Joyce Byers: “Islands in the Stream” by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers
In season 2, Joyce dances with her boyfriend Bob Newby to “Islands in the Stream” by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers, an easy listening classic. Joyce is starting up a new relationship with Hopper, but this song probably still has a lot of meaning to her. Maybe she make it their song, too?
In any case, this is a good bet for keeping Vecna at bay should he come for Joyce.
Robin: “99 Luftballons” by Nena
And again, we’re back to vibes. Robin is smart, quirky, funny and very much her own person. She may well be into Kate Bush, an artist who’s defiantly herself down to her bones. But her work seems a little too melancholy to work. I think Robin would be into something with a bit more pep.
Enter “99 Luftballoons” by the German band Nena. The song is an absurdist story about 99 balloons wafting over the Berlin Wall and accidentally setting off World War III, but audiences in the United States didn’t get that, given that the lyrics were in German and everything. The song also works as a danceable bop, but you can still feel the tug of something deeper and stranger underneath, even if you don’t understand the words. That fits Robin’s multi-faceted personality well.
Murray: “No More” by Billie Holiday
Spend 12 seconds with Murray and you can just tell he’s one of those guys who goes around scoffing at people’s musical tastes and saying that only jazz is “real music.” And indeed, we see him put on a jazz record in his home during season 2, when he needs music to calm his nerves so he can reason out the Hawkins lab conspiracy.
Specifically, he puts on Billie Holiday’s recording of “No More,” a melancholy blues song. Vecna is no match for Billie.
Eleven: “Heroes” by David Bowie
Okay, this one was easily the hardest pick to make. What music has Eleven even been exposed to? She grew up in a lab, and I don’t want to think about what Dr. Brenner played for the kids there, if anything. I could just say that Eleven likes “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim” or “Every Breath You Take,” since she’s close to Hopper and Mike, but that would be doubling up and that’s cheating.
So let’s get a little more abstract. Stranger Things has featured a cover of “Heroes” at a couple of points: in the first season when the boys and Eleven find Will’s fake body in the quarry, and in season 3 as the characters say goodbye after Hopper “dies.” It’s a melancholy song that underscores some dark moments, particularly moments that have to do with Eleven, but part of the reason it’s so melancholy is that the show uses Peter Gabriel’s very somber cover of David Bowie’s original. That’s odd for this series, since the Gabriel cover wasn’t out there until long after the ’80s were over, whereas Bowie’s version came out in 1977.
Bowie’s version is more uplifting, which fits Eleven — she’s a young woman, after all. But she still has the weigh of the world on her shoulders, so some melancholy is fitting. The song also ties into the runner the show has going about El being, essentially, a superhero…at least for now.
What do you make of the list, and what song would you use to fend off Vecna?
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