Stranger Things Creators Won’t Attempt to Recreate Kate Bush Success With Season 5

In the month since Stranger Things Season 4 first debuted on Netflix, one of the standout elements of the adventure was the key usage of Kate Bush’s song “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God),” not only for its musicianship, but also for its significance in the series’ narrative. Clearly no one involved with the series knew how much the song would resonate with audiences, though creators Matt and Ross Duffer aren’t looking to try to replicate the viral success of the song with a Season 5 song, as they know that just by attempting it, any selection wouldn’t be as impactful. Stranger Things Season 4 is now streaming on Netflix.

“‘The ‘Running up that Hill,’ the Kate Bush thing, [is] so bizarre,” Matt Duffer shared with Collider. “I’m not on TikTok, but people are like, ‘Oh, it’s all over TikTok!’ I don’t even really understand what that means, but it’s just bizarre how that stuff happens.”

Music has always been an important part of the series, with Season 1 featuring heavy use and a similar significance for The Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go.” Despite also being an acclaimed song, it failed to capture the public’s attention in the same way as Bush’s track.

The success of the song has seen people already asking the Duffers if they have picked out a song to use in a similar fashion for Season 5.

“Whether it happens again with another band … I don’t know. It’s certainly the type of thing you’re not going to, in Season 5, attempt to replicate,” Duffer detailed. “I’m already getting asked that question, it’s like, ‘What song are [you] going to do in Season 5?’ I’m like, ‘We’re not going to do that again.’ Because if we do it, it will fail.”

“Running Up That Hill” was featured in Volume 1 of Stranger Things Season 4, with the arrival of Volume 2 seeing the use of Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” in a key scene. With Bush being a more obscure performer than Metallica, the use of the song hasn’t captured social media’s attention quite the same way, seemingly proving Duffer’s remarks.

Stranger Things Season 4 is now streaming on Netflix.

What did you think of the song in Season 4? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!