RUNNING UP THE CHARTS

Stranger Things has catapulted Kate Bush back to the top of global playlists, writes Siobhan Duck

EVEN your most ardent fan of ’80s experimental rock couldn’t have predicted that Kate Bush would be the breakout star of the latest season of Stranger Things. After all, you can’t see the pioneering UK singer-songwriter in a single frame. But Bush has found a new and appreciative audience through the nostalgia-heavy Netflix sci-fi series, her pulsing synth single Running Up That Hill a constant source of comfort for traumatised teen Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink).

After the fourth season of Stranger Things premiered in

May, the re-released Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) catapulted to number one on the ARIA singles chart and scored Bush her first US top-10 hit (37 years ago, the song peaked at number 30).

“It’s one of those songs that immediately takes you into another world,” says Cameron Adams, features writer for the LiSTNR podcast app. “That’s why it’s perfect for the scenes it soundtracks in Stranger Things.

“Kate is a fan of the show herself and that’s why it has connected with people who weren’t even born when it was a hit first time around in 1985. In an era of Spotify and short attention spans and people trying to make songs to get on radio, Kate is an individual and that never ages.”

The way that Stranger Things incorporates Running Up That Hill into its story, Adams says, is an example of how, when done right, music can steal a scene as much as it sets it. “Sometimes TV shows just use a few seconds of a song, especially a big hit, potentially because the bigger the artist, the more they charge to use even the smallest parts of their biggest hits. But [the producers of] Stranger Things clearly adore Running Up That Hill. They wrote the scene around the use of the song... and it features in multiple episodes.”

Just as movies have revived tunes for optimal impact – think The Righteous Brothers’ 1965 serenade Unchained Melody in the 1990 hit Ghost, The Beatles’ exuberant 1963 smash Twist and Shout in the 1986 comedy Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Blue Swede’s 1973 hit Hooked On A Feeling in 2014 superhero film Guardians Of The Galaxy – screens have long been a place to connect songs with audiences.

Understanding the power of a tune, some productions now treat music like another character. On the Netflix series Bridgerton, pop songs are performed by a string quartet, in keeping with the show’s modern twist on period drama. “This is also smart as sometimes using the original recording of a song by a major artist like Taylor Swift can be either difficult to procure or wildly expensive,” Adams says. “But when you get it right, like Stranger Things, everyone wins.”

STRANGER THINGS STREAMING, NETFLIX