Running Up That Hill in Stranger Things: why Kate Bush's song saves Max
Music · Season 4 · Max's song
Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), released in 1985, became in 2022 the most streamed song in the world thanks to a four-minute scene: Max Mayfield, at the edge of her brother's grave, escapes Vecna because her friends put a Walkman on her ears. Here is what the scene tells, why that song, and what it became.
The essentials
- Song: Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), Kate Bush, 1985
- Scene: Season 4, episode 4, “Dear Billy”
- Principle: a loved song opens a gap in Vecna's trance
- Result: No. 1 in the United Kingdom, U.S. top 3, 37 years after its release
Contents
Max's music: the cemetery scene, shot by shot
Max knows she is next. Chrissy and Fred had the same symptoms as her: headaches, nosebleeds, visions of a clock. She writes goodbye letters, asks to be driven to the cemetery, and reads hers at Billy's grave. That is where Vecna takes her: the world freezes, she finds herself in his red mind, and her body, in reality, rises above the ground.
On the other side, Dustin, Steve, and Lucas have just learned from Victor Creel that music protected him, once. They search Max's bag, find her Walkman, and put on her favorite song. In Vecna's mind, a breach opens: Max sees her friends, her memories, and runs toward them while the monster chases her. She falls back into Lucas's arms, alive.
Max's T-shirt, Walkman included.
In the shopKids' Max Running Up That Hill T-shirt24,90 €See the product
Why Kate Bush, and why that song
The choice is not decorative. Running Up That Hill is about a pact with God to swap places with someone you love, to understand what they feel. For Max, who could not save Billy and who lives in guilt, that is exactly the subject. The song is the thread that ties her to what she refuses to let go.
Kate Bush very rarely clears her songs. She agreed after reading the scene's script, and later said she had been moved by what the show had done with it. She used the moment to say she had never imagined the song would reach an audience that young.
The mechanism, explained in the showVictor Creel tells Nancy and Robin that, the night his family was killed, a song on the radio kept him out of the monster's reach. The rule is set: a song you are deeply attached to creates a lifeline Vecna cannot cut. That is the rule Max uses, then Eddie, in his way, with Metallica.
A 1985 hit back at number one
On May 27, 2022, the first part of Season 4 comes out. In two weeks, Running Up That Hill is number one in the United Kingdom, number one in Australia, in the top 3 of the American Billboard, and at the top of worldwide streams on the platforms. Kate Bush, who had never reached the top of the American charts, enters them at 63.
The phenomenon has a simple explanation: the song is not played in the background, it is the subject of the scene. The viewer hears it as Max hears it, with a life on the line. Millions of people looked it up after the episode, and the version used in the show was reissued as a single.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1985 | Release of the single, taken from the album Hounds of Love |
| May 27, 2022 | Release of season 4, part 1 |
| June 2022 | No. 1 in the United Kingdom, 44 years after Kate Bush's first single |
| July 2022 | Return of the song in the season 4 finale, orchestral version |
What the song becomes in season 5
Max enters season 5 in a coma, her mind a prisoner of Vecna. The song that saved her once is no longer enough: the bond with her friends goes through other means, and it is Holly Wheeler, locked in with her, who becomes her escape companion. Running Up That Hill comes back all the same, as the character's signature, at a moment when it is less about fleeing than about coming back.
For the complete playlist of the last season, see our article on season 5 music.
The Max figure, to set next to the turntable.
In the shopLego Max Mayfield mini figure and her red bike14,90 €See the product
Behind the scenes: how Kate Bush said yes
The Duffers wanted for Max a song of great emotional charge and tasked Nora Felder, the music supervisor, with finding it. She proposed “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God),” released in August 1985, the first extract from the album Hounds of Love; the creators liked the music and the theme, a deal made with God to swap places with the loved one. Winona Ryder had been slipping in Kate Bush allusions since the first season, by wearing her T-shirts on set.
Kate Bush is known for turning down most licenses. Nora Felder contacted her and found she was a fan of the show; after reading the script pages where the song would be used, she gave her agreement. The song is used several times in the season, but it is the cemetery scene, in “Dear Billy,” that set everything off.
The figures of a resurrection
In the weeks that followed May 27, 2022, streams of the song rose by more than 8 700%. It became the second most present song on American playlists and the fourth in the world, and reached number one on the British chart, thirty-seven years after its release, a longevity record between a title's release and its peak. Kate Bush, who gives few interviews, spoke of a “very special” phenomenon and thanked the young viewers discovering the song.
The effect went beyond the single: the whole Hounds of Love album climbed back up the charts, and a generation born after 2000 discovered Kate Bush through a teenager running toward her friends in an Indiana cemetery.
Max's song, through 1987
The last season extends the link. From the first episode, Lucas visits Max in a coma and plays her song through the headphones, hoping she will wake. In episode 4, Max tells Holly she almost came back at that moment, in Henry's memories: she heard Lucas, came close to the exit, and Henry caught her.
It is not finally the song that brings her back but Lucas himself, her “anchor,” in episode 7. Kate Bush closes the loop opened in 1986: music protects, but it is a person who saves. The rule set by Victor Creel at Pennhurst, a loved song against the curse, will have held to the end of the show.
The Walkman pin, discreet and faithful to the scene.
In the shopMax's Walkman keychain12,90 €See the product
Frequently asked questions
What is Max's song in Stranger Things?
Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) by Kate Bush, released in 1985 on the album Hounds of Love. It appears in season 4 and comes back in season 5.
In which episode does Max listen to Running Up That Hill?
Season 4, episode 4, "Dear Billy": the cemetery scene. The song comes back in episode 9 during the final confrontation with Vecna.
Why does music protect you from Vecna?
Vecna reaches his victims through their traumas. A song you hold onto strongly ties the mind to happy memories and opens a gate to escape. The rule is explained by Victor Creel.
Did Kate Bush react?
Yes. She cleared the song after reading the script, then publicly praised the scene and the track's success with a new audience.
Which album does “Running Up That Hill” come from?
From Hounds of Love, Kate Bush's album released in 1985, of which it is the first single, published in August 1985 under the full title “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God).”
Does the song save Max in Season 5?
Not quite: Lucas puts it on her headphones from the first episode and it almost came back, but it is Lucas himself, her anchor, who brings her back in episode 7.