Did ‘Stranger Things’ cause the ’80s music revival?
Nine years on from its launch, it’s easy to forget the huge impact of Stranger Things. It was seismic as back in 2016 as it was one of Netflix’s first major season, stepping off the streaming services to become a massive cultural phenomenon. Everybody was talking about it, and now, in 2025, as its final season begins, everyone is still talking about it.
Years on, we’re used to television shows gripping society. Typically, a season comes out, everyone obsesses for a few weeks, and then it fades. Even if it’s a recurring thing, like say the grip Succession had, it still cannot compare to the absolute chokehold Stranger Things has and has had since the start. Even in the lengthy gaps between seasons, its impact remains with spin-off shows, theatre productions, merch, games and beyond.
Its impact remains in music, partly because the cast of the show almost all seem to have a side hustle. From Joe Keery’s Djo to Maya Hawke’s acoustic indie career, none of the stars are ever truly getting mentioned without at least a comment about the major franchise that launched them. Even if they’re trying to focus on other things, or build a career and a brand away from the series, the reputation of Stranger Things is too big to ever truly escape.
Its impact just keeps on proving itself and often in the wildest ways. Who would have ever guessed that a Netflix sci-fi show would be responsible for giving Kate Bush a number one in 2022, over three decades on from its release? But when you have over 147million people all watching the same TV show, it’s potential for cultural influence cannot be understated.
You can feel it everywhere, but overwhelmingly, you can feel it in music as from the second that opening title began, with the sound of Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein’s synth composition, something shifted. With so many people hooked into the world of the show, it seemed to bring the 1980s back. As the Duffer Brothers drop millions of viewers into small town America in a specific decade, filling the show with the styles and sounds of the era, it seemed to leech its way back into the present.
Again, the most obvious example is Kate Bush as that powerful needle drop introduced Bush’s work to a whole new generation. Plenty of the show’s musical moments have done the same as artists like The Police, Metallica and The Clash all had major spotlight songs in the series and all saw sizable spikes in streaming after.
But it goes beyond just reviving old tunes from the ‘80s themselves. As the world has been locked in on this somewhat-period piece for so long, being so routinely soundtracked by these old tunes along with it’s synth-ladened score that specifically uses ‘80s instruments and nostalgic sounds, it’s no wonder that it’s influence has floated into modern music.
Take Djo’s own 2022 track ‘End Of Beginning’. The instrumentation doesn’t feel all that too far away from a The Police song, and when that foolproof and catchy chorus hits, it works because it feels like the good old days in the way that it’s simple and hooking, and Keery lets his voice push forward like the era’s best frontmen. Combining synths and guitars for a hit? That’s what the ‘80s were all about.
Dare I push it even further? Without the 1980s being back in fashion thanks to the show, and with its sounds being made culturally relevant again, do we really think someone like Taylor Swift would have so passionately adopted the synth? Looking back, ‘The Archer’ feels like it could be part of the score, while her 2022 album, Midnights, released the same year as season four, makes huge use of synth base sounds – which is a far cry from the country pop she started out with.
By now, 1980s pop sounds are a cornerstone of 2020s pop sounds. Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Taste’ is a pop song your mum would have danced to in the club. Chappell Roan’s entire rock-pop world is dripping in ‘80s glam neon. The Weeknd’s biggest hits are synth pop songs, while Dua Lipa goes all in on the aesthetic.
I can keep naming names – Jack Antonoff in his own project and in the countless other projects he’s played a hand in, like The 1975’s latest record. Miley Cyrus’ foray into rock sounds, The War On Drugs’ aptly titled ‘Strangest Thing’ where synths meet guitars for an ‘80s ballad, Tame Impala’s The Slow Rush, The Japanese House’s pop turn on her debut, Olivia Rodrigo bringing The Cure out at Glastonbury, Sabrina Carpenter singing ‘Hungry Like The Wolf’ – it goes on.
The ’80s are everywhere, and if we plot its resurgence on a timeline, the boom comes around 2016, when Netflix first launched its most powerful project – surely it’s no coincidence.
