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Kate Bush, Joy Division, Kiss, and the 11 Best Needle Drops of “Stranger Things”

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Stranger Things Needle Drops

Sorry Eleven, and no shade to Steve “The Hair” Harrington, but the most important character in Stranger Things is arguably the soundtrack. It’s hard to imagine this series would be nearly as ubiquitous as it stands all these years later without its essential needle drops. The music has framed this franchise, not only by offering instant blasts to the past, but by delivering emotional left hooks that bruise the heart as often as they tickle our toes.

This season is no exception. In fact, music is so vital at this point, it’s saving some of our favorite characters’ lives. And by proxy, it’s giving us some of the strongest marriages of sound and screen to date. With that in mind, we thought we’d turn back time — ahem, to borrow from Cher — and sort through the best needle drops to hit Hawkins, Indiana. These are the tracks that made us laugh, made us cry, and made us fall in love with this world.

Like any D&D campaign, though, we’ve got some ground rules: For starters, we didn’t include any of the score by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein. That’s not to say they aren’t worthy — “Kids”, “Eulogy”, and “You’re a Fighter” alone are top five material — but they’re technically not needle drops. To add to that, we also tried to skew away from the diegetic use of music as this series is flooded with background tunes that we all keep on constant rotation.

No, these are the inescapable drops, the ones that the Duffer Brothers and music supervisor Nora Felder put front and center — and for good reason. As you’ll read below, these songs amplify the greatest moments of each season, capitalizing on their respective familiarity to take us higher and higher, to borrow from Jackie Wilson. So, take inventory of the 11 best needle drops and let us know what we missed in the comments below.

Of course, it goes without saying: Beware of spoilers for all four seasons.


11. Kiss – “Detroit Rock City”

Season 4, “Chapter One: The Hellfire Club”

By 1986, “Detroit Rock City” would already be 10 years old, and Kiss would be glamming it up with new guitarist Bruce Kulick as they continued to support 1985’s Asylum. But the persisting rumors of the Jewish rockers worshipping at the altar of Satan would prevail long after Destroyer began collecting dust. (After all, troubled parents didn’t have Snopes at the time to tell them Kiss doesn’t mean Knights in Satan’s Service.) And yet that’s why this drop works so well in a season that leans heavily on the contagious Satanic panic of the ’80s. History books aside, though, it’s also just a killer anthem that makes D&D look as epic as it reads, turns a high school basketball game into a bonafide rock concert, and — perhaps most importantly — gives Hellfire Club leader Eddie Munson some sizzling swagger.


10. The Scorpions – “Rock You Like a Hurricane”

Season 2, “Chapter One: Madmax”

Every high school has that one asshole who careens into the parking lot blasting some muscle jam. (Full transparency: This writer was that asshole too many times in the early aughts.) For Hawkins High circa 1984, that asshole was Ace Merrill twinner Billy Hargrove. So, it’s perhaps fitting that the first time we meet the new bully in town, he’s adding an exclamation point to his arrival with The Scorpions‘ iconic FM hit. Sure, it’s an on-the-nose track — c’mon, it doesn’t get more literal than “Here I am/ rock you like a hurricane” — but that’s what makes it so fitting for Billy. He’s not exactly the most subtle guy out there as “King Steve” Harrington comes to learn both on and off the court. In lesser hands, this would all be laughable, if not ludicrous, but stud Dacre Montgomery looks too damn sexy being so sinful.


09. Foreigner – “Waiting for a Girl Like You”

Season 1, “Chapter Three: Holly, Jolly”

This one’s so elegantly cruel: On one end, you have Steve Harrington and Nancy Wheeler consummating upstairs to the silky sounds of Foreigner‘s after-hours power ballad. Meanwhile, outside by the pool, Nancy’s wet blanket Barb is being mercilessly dragged into the Upside Down, where she’ll become a midnight snack for the Demogorgon. Again, it’s a terrifically mean juxtaposition, but the best thing about this cold open is how the early ’80s hit bleeds into the ensuing nightmare. Thomas Dolby’s dreamy synths only adds to the surreality of our first otherworldly plunge into the Upside Down. It’s a stylish beat by the Duffers that also serves as a reminder that not everyone’s phoning home in this nostalgic nook.


