to create an Emmy category for Best Use of Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) so that Stranger Things can win that
— phoenix parks #1 gord stan (@villainmorris) May 29, 2022
On the topic of Emmys, let’s talk about Nora Felder, the music supervisor for Stranger Things.
Felder has been nominated three times already for her work as music supervisor on the show already, and could very well find herself with a fourth nomination come July 13, when the Emmy nominees are announced.
Of course, “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)” isn’t the only iconic ’80s track featured in Season 4 of Stranger Things. Other hits include “California Dreamin'” by the Beach Boys, “Detroit Rock City” by KISS, and “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record” by Dead Or Alive.
In fact, you can listen to the entire soundtrack to Season 4, part one below:
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