The first part of Season 4 of Stranger Things came out May 27th. Set in the 1980s, this show has previously featured a mix of known and lesser-known songs from that era. I remember watching the first season, hearing Joy Division’s “Atmosphere,” and nearly falling out of my seat. I guess my expectation with music in TV shows and movies is that they feature top 10 songs, or at least top 40 songs.
As someone whose formative years were based listening to British radio in the early to mid-1980s, then moved to the US, I know well that not all bands popular on one side of the Atlantic were equally big across the pond. In the US, New Order were bigger than Joy Division. In the UK and Europe, Kate Bush was a major artist, whereas not so much in the USA.
A song by Kate Bush features prominently in multiple episodes of Stranger Things (I am slowly watching the episodes over the course of two weeks, rather than binging them all at once). The song, “Running Up That Hill” is one I vividly remember watching as a video and listening to on my Sony Walkman (much like one of the characters in the show), and I thought it amusing to see Kate Bush’s song play such a major part.
What I didn’t expect was to read that all of a sudden the song is number one on iTunes, a major streamer on Spotify, and back in the spotlight after over 35 years. It seems this show has led many people in the US to suddenly “discover” Kate Bush. About time, I say.
I’ve been a Kate Bush for years, have all her albums, listen to her music regularly. It’s great to see this artist gain more recognition in the US. Hopefully it leads people to discover more of her music. Bush has always operated by her own rules and standards. No doubt she finds this strange attention from this side of the Atlantic amusing. It won’t change when she does, how she makes music. Apparently Bush had to be persuaded to license her song for the show, something that rarely happens. It’s great that a show built around 80s nostalgia brings out some great stuff from the past, and hopefully people intrigued by this song will discover some of her other great tunes from across the decades.