08. The Police – “Every Breath You Take”

Season 2, “Chapter Nine: The Gate”

We get it: The Police‘s single is creepy. Ever since it first popped up on 1983’s Synchronicity, it’s been analyzed to death, remixed to hell and back, given slow covers by the saddest saps out there with a guitar, hell, it’s even been referenced in a Halloween young adult novel. And yet, no matter how many times critics, listeners, family, or friends call out this dark side, it still doesn’t change the fact that — at face value — “Every Breath You Take” is a balmy, romantic ballad. Alas, that fire and ice, sugar and spice, naughty and nice dichotomy is why it’s such a choice closer for Season 2. So far in the franchise, it’s the only finale that fans can truly say wraps up on a happy note. El gets her dance with Mike, Dustin’s told by Nancy he’s her favorite, and Hopper and Joyce share a nostalgic smoke. Like the song, everything looks fine and dandy on top, but below, the Mind Flayer awaits. You might say, it’s watching them. Get it?


07. Corey Hart – “Never Surrender”

Season 3, “Chapter One: Suzie, Do You Copy?”

Speaking of genuinely happy moments, they’re admittedly few and far between in this series, especially for Eleven. If there’s anything to glean so far from Season 4, it’s that life hasn’t been so peachy for the Hawkins Lab MVP. So, when you consider our reunion with the gang at the beginning of Season 3, this is probably the happiest we’ve seen them, at least when it comes to Mike and El’s relationship. Like so many of the needle drops on this list, there’s duality in the use of Corey Hart‘s Boy in the Box blockbuster here. On one hand, there’s pure joy seeing Mike romancing El with a boisterous sing-a-long, but zero in on those lyrics: “Just a little more time is all we’re asking for/ ‘Cause just a little more time could open closing doors.” Knowing where they wind up by the end of Summer 1985 — the summer that changes everything, if you recall — those lyrics are not only melancholy but eerily foreboding. Sadly, time is never on their side.


06. The Clash – “Should I Stay or Should I Go”

Season 1, “Chapter Two: The Weirdo on Maple Street”

In just about every bar across the world, The Clash‘s Combat Rock single either elicits a boozy sing-a-long or a reluctant head bob. In Joyce Byers’ living room? It’s a jolt of terror. Put yourself in her shoes: Her boy is missing. Nobody has answers. And everyone’s telling her to stay home. So, naturally, she’s about 37 cigarettes removed from a complete anxiety attack when her house starts acting funny. Funny how? Well, the lights twitching is one thing, but the stereo turning on? That’s Poltergeist territory. The genius of this drop is how the signature chords serve as its own ominous jump scare. Because no matter how many memories we have tied to the anthem, there’s no denying its chill factor here. Granted, we soon learn it’s a message from Will, and more of a beacon of hope, but let’s be real: We’d all be running out of the house like Joyce, staring at our home and trying to tell ourselves we’re not in an episode of Sightings.


05. John Harrison – “Breakdown”

Season 3, “Chapter Six: E Pluribus Unum”

Some of the best music cues are the ones that genuinely surprise you, and the sheer niche value of this drop is worthy of a top five placement alone. Yes, the kids all go see George A. Romero’s Day of the Dead at the beginning of Season 3, but did anyone ever think John Harrison‘s score would pop up — counts list — five episodes later? Let alone a deep cut? Not only that, but two minutes into said deep cut? It’s so oddly specific that you just have to stand up and applaud the team. But, of course, none of it would matter if the scene didn’t count, and it does. It’s the first time we see Steve and his Scoop’s Ahoy partner-in-crime Robin Buckly strike a bond. No, not that scene, but their Last Crusade moment, which sees them tied up on the floor and reminiscing about, of all things, home room. It’s a tender scene ripped right out of a John Hughes rental, and Harrison’s score adds some understated magic to the moment.


04. Joy Division – “Atmosphere”

Season 1, “Chapter Four: The Body”

If you had a pie chart that broke down needle drops by tropes, “Going Through the Motions” would certainly take up the largest slice. Such is the case for this stunning pop-in by Manchester’s finest Joy Division. As Ian Curtis sings, “Walk in silence/ Don’t walk away, in silence/ See the danger/ Always danger,” director Shawn Levy wisely lingers around the Byers residence, where everyone’s grieving over the supposed death of Will. Distraught over another loss, Hopper can’t even bring himself to start his truck as he attempts to leave the house. Alone in his bedroom, Jonathan cries into his headphones, presumably listening to this very track. But, Joyce? Well, she’s still not convinced. Perhaps tearing a page from Jonathan’s Evil