The 25 best Stranger Things needle drops, ranked

23. Ray Parker, Jr.: “Ghostbusters” (Season 2, Episode 2)

Before Mike (Finn Wolfhard) and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) momentarily outgrow D&D in Season 3, Season 2 finds them, Will (Noah Schnapp) and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) as close as ever, obsessed with arcades and Ivan Reitman’s supernatural comedy Ghostbusters. For Halloween, they’ve elected to dress up as the film’s protagonists, Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, Egon Spengler, and Winston Zeddemore (which leads to Lucas calling Mike on his racist bullshit), and the Duffer Brothers give us a great montage of the four boys getting ready and having their pictures taken by their moms. Parker Jr.’s tune even turns into a cute a cappella performance by the crew as they arrive at school on their bikes. The kids will be all grown up and obsessed with girls (well, sans Will) by the next summer, canonically, which makes this moment extra fleeting, and a good representation of how strong the core characters’ friendships are and how they remain the show’s beating heart. And then, of course, the lyrics kick into full-gear once Dustin discovers a baby Demodog in his trash can.

22. Cowboy Junkies: “Sweet Jane” / Pixies: “Here Comes Your Man” (Season 5, Episode 8)

I’m lumping these tracks together because they happen fast during two minor but pivotal scenes in the show’s finale. But they both deserve some love for being such inspired choices for background music. “Here Comes Your Man” plays during our last Max/Lucas interaction before graduation, as we get to, one more time, witness their off-the-charts chemistry unfold. And the Pixies make total sense for Max (Sadie Sink). She probably loves Doolittle (same, girl). 20ish minutes later, Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), Nancy (Natalia Dyer), Steve, and Robin have a beer on the Squawk’s rooftop and admit that no friendship is as good or as meaningful as theirs. After deciding to, once a month, meet up together in Philadelphia (they definitely won’t do that), Cowboy Junkies’ cover of the Velvet Underground’s “Sweet Jane” plays the foursome out. In a series finale soundtracked by epic hits (“When Doves Cry”) and bold ballads (“Landslide”), I’m touched most by these two inclusions. Maybe they were innocuous to some viewers, but I was grinning from ear to ear the moment they made contact.

21. Jackie Wilson: “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher & Higher” (Season 3, Episode 8)

This Jackie Wilson track, the only non-orchestral score or cast-sung song in the Season 3 finale, arrives after Hopper (David Harbour) kills a Russian guard, as Steve, Robin, Dustin, and Erica (Priah Ferguson) are driving towards Dustin’s “cerebro,” a HAM radio that can reach across the country, in a yellow 1984 Eldorado Biarritz with the license plate “TODFTHR.” The climax of the scene comes when the convertible can’t climb up the hill that the cerebro is on. It’s a great comedic moment in an otherwise emotional episode, and is a memorable use of Wilson’s timeless gold record.

20. Queen: “Hammer to Fall” (Season 2, Episode 6)

Though the scene is short, one of Queen’s most underrated songs soundtracks an essential moment in the Stranger Things universe: introducing the friendship between Steve and Dustin. As Brian May’s scintillating, tough-as-nails riff haunts the background, the future Scoops Troop leaders drive towards Dustin’s house in search of Dart, the Demodog he’d been harboring that’s now loose and about to wreak havoc on Hawkins for the Mind Flayer. Steve and Dustin’s friendship was an unlikely one that quickly became a big part of the show’s soul. Matarazzo and Keery have a delightful chemistry that was so immediately obvious, and how lucky we were to watch it first unfold atop the badassery of Queen’s “Hammer to Fall.”

19. The Cars: “Moving in Stereo” (Season 3, Episode 1)

The Duffer Brothers are obsessed with Fast Times at Ridgemont High, which makes sense, because it’s an all-timer. Season 3 is especially indebted to Amy Heckerling and Cameron Crowe’s teen classic, beginning with Billy’s (Dacre Montgomery) introduction as the Hawkins Pool lifeguard set to the tune of the Cars’ “Moving in Stereo” (which, classically, soundtracks that very famous Phoebe Cates scene in Fast Times). As all of the hot moms in Hawkins eye-fuck Billy from their chairs, Billy is especially taken aback by Mike and Nancy’s mom, Mrs. Wheeler (Cara Buono), with whom he memorably flirted with at the end of Season 2. A lot of Stranger Things is rooted in nostalgic callbacks to the flicks that inspire the men who make the show, but this is an instance where the reference is so heavy-handed that it toes the line of being overdone—luckily, it works, because Montgomery’s charm helps the scene stick the landing.

