All the music of Stranger Things season 2: the playlist episode by episode
Season 2 · Music · The 1984 playlist
The second season widens the playlist: Halloween 1984 brings the Ghostbusters theme, Billy's arrival the Scorpions, the arcade Devo, and the Snow Ball The Police and Cyndi Lauper. Here is where each song appears, and what it tells.
The essentials
- Composers: Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein, second soundtrack
- Billy's arrival: Rock You Like a Hurricane, Scorpions
- Max's arrival: Whip It, Devo, at the Palace Arcade
- the Snow Ball: Every Breath You Take and Time After Time
Contents
The soundtrack
Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein sign a second score, more rhythmic than the first, with motifs for the new characters and for the Mind Flayer. Eleven's theme returns in her Chicago scenes, transformed; the tunnels theme is a low pulse that follows Hopper underground. The record came out at the same time as the season.
The Palace Arcade T-shirt, to beat the record.
In the shopWomen's Max's Mixtape T-shirt39,90 €See the product
The playlist, episode by episode
| Episode | Song | Scene |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Whip It — Devo | Max beats Dustin's record at the Palace Arcade (episode 2) |
| 2 | Ghostbusters — Ray Parker Jr. | The boys as Ghostbusters for Halloween |
| 2 | Rock You Like a Hurricane — Scorpions | Billy parks his Camaro in front of the high school |
| 3 | Islands in the Stream — Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton | Bob and Joyce at the Byers' |
| 6 | Should I Stay or Should I Go — The Clash | Return of Will's song |
| 9 | Every Breath You Take — The Police | Eleven and Mike dance at the Snow Ball |
| 9 | Time After Time — Cyndi Lauper | Lucas and Max's slow dance, Dustin and Nancy |
All the songs predate the fall of 1984, the period of the action. The Ghostbusters theme, released in June 1984, is the most recent: the boys saw the movie when it came out, hence the costume.
the Snow Ball
The last scene of the season, at the middle school, a month after the gate is closed, stacks two songs: Time After Time, on which Dustin, alone, is asked to dance by Nancy, and Every Breath You Take, on which Eleven and Mike kiss. The scene is the only one in the show shot with no monster, no threat, and no flickering lights. Fans cite it as the happiest moment in the whole story.
An unsettling songEvery Breath You Take is about surveillance: “I'll be watching you.” Under the scene, the camera pulls back and shows the Mind Flayer above the middle school, in the Upside Down. The love song is also a threat.
Billy and Max: two arrivals set to music
Max enters the show at the Palace Arcade, on Whip It, by beating Dustin's record at Dig Dug; Billy enters the high school on Rock You Like a Hurricane, Camaro roaring and a cigarette. The two tracks say everything about the characters: one plays, the other crushes. The Scorpions will return for Billy in season 3, with other hard-rock titles.
What Season 2 adds
With this season, the show establishes the principle of end-credit songs: each finale ends on a period hit, like a movie credit. It also installs Billy as a “music” character, which season 3 will exploit, and prepares the place Max's Walkman will take two seasons later.
The Max figure, MADMAX of the arcade.
In the shopLego Max Mayfield mini figure on a skateboard14,90 €See the product
The soundtrack, the second of the name
The soundtrack came out digitally on October 20, 2017, a week before the season, on Lakeshore and Invada Records. The first excerpt, “Walkin' in Hawkins,” had been unveiled on October 12. Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein described their work as the introduction of “new styles of composition” while revisiting the old themes when the story asked for it, with the will to “stay faithful to the sound of Season 1.”
Concretely, the 1983 motifs come back, Eleven's in particular, but the palette widens: darker washes for the giant shadow, more nervous rhythms for the tunnels, and more melodic pieces for Bob and Joyce. In all, more than fifty preexisting tracks were used in the season, with release dates going from 1936 to 1985.
The 1984 songs, scene by scene
| Song | Artist, year | Scene |
|---|---|---|
| "Rock You Like a Hurricane" | Scorpions, 1984 | Billy gets out of his Camaro in front of the high school, episode 2 |
| "Whip It" | Devo, 1980 | Max beats Dustin's record at the Palace Arcade, episode 1 |
| "The Four Horsemen" | Metallica, 1983 | Billy drives Max to high school, episode 2 |
| "Ghostbusters" | Ray Parker Jr., 1984 | The four boys as Ghostbusters for Halloween, episode 2 |
| "You Don't Mess Around with Jim" | Jim Croce, 1972 | Hopper and Eleven fix up the cabin, episode 3 |
| "Runaway" | Bon Jovi, 1984 | Kali and her gang in Chicago, episode 7 |
| "Every Breath You Take" | The Police, 1983 | The Snow Ball: Mike and Eleven finally dance, episode 9 |
| "Time After Time" | Cyndi Lauper, 1984 | The Snow Ball, Dustin and Nancy, episode 9 |
The date rule is kept: no song later than the fall of 1984 in the body of the episodes. The oldest, Jim Croce's, serves as a tender counterpoint to the Hopper-Eleven pair, two loners learning to live together.
Why the Snow Ball works
The dance scene gathers what the season had separated. Each couple has its song: “Every Breath You Take” for Mike and Eleven, who find each other after a year; “Time After Time” for Dustin, whom Nancy asks to dance when no girl wants him, and for Lucas and Max, who kiss for the first time. The Duffers said they built the finale like a John Hughes movie, the high school, the party, the slow dances, to offer a breath after the horror of the tunnels.
The last cut, on the giant shadow above the middle school in the Upside Down, arrives without music, after the slow dances. The silence does the work: the party was real, the threat too.
Chicago, the episode that sounds different
The seventh chapter, in Chicago with Kali, is the only one of the season to leave Hawkins, and its music says so. The punk and hard rock of Kali's group replace the middle-schoolers' pop: Bon Jovi's “Runaway” closes the episode on Eleven's flight to the bus station, and Dixon and Stein's synthesizers grow colder and more industrial, like the warehouse where the group lives.
The episode split fans, but its sound identity is one of the sharpest on the show: an urban, nocturnal parenthesis that makes you understand by contrast how much Hawkins is a small town.
The Snow Ball poster.
In the shopThe girl with powers poster19,90 €See the product
TakeawaySecond score by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein. Whip It for Max, Rock You Like a Hurricane for Billy. Ghostbusters for Halloween 1984. Every Breath You Take and Time After Time at the Snow Ball.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Snow Ball song?
Every Breath You Take by The Police, for Eleven and Mike's dance, preceded by Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper.
What song accompanies Billy's arrival?
Rock You Like a Hurricane, by the Scorpions (1984), when he parks his Camaro in front of the high school.
What is Max's song at the arcade?
Whip It, by Devo (1980), at the Palace Arcade.
Who composed the season 2 score?
Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein, as for every season.
When did the season 2 original score come out?
On October 20, 2017 digitally, a week before the season, with “Walkin' in Hawkins” as the first excerpt on October 12.
How many period songs does season 2 contain?
More than fifty preexisting tracks, released between 1936 and 1985, on top of Dixon and Stein's score.