The Importance of Stranger Things to the GenXers and Music Lovers

This is music! ~ Eddie Munson

If you grew up in the last breaths of the Cold War, the Netflix series Stranger Things is a nostalgic lifeline to the fond memories we collectively share about our youth. There are the unique characters, the bond of friends, the alienation of being different that creates those cliquish, the varied music that was our therapist, the constant threat of world annihilation, the roller rinks and arcades, and the pop culture references to items that sustained us.

We can all associate and name someone that reminds of us the characters on the show. Each of us has a Nancy, Lucas, Max, Will, Mike, Steve, Eddie, Dustin, or Joyce and Hopper that they can refer to from their childhood. The scenes of houses with bikes piled up in yards, going home at dark, wanting to fit in, and joining forces to save the world … these scenes so accurately depicted it’s like watching a VHS tape of our own memories.

While the show uses a lot of music, it is season 4’s use of music to save those from the evil forces of Vecna. The importance of music on the show is what I relate to most. Music is a character – let’s face it. When you hear the opening chords of The Clash’s Should I Stay or Should I Go, Dusting and Suzie singing Limahl’s Neverending Story theme song, or Eddie summoning the demobats with Metallica’s Master of Puppets, you know associate those songs with specific scenes and characters just as many of us do with music throughout our lives.

There was something incredibly fantastic and magical about music in the 80’s. GenXers were on the cusp of freedom from the Cold War, technology was giving us cool music videos and computer games, but we still relied on our imagination, a curfew of “when the streetlights come on,” and much of our activities revolved around music. While the global world order is passively referenced (using the Hawkins lab for work against Russia or the shenanigans of Enzo and Yuri around the gulag), the plight of saving the world moves from fiction (D&D) to fact (Demogorgon, Mind Flayer and Vecna). The use of music moves from background (Twist of Fate – Olivia Newton John) to life and death (Running Up that Hill – Kate Bush). Music was just always there thanks to radio and MTV/VH1. We had a soundtrack every waking moment of our days. Music was also different in that its accessibility was either on the radio, on the TV, or in the record stores. You had to wait for albums. You had to fast forward through cassette tapes. For God’s sake you had to memorize and guess lyrics.

There's a parable to Eddie's story, really, that is poetic, powerful, and beautiful
~ Joseph Quinn

The Duffer Brothers were too young to recall the years in which the first four seasons of Stranger Things took place (they were born in 1984) but they did a fantastic job capturing the feelings of the time. From social cliques to the fear of metal music and Dungeons and Dragons, the undertone of world demise (Russians or the Upsidedown), and the importance and constant presence of music, Stranger Things is a portal for the GenXers to reminisce and bask in the glory of complex, but simpler times. 

Season 5 should take us at least two years possibly into the future which means a post-Chernobyl and Live Aid, U2 releases Joshua Tree and George Michael releases Faith to the world.

Paula’s Upside Down, Save Me From Vecna Playlist (1980-1986)

Don’t Dream It’s Over – Crowded House

Unforgettable Fire – U2

Orion – Metallica

Love Twist – Culture Club

Harden My Heart – Quarterflash

Listen Like Thieves – INXS

Let’s Dance – David Bowie

Everybody Wants to Rule the World – Tears for Fears

Love Don’t Live Here Anymore - Madonna

Raise Your Hands to Rock – Motley Crue

Private Dance – Tina Turner

Safety Dance – Men Without Hats

No Myth – Michael Penn

Overkill – Men at Work

Witness – Cyndi Lauper

**All images credit of Netflix**