18. KISS: “Detroit Rock City” (Season 4, Episode 1)

As is with every season, episode ones are always set-ups where we get reacquainted with all of the characters after some time apart. When we travel back to Hawkins High in Season 4’s premiere, we learn that Lucas is a benchwarmer on the basketball team and a part of the Hellfire Club with Mike and Dustin. Those worlds collide when Eddie’s (Joseph Quinn) big Dungeons and Dragons campaign is scheduled to occur on the same night as Lucas’ championship game. He chooses basketball over D&D and Erica takes his spot in the campaign. The result? A sick montage played out to the tune of KISS’ “Detroit Rock City,” a head-banging riot in its own right. As Dustin, Mike, Erica, and the rest of the Hellfire crew attempt to defeat Dungeon Master Eddie’s Vecna, Lucas enters the game after a starter gets injured. The song sputters out as Lucas hits the game-winning shot and Erica’s roll delivers a critical hit on Vecna. In an opening episode full of good tunes (Starpoint’s “Object of My Desire” and Extreme’s “Play With Me”), “Detroit Rock City” is the most memorable, as it sets up Lucas’ internal struggle, balancing popularity with friendship, throughout Season 4.

17. Fleetwood Mac: “Landslide” (Season 5, Episode 8)

Some of the song choices in Season 5 unintentionally parallel the show’s blockbuster ascent. What I mean is, this campy, beautifully-shot show about a missing boy eventually became a multi-million-dollar juggernaut about alternate-dimension monsters, American tensions with Russia, and evil doctors and military factions. And by Stranger Things’ end, the songs were mostly just as commercial. But never do the Duffers step away from what powers the show’s engine: nostalgia. It’s everywhere—from set decorations to needle drops. No needle drop speaks to this more than Robin returning to WSQK, “The Squawk,” and delivering a gooey monologue about her friends’ impending graduation day. And she does it to the tune of “Landslide,” Stevie Nicks’ Fleetwood Mac-backed song about time making you bolder and children getting older. There’s something particularly special about this cliché song/story pairing, though: the Stranger Things kids have grown up, but, for once, it’s on their own terms.

16. The Cramps: “I Was a Teenage Werewolf” / “Fever” (Season 4, Episode 1)

All hail Eddie Munson! After we watch cheerleader Chrissy (Grace Van Dien) suffer from an extreme hallucination at the hands of Vecna, the Hellfire Club-leading Dungeon Master and metalhead is introduced in the lunchroom through the Cramps twofer “I Was A Teenage Werewolf” and “Fever” as he mocks a Newsweek article about Satanic Panic—a theme that lingers underneath the Hawkins plot of the season. It’s an underrated pair of ’80s classics that mimic Eddie’s larger-than-life, D&D-inspired grandeur—despite his self-proclaimed cowardice. “No one understood me,” the former song rings out, delivering a pointed thesis on Eddie’s character arc, and the monologue he gives his Hellfire crew about graduating, where he proclaims that 1986 is “finally his year,” comes full-circle by Season 4’s end in the most gutting way.

15. Jim Croce: “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim” (Season 2, Episode 3; Season 3, Episode 2)

Before Hopper became this over-the-top, way-too-loud caricature of himself—and Tom Selleck—in Season 3, we got to watch him become a real dad to Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) in Season 2, which began with the two cleaning up his family cabin together. Cheekily, Hopper drops a needle to Jim Croce’s “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim” on a record player that somehow still works, despite years of dust and cold winters, calling it “real music” and, to the tune of the title track, teaches Eleven how to use a broom and dustpan. It’s a memorable moment in the show that reappears one season later, as Hopper loudly sings “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim” in his truck after successfully splitting Mike and Eleven up for one day. The song goes from being a fun bonding tool for a daughter and surrogate father to a somewhat-mean-spirited fit of comic relief. Either way, it’s still really, really fun.

14. Madonna: “Material Girl” (Season 3, Episode 2)

One of Stranger Things’ greatest relationships is the bond between Max and Eleven, which culminates in the two girls going on a shopping spree together at the Starcourt Mall in the otherwise grody, bloated, Independence Day-style action of Season 3—all to the tune of Madonna’s Like a Virgin hit song “Material Girl.” It’s here where Max helps Eleven revel in her own independence, showing her how she deserves to exist outside of Hopper and Mike. “Material Girl” is an on-the-nose signal towards Max’s influence on Eleven, as she opens the superhero up to a world of self-spoiling. It’s an important, foundational memory for both of them, which becomes an essential part of the show’s story in Season 4.

