The Stranger Things 4 Soundtrack Spans Classic Eras & Styles

Featuring a remix of Journey’s “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart),” the Stranger Things Season 4 trailer teased another soundtrack packed with ’80s hits. Though the band’s 1983 hit isn’t featured on the Stranger Things soundtrack, there are plenty of other appropriately timed songs from artists ranging from The Beach Boys and Kiss to Kate Bush and Dead or Alive. What’s more, music becomes an integral part of Season 4’s 1986-set storyline, as the Hawkins crew discovers that certain music can even have life-saving abilities. Two songs, in particular, got major moments this season — Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” featured prominently in Volume 1 as the one thing keeping Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink) safe from Vecna, and, in Volume 2, Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” was played by Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) on guitar as part of the Hawkins gang’s plan to destroy Vecna.

Like the Netflix series itself, the Season 4 soundtrack is dropping in two digital parts on May 27 and July 1, with Sony Music’s Legacy Recordings releasing the complete Volumes 1 & 2 versions on CD and cassette on Sept. 9. The label previewed the “conceptualized” Duffer brothers-produced compilation as including “key music covering various classic eras and styles” as featured in the show.

“I try to kick the creative levels up a notch each season because I don’t want to ever feel too comfortable or become too complacent by relying on music I’m already familiar with,” music supervisor Nora Felder told Billboard in 2019, explaining that they “try to use songs that came out with the year” each season takes place. “The good news is that with each new season comes another year of songs that we get to rediscover.”

Below is every song from Stranger Things 4, Volumes 1 and 2, with the official soundtrack entries in bold.

Episode 1

“California Dreamin’” — The Beach Boys

“Object of My Desire” — Starpoint

“Running Up That Hill” — Kate Bush

“I Was a Teenage Werewolf” — The Cramps

“Chica Mejanita” — Mae Arnette

“Play With Me” — Extreme

“Detroit Rock City” — Kiss

“The Red Army Is the Strongest” — The Red Army Choir

“Got Your Number” — The Lloyd Langton Group

“Fever” — The Cramps

Episode 2

“You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” — Dead or Alive

“Rock Me Amadeus (The Gold Mix)” — Falco

“Tarzan Boy” — Baltimora

“Wipe Out” (K-Tel Version) — The Surfaris

“Psycho Killer” — Talking Heads

“Ibn-Haki’s Monologue, Scene 5” — The National Bolshoi Orchestra

“Diamonds and Emeralds” — The Interior Castle

“Burning Up” — Donnell Pitman

“Tons of Wet Surf Time” — Noma

Episode 3

“Guardian Angel” — Fergus MacRoy

“In Transit to Bermuda” — Dorian Zero

Episode 4

“Pass the Dutchie” — Musical Youth

“Dream a Little Dream of Me” — Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong

“Running Up That Hill” — Kate Bush

“March of the Defenders of Moscow” — The Red Army Choir

“Legless” — Hipbone Slim

“Hard Feelings” — Al Kerby

Episode 5

“Travelin’ Man” — Ricky Nelson

“Running Up That Hill” — Kate Bush

“Nina, o sia la Pazza per Amore” — Cecilia Bartoli

“David Searches” — Arthur B. Rubinstein (WarGames Soundtrack)

“Time’s Up” — Arthur B. Rubinstein (WarGames Soundtrack)

Episode 6

“Pass the Dutchie” — Musical Youth

“Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35: III. Finale: Allegro Assai Vivace” — Erich Wolfgang Korngold

“Snow Maiden, Op. 12: Chorus of the Courtiers - Act 1” — Russian State Orchestra

“Cavatine et Rondo d’Antonida”

“Cutthroat” — Survive

Episode 7

“Dream a Little Dream of Me” — Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong

“Running Up That Hill” — Kate Bush

“Prophecies” — Philip Glass

“Akhnaten: Act 1, Scene 3: The Window of Appearances” — Philip Glass

“Akhnaten: Act 2, Scene 2: Akhnaten and Nefertiti” — Philip Glass

Episode 8

“Fire and Rain” — James Taylor

“Separate Ways (World Apart)” — Journey & Steve Perry

“Natty Dread On The Go” — Lone Ranger

“Up Around The Bend” — Creedence Clearwater Revival

“Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo” — Rick Derringer

Episode 9

“Running Up That Hill” — Kate Bush

“Master of Puppets” — Metallica

“Dream a Little Dream of Me” — Ella Fitzgerald

“When It’s Cold I’d Like To Die” — Moby

“Spellbound” — Siouxsie and the Banshees

“Every Breath You Take” — The Police