DANIEL ESTRIN, HOST:
One of Netflix's most successful shows wrapped its final season this week.
(SOUNDBITE OF KYLE DIXON AND MICHAEL STEIN'S "STRANGER THINGS")
ESTRIN: "Stranger Things," created by the Duffer Brothers, follows a group of kids in the 1980s who stumble onto a parallel dimension and fight scary monsters. Much of the show's success is due to its soundtrack. It served up a heavy dose of nostalgia for an entire generation and introduced '80s hits to younger audiences. And the person responsible for that is our guest, Nora Felder, the music supervisor of "Stranger Things." Welcome.
NORA FELDER: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
ESTRIN: Delighted to have you here. First of all, how do you see your role as a music supervisor on a show like "Stranger Things"?
FELDER: My job is to make sure the best song lands in the right place in the show. Within the budget that we have at hand (laughter), you know, that's another aspect that I think a lot of people don't think about. In other words, we're not just sitting back and staring at the sky and pulling song ideas out. We actually have to make sure that we can afford certain ideas, and we actually have to make sure that we can get them cleared.
ESTRIN: Licensed from the artist, you mean?
FELDER: Yeah, because, you know, it's not always a no-brainer.
ESTRIN: So when you started reading the scripts for "Stranger Things," what kind of music were you hearing in your head?
FELDER: Well, I was definitely hearing '80s music 'cause that's where it takes place.
(SOUNDBITE OF DURAN DURAN SONG, "GIRLS ON FILM")
FELDER: I grew up in my younger years in New York City in the '80s, so it was kind of perfect. And what I do on the projects that I start to work on is I started to get to know the characters through the scripts and start building my own playlist of what I felt represented those characters. As you're reading the scripts, you're coming up with maybe general themes that are starting to form. And also paying attention to the character's evolution, you know, because this - these characters started at a very young age.
ESTRIN: Yeah, this show's been going on for 10 years.
FELDER: They grew up. I think I even changed in that 10 years. You know, you go through a lot of changes. So those playlists for those characters that I was constantly working on tended to change over those years as well.
ESTRIN: And the music is not just a soundtrack. It really, in this show, is central to the plot.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE CLASH SONG, "SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO")
ESTRIN: And I think one of the first moments in the show that you really see that is in Season 1 with the song "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" by The Clash.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO")
THE CLASH: Whoo.
ESTRIN: And it's used as a moment of connection for one of the main characters, Will Byers, and his brother, Jonathan. This is a song that appears throughout the series. How did you choose it?
FELDER: Well, actually, the Duffers chose this one.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO")
THE CLASH: (Singing) So you got to let me know. Should I stay or should I go?
FELDER: A lot of people assume that I'm out there picking all the songs and presenting it to them. And, you know, yes, there are those cases, but in this case, they knew they wanted this song. With what they were painting with the initial bond that was happening between Jonathan and Will, kind of passing it down to Will, I thought it was an excellent choice.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO")
THE CLASH: (Singing) Should I stay or should I go?
ESTRIN: Well, probably the biggest musical moment in the show is from Season 4, where one of the characters, Max, is constantly listening to her favorite song, "Running Up That Hill" by Kate Bush.
(SOUNDBITE OF KATE BUSH SONG, "RUNNING UP THAT HILL")
ESTRIN: That song was released in 1985, and "Stranger Things" propelled that song to the Top 100 chart for the very first time ever. How did you choose that song?
FELDER: For that one, the Duffers had reached out to me. That moment was marked as TBD Max song. We come into that season. She's having feelings of isolation. She's just lost her brother.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "RUNNING UP THAT HILL")
KATE BUSH: (Singing) Is there so much hate for the ones we love?
FELDER: For me, the basic lyrics of that song - they are about feeling disconnected from the people around you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "RUNNING UP THAT HILL")
BUSH: (Singing) You. It's you and me.
FELDER: And what Miss Bush was trying to tell everybody is that if we could just all switch shoes with each other, maybe we'd have a better understanding and be able to connect to help us all together, ultimately, get up that hill. So, to me, that song worked on so many levels.
ESTRIN: I understand that Kate Bush had been reluctant to license her music to other projects but made an exception for "Stranger Things."
FELDER: When I first pitched it to the Duffer Brothers, I did tell them she is particular. But anyway, I felt like I had to, like, come together with my music clearance coordinator, and we wrote, like, these theses, practically, of what - how the song was going to be used through the season, what it meant to the character, Max, and how it was going to help uplift her. I think, with all that, she granted the rights. Now, I will say, we got a message back that she had watched the series. Her son had her watch it, and she liked it very much. Yeah, I don't think it could have been any other song. We try to never say that.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "RUNNING UP THAT HILL")
BUSH: (Singing) With no problems.
ESTRIN: I'm a child of the 1980s. So for me, the appeal of this show is really that rush of nostalgia. It's the haircuts, it's the cereal boxes. But it's also this nostalgia for a more innocent time when technology was simpler and you listened to songs on cassette tapes. So I'm wondering, what did you want people to learn about the '80s through the music that you chose?
FELDER: The Duffers created a story that was so authentic to their characters and so authentic to every little detail of the way it really was between those years and the '80s. I went to see the finale in the movie theaters. I found myself crying a lot. I found myself watching the audience more than I was watching them. So, like, when a song, like when "Dove's Cry" came on...
(SOUNDBITE OF PRINCE SONG, "DOVE'S CRY")
FELDER: ...You know, I quickly whipped my head around, and I saw some of the older audiences, a thing of familiarity obviously came across their face, and I heard some ahs. But then I also, you know, was clocking some of the younger people. And I was wondering - I don't think they know what it is, but they're liking what they're hearing. It was more of a what is this? Ah. This is a cool song. So for the older people, it was nostalgia. For the younger people, it was new experiences. It all just came together that this is why the soundtrack has contributed so much to the success of the show.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRINCE SONG, "DOVE'S CRY")
PRINCE: (Singing) This is what it sounds like when the dove's cry.
ESTRIN: That is music supervisor Nora Felder. And the final season of "Stranger Things" is out now. Nora, thank you so much for being with us. It's been a lot of fun chatting with you.
FELDER: Oh, it's been so much fun for me. Thank you. And I even forgot we were doing an interview.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRINCE SONG, "DOVE'S CRY")
PRINCE: (Singing) Feel how it trembles inside. You've got the butterflies all tied up. Don't make me chase you. Even doves... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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