Stephen King creates playlist for ‘The Long Walk’
When asked by a fan on Reddit to make a playlist for his upcoming movie, The Long Walk, Stephen King offered up some bold choices.
Everybody knows a King novel will burrow under your bones for a little while, but none are quite so insidious as The Long Walk. In King’s post-apocalyptic view of the future, a group of young men must walk to their deaths. Should they walk less than three miles an hour, they will be shot. The last man left is given ‘The Prize’, whatever they want, for the rest of their life. Stakes are high, and endurance is even higher.
The book was originally published in 1979, a year punctuated by a fizzing rock and roll. In that year, rock bands like The Knack and Cheap Trick maintained the genre’s popularity, while Blondie achieved their first number one.
The trailer for the new Lionsgate movie opens with the country-Americana-infused sound of Shaboozey, an American musician who features in two songs on Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter. That same thrusting patriotism in the sound of the wide-open road can be heard in his tune ‘Last of My Kind’, featuring Paul Cauthen, which opens the trailer. But darkness soon settles.
In an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session on Reddit, a fan of the author asked King to put together his own playlist for the upcoming horror. King took the job seriously, separating his playlist into a 1979-inspired segment and a section that reflects his current music taste.
In 1979, King would’ve ensured that Bob Dylan was included in the soundtrack, specifically the racing charge of ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’. Dylan would’ve been kept company by the likes of Barry McGuire and Eddie Cochran.
In 2025, King bypassed the song altogether and just pinpointed the band (though we’ve taken the liberty to choose the most suitable single). He had an eye on the grand sounds and electric guitars of AC/DC and Rancid, while still allowing a place for the infusion of folk and rock from American hero Bruce Springsteen. There was one band he certainly wouldn’t have let on the playlist: Black Sabbath. “I never liked them,” he clarified.
Stephen King’s ‘The Long Walk’ playlist:
- Barry McGuire – ‘Eve of Destruction’
- The Rolling Stones – ‘Carol’
- Bob Dylan – ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’
- Eddie Cochran – ‘Summertime Blues’
- Danny and the Juniors – ‘Rock and Roll is Here to Stay’
- AC/DC – ‘Back in Black’
- Rancid – ‘Time Bomb’
- Metallica – ‘Enter Sandman’
- Bruce Springsteen – ‘I’m On Fire’
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