13. James Taylor: “Fire and Rain” (Season 4, Episode 8)

One of the best parts of Stranger Things has been Steve Harrington’s character arc. He went from a stereotypical douchebag boyfriend in Season 1 to a trusted babysitter in Season 2, and a wholeheartedly good and irreplaceable friend in Season 3. Everything finally came to a head in some random couple’s Winnebago in Season 4, when the former King of Hawkins High opens up to Nancy and tells her he wants to have a family of “six little nuggets” someday, pointing to his time spent with Dustin and his friends as what’s helped him mature. “Fire and Rain” is a song about the death of a friend, which made the entire fandom’s worst nightmare flare up, as it seemed like a definite prelude to Steve dying before the season’s end. Luckily, he survived with only a couple of Demobat wounds and a nasty neck bruise, and James Taylor’s great track lives on in the show as a tender moment between exes who’ve learned to be friends.

12. Don McLean: “American Pie” (Season 3, Episode 3)

Though the Duffer Brothers attempt to give Billy a minor redemption arc in Season 3—after his villain story in season two saw him as the hotheaded, racist brother of Max, and foil to Steve—he remained a deeply troubled character, heavily impacted by abuse and his mother’s abandonment. Even while being possessed by Vecna, Billy’s viciousness still shone through, punctuated by the scene in which he and his fellow-flayed Heather Holloway (Francesca Reale) poison and kidnap her parents for the Upside Down army. Playing through the Holloways’ record player is Don McLean’s opus “American Pie,” which provides a memorable, hilarious soundtrack for Heather’s chauvinist pig dad, Tom (Michael Park), getting hit over the head with a wine bottle. The scene, and episode, ends with a close-up of Montgomery’s face as he watches Eleven and Max ride away from the Holloway house on their bikes. His performance is the reason the scene is so impactful, but “American Pie” seals the deal.

11. Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong: “Dream A Little Dream of Me” (Season 4)

It feels weird to say that without “Dream A Little Dream of Me,” there wouldn’t be “Running Up That Hill,” but Victor Creel (Robert Englund) letting it slip that Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong’s rendition is what saved him from Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) is essential to Season 4’s plot. Its reappearances throughout the season only grow eerier at every turn, as the song’s rich melody and pastoral lyrics quickly become weapons against those who wish to see where Vecna’s been. Even though the song saved Victor, the now-blind survivor of the Upside Down’s hellish wrath still wishes he were dead—not even the most beautiful creations can give its listeners eternal immunity from trauma and grief, an idea emphasized in Max’s story near the season’s end.

10. Modern English: “I Melt With You” (Season 1, Episode 2)

Season 1 is so emotional and heavy that it’s easy to forget just how fun it can be. When Nancy and Barb head to Steve’s house for a party with him, Tommy H. (Chester Rushing) and Carol (Chelsea Talmadge), they gather ‘round the Harrington pool, drinking beers, smoking cigarettes, calling each other clichés, and shooting the shit. Before Barb cuts her hand while attempting to shotgun a beer and, well, eventually becomes Vecna’s first onscreen victim, Steve pushes Nancy into his pool—unleashing the intoxicating chorus of “I Melt With You,” which had been subtly rocking in the background. In a calm-before-the-storm-like moment, four kids enjoy a night of being carefree and young, encapsulated by the Modern English hit—though “You’ve seen the difference and it’s getting better all the time” is a line that never aged particularly well in the Stranger Things canon.

9. Prince: “When Doves Cry” / “Purple Rain” (Season 5, Episode 8)

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the Duffers teased a needle drop in the Season 5 finale, claiming that it had “never been [used] on a TV show before” and crediting the popularity of “Running Up That Hill” in Season 4 as a catalyst for getting permission. When the final episode aired, people figured out pretty quickly that the song in question was Prince’s “Purple Rain,” and they proceeded to clown on the Duffers’ statement—considering that “Purple Rain” has an entire uber-famous movie named after it. But the Duffers weren’t wrong, since they claimed it hadn’t been used in a TV show before. Stranger Things pairs the track with its much-better hit-single counterpart, “When Doves Cry,” to score the group leaving the Upside Down, which they’ve just rigged with a shit-ton of C4 explosives. All seems well enough, as the kids head to the sort-of safety of Hawkins in the back of a big-box truck while Murray (Brett Gelman) and Hopper share a laugh. Vecna can’t hurt anyone anymore, but the military and Dr. Kay (Linda Hamilton) certainly can—and they certainly do, stopping the truck and capturing everyone inside… except Eleven, who’s decided to stay in the Upside Down and die with it. But she says goodbye to Mike first in her mind, and “Purple Rain” takes us home while they tearfully kiss. Moments later, after a slow-mo scene of every Stranger Things kid yelling for her to come back, Eleven turns to dust with the rest of the Upside Down. “When Doves Cry” and “Purple Rain” are two of the greatest songs ever made, no question. Though their presence in Stranger Things doesn’t feel as particularly synergized or narratively perfect as, say, “Running Up That Hill” or “Heroes,” it’s still a mighty impressive needle drop to have as the gate’s about to vanish.

8. Scorpions: “Rock You Like a Hurricane” (Season 2, Episode 1)

Oh, Billy Hargrove. You’re such a terrible, unforgivable jerk, but your introduction scene is an undisputed banger. The Scorpions track is not just a pinnacle of glam metal in the real world, but also the perfect sonic illustration of Billy’s vicious, denim-laden, mullet-sporting presence in the show’s. Some might see the “Here I am / Rock you like a hurricane” chorus as a bit too on-the-nose, given how Billy immediately assumes the role of Hawkins’ foremost human antagonist and disrupts the gang’s attempts to save the world—but Stranger Things has perpetrated way more obvious needle drops than that. It’s an important moment too, because it’s where we meet Billy’s sister Max, with whom he has a troubled, abusive relationship. Her disinterest in her brother’s cocky, ‘80s villain stereotype sets the tone for how his presence will affect her friendships during the season, but Max rises above his torments and, eventually, becomes, arguably, the show’s most important non-superhero character. It’s wild how we didn’t even have a clue back then.

7. Joy Division: “Atmosphere” (Season 1, Episode 4)

Though the 1980 single “Atmosphere” never made it onto a Joy Division album, it finds a proper home in a powerful, heavy montage from Season 1, where Hopper, Jonathan, and Joyce (Winona Ryder) wrestle with the immediate grief of authorities (supposedly) finding Will’s body at the quarry. We see Hopper sport a devastated, overcome look in his truck, as Jonathan clutches himself while listening to music in bed and Joyce contemplates knocking on his door. Ian Curtis’ haunting, monotone vocals perfectly capture the shock of a small-town tragedy, and the song catalogues Jonathan’s deep love for his brother and how he retreats into music to combat his long-running, cumulative trauma. But most importantly, the track hints at Joyce’s persistence in finding her son, and the “Don’t walk away in silence / See the danger / Always danger” line foreshadows what she will discover later in the episode: Will is still alive, but in another dimension.

6. The Police: “Every Breath You Take” (Season 2, Episode 8; Season 4, Episode 9)

The Snow Ball scene in the Season 2 finale contains multiple hitters (Olivia Newton-John’s “Twist Of Fate” and Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time”), but none can touch The Police’s 1983 number-one hit. It plays throughout the Hawkins gymnasium as Max and Lucas and Mike and Eleven dance and share their first, bonafide kisses together as couples. It’s a beautiful moment, until the song grows haunted and we watch Hawkins turn into the Upside Down, where the Mind Flayer watches over the town. This song and setting reappear in Season 4, by way of Max’s memory, and eventually turns into another spooky rendition of “Dream a Little Dream of Me.” Though it plays in what Eleven believes is Max’s best memory, it doesn’t hold enough power to save her from Vecna, which is a heartbreaking turn away from the hopeful power it held two seasons prior.

5. Peter Gabriel: “Heroes” (Season 1, Episode 3; Season 3, Episode 8)

The first use of “Heroes” comes in Season 1, when Hawkins authorities discover a body in the nearby quarry, which they presume to be Will’s. Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Eleven are watching nearby, and their disbelief that it’s their friend packs such an emotional punch that it lingers into a shot of a crying Mike and his mom embracing in the living room while Joyce and Jonathan hold each other in their driveway—all while cop cars can be seen heading towards the latter in the distance. When the song returns again, at the very end of Season 3, it marks the Byers family (including Eleven) moving out of Hawkins after Hopper is believed to be dead from a reactor explosion. The song has become a red herring in the series, always playing when a beloved character is supposed to be dead, but is, in fact, alive and not so well. Gabriel’s rendition of the classic David Bowie track is one marked by strained, prolonged grief, much like the episodic moments it soundtracks.

Bonus: David Bowie’s “Heroes” plays during the series’ end credits, one last “yes, of course” musical moment for a show full of ’em.

4. Metallica: “Master of Puppets” (Season 4, Episode 9)

Eddie Munson’s shining moment comes in the Season 4 finale when he and Dustin are tasked with distracting Vecna’s Demobats while Steve, Robin, and Nancy attempt to burn his entranced body in the Creel house. Once Eddie plugs in his black Warlock guitar, says, “This is for you, Chrissy,” and launches into the opening riff to Metallica’s “Master of Puppets,” it becomes an instant-classic moment in the show. After eight episodes of running away, Eddie stands tall atop his uncle’s trailer in the Upside Down and spins out one of heavy metal’s toughest, meanest athems. In the episode prior, Robin ribbed Eddie’s cassette collection, which didn’t include “real music” like Blondie or the Beatles, but held a plethora of Iron Maiden—to which Eddie yelled, “This is music!” The same can easily be said about his rendition of “Master of Puppets,” a Metallica-approved highlight of his quick, bittersweet rise to becoming—unbeknownst to the masses—Hawkins’ hero. This was, finally and truly, Eddie Munson’s year.

3. The Clash: “Should I Stay or Should I Go” (Season 1, Episode 2; Season 2, Episode 8)

Though recency bias has made a certain Kate Bush song the most memorable music moment in Stranger Things, The Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go” is the foundational text that first established the show’s relationship with music. The song first appears in Season 1, episode two, when a flashback depicts Jonathan showing it to Will while their parents fight off-screen. That alone is a powerful moment, illustrating their bond as brothers and the traumatic experiences they’ve shared and navigated together, but the song’s inclusion in Season 2 is where it becomes tethered to Stranger Things forever. As Will is possessed by the Mind Flayer and acts as his real-world spy, Jonathan has an epiphany that he, his mom and Mike can use the song to speak to the part of Will submerged consciousness. Nothing about “Should I Stay or Should I Go” is profound, but the show makes it so. It’s an anthem of brotherhood and of memory, a perfect Byers family soundtrack that the show hasn’t been able to replicate since—and hasn’t needed to.

2. Kate Bush: “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” (Season 4, Episode 4)

The arc of “Dear Billy,” the show’s greatest episode, revolves around Max’s looming death at the hands of Vecna, as she has realized the monster placed a curse on her—as penance for her unconfronted trauma and shame revolving around Billy’s death. Near the episode’s end, when Vecna is preparing to kill Max, Nancy and Robin discover, by way of Victor Creel, that a person’s favorite song can help free them from the monster’s clutches. Cue a cassette tape blasting Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God),” along with Sink giving a career-making performance, and you’ve got one of the most profound and memorable moments in television this decade. Bush’s song plays over and over throughout Seasons 4 and 5, before and after this episode, but it’s here, as Max momentarily evades Vecna’s wrath in kickass fashion, that it shines brightest. No other television show can claim they brought a near-40-year-old song back to the Billboard charts, putting the Stranger Things bump in a league of its own.

1. Moby: “When It’s Cold I’d Like to Die” (Season 1, Episode 8; Season 4, Episode 9)

Two of Stranger Things’ most emotional moments feature the heart-wrenching closer from Moby’s 1995 LP Everything Is Wrong. It first appears in Season 1 when Hopper resuscitates Will in the Upside Down, the scene intercut with flashbacks of his daughter Sarah dying from cancer. The Duffer Brothers parallel that exact scene again three seasons later, when Max, left blind and paralyzed by Vecna, is pleading to Lucas that she isn’t ready to die. Her heart stops momentarily, only for her to be brought back to life by Eleven a minute later. At the same time, Eddie, irreversibly wounded after fighting the Demobats to buy Steve, Robin, and Nancy more time at the Creel house, dies a hero’s death in a sobbing Dustin’s arms. For all of the power that “Running Up That Hill” holds in Season 4, “When It’s Cold I’d Like To Die” tops it with a shuttering palace of sadness that leaves me a blubbering, snotty mess every single time it plays. The Duffer Brothers understand how to use music onscreen—how songs aren’t meant to tell the story, but, rather, serve as engines evoking whatever emotions the words and actions can’t—and “When It’s Cold I’d Like To Die” is their greatest triumph. When we watch our favorite characters fight for their lives amid the falling wreckage of the world, Mimi Goese singing, “Where were you when I was lonesome? / Locked away with freezing cold / Someone flying, only stolen / I can’t tell this light’s so old,” points our hearts to this immense, unshakable grief, paired with the heartbreaking truth that the characters in Stranger Things are not immune to loss—that even the bravest and strongest fighters, beloved by so many, sometimes cannot be saved.

Matt Mitchell is Paste‘s editor, reporting from their home in Los Angeles.

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