All the music of Stranger Things season 3: the playlist episode by episode
Season 3 · Music · The playlist of summer 1985
Season 3 is the poppiest of the show: mall, pool, fair, and a summer 1985 playlist that goes from Madonna to Limahl, with as its high point a duet sung by radio during the end of the world. Here is where each song appears.
The essentials
- Composers: Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein, a lighter, more rhythmic score
- Cult scene: The NeverEnding Story, by Dustin and Suzie
- End credits: Heroes (Peter Gabriel) cover, then “NeverEnding Story”
- Billy: Wham!, Corey Hart, and the Scorpions
Contents
A summer soundtrack
Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein wrote, for season 3, a brighter score: brilliant synths for Starcourt, almost pop motifs for Eleven and Max, and a heavy pulse for the flesh monster. It is the most contrasted soundtrack of the show, between comedy and horror, in the image of the season.
The Scoops Ahoy T-shirt, for the summer playlist.
In the shopDustin Henderson tank top36,90 €See the product
The playlist, episode by episode
| Episode | Song | Scene |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Never Surrender — Corey Hart | The opening montage, Hawkins in the summer of 1985 |
| 1 | Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go — Wham! | Steve and Robin at Scoops Ahoy |
| 2 | Material Girl — Madonna | Eleven and Max go shopping at Starcourt |
| 2 | Angel — Madonna | The two girls in Max's room |
| 3 | Rock This Town — Stray Cats | Billy and Heather at the pool (night) |
| 4 | Baba O'Riley — The Who | Nancy and Jonathan at Mrs. Driscoll's |
| 6 | Moving in Stereo — The Cars | Billy at the pool, seen by the mothers |
| 7 | You Don't Mess Around with Jim — Jim Croce | Hopper at the wheel, at the fair |
| 8 | The NeverEnding Story — Limahl | Dustin and Suzie's radio duet |
| 8 | Heroes — Peter Gabriel | The Byers leave Hawkins (finale) |
The return of “Heroes,” in the Peter Gabriel version already used for the quarry scene in Season 1, closes the loop: the same music for the fake mourning of Will and for the real departure from Hawkins.
Dustin and Suzie's duet
Episode 8: to get Planck's constant, Dustin has to sing with Suzie their song, The NeverEnding Story, theme of The NeverEnding Story (1984). The duet plays while Hopper and Joyce wait in front of the Russian machine, and the monster devastates Starcourt. Gaten Matarazzo and Gabriella Pizzolo actually sing; the version is on the original score.
The scene was the most shared of the season, and Limahl's song climbed back into the streaming charts in the summer of 2019.
Billy in musicEvery appearance of Billy at the pool has its song: Wham!, Corey Hart, the Stray Cats, The Cars. The show gently mocks the lifeguard character before making him terrifying.
Material Girl: Eleven discovers shopping
Episode 2: Max takes Eleven to the mall and teaches her to choose clothes for herself, to Material Girl (1984). It is the first scene in the show where Eleven is an ordinary teenager, and the song says the opposite of what she is living: she does not want money, she wants to choose. The scene fixed Eleven's look for the season, yellow shirt and suspenders.
What Season 3 locks in
Season 3 installs music as a character: a song can save the world, literally, over the radio. Season 4 will push the idea all the way with Kate Bush and Metallica, and Season 5 will pick it up.
The Dustin figure, radio singer.
In the shopLego Dustin Hellfire Club mini figure14,90 €See the product
The Season 3 albums
Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein's soundtrack, titled simply Stranger Things 3, came out digitally on June 28, 2019, six days before the season, on Lakeshore and Invada Records, then on CD, vinyl, and cassette, that last format a nod to the year 1985. The period songs had their own sixteen-track compilation, published by Legacy Recordings on July 5, 2019, the day after the release.
This season's score is lighter and more rhythmic than the two before it, in the image of a mall summer, but it also contains one of the darkest moments in the show: the mental confrontation between Eleven and Billy, in “E Pluribus Unum,” leans on excerpts from “Confrontation and Rescue,” taken from the second act of Philip Glass's opera Satyagraha.
“The NeverEnding Story”: how the scene was born
The Duffers wanted to introduce Suzie in a spectacular way, and give Gaten Matarazzo, who sang on Broadway, the chance to show his voice. Their first choice was the Ent and his wife's song, from The Lord of the Rings. Knowing a Tolkien-based series was in the works at a competitor, they changed direction; it is writer Curtis Gwinn who proposed the theme of The NeverEnding Story, released in 1984.
Gabriella Pizzolo, who plays Suzie, also sings on Broadway. The two actors were on neighboring stages and sang together, without backing music, harmonizing naturally. The result was even too synchronized for two characters supposed to be separated by hundreds of kilometers, and it had to be slightly detuned in the edit.
A few songs, and where they fall
| Song | Artist, year | Scene |
|---|---|---|
| "Moving in Stereo" | The Cars, 1978 | Billy arrives at the pool under the mothers' gaze, episode 1 |
| "Material Girl" | Madonna, 1984 | Eleven and Max hit the shops at Starcourt, episode 2 |
| “The NeverEnding Story” | Limahl, 1984 | Dustin and Suzie, above the fray, episode 8 |
| "Confrontation and Rescue" | Philip Glass, the opera Satyagraha | Eleven in Billy's mind, episode 6 |
| “Heroes” | Orchestral cover | The Byers' departure and the last episode's title sequence |
The date rule still holds: nothing later than the summer of 1985 in the story. The cover of “Heroes” on the Byers' departure answers Peter Gabriel's on Will's fake body, at the end of the third episode of Season 1: the same song for a grief that, this time, is not one.
The Cerebro keychain, to call Suzie.
In the shopWomen's Scoops Ahoy outfit48,90 €See the product
TakeawayA poppier score by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein. Material Girl for Eleven and Max's shopping. The NeverEnding Story, the radio duet of the finale. Heroes comes back for the Byers' departure.
Frequently asked questions
What is Dustin and Suzie's song?
The NeverEnding Story, by Limahl (1984), theme of the film The NeverEnding Story, sung as a duet by radio in the finale.
What song plays when Eleven and Max go shopping?
Madonna's Material Girl (1984), episode 2, at Starcourt.
What is the end song of season 3?
Heroes, in Peter Gabriel's cover, when the Byers leave Hawkins.
What is Billy's song at the pool?
Several: Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go (Wham!), Never Surrender (Corey Hart), Moving in Stereo (The Cars).
What song was originally supposed to replace "The NeverEnding Story"?
The song of the Ent and his wife, taken from The Lord of the Rings. The Duffers dropped it when a series drawn from Tolkien was announced; Curtis Gwinn proposed the theme from The NeverEnding Story.
Is there classical music in season 3?
Yes: excerpts from Philip Glass's opera Satyagraha accompany the mental confrontation between Eleven and Billy in the sixth episode.
Does the soundtrack exist on cassette?
Yes: for season 3, Lakeshore and Invada issued it on CD, on vinyl and on cassette, a nod to the summer of 1985 where the action is set.
Who proposed "The NeverEnding Story"?
Writer Curtis Gwinn, when the Duffers dropped the Ent song from The Lord of the Rings. The two actors sang it in harmony with no accompaniment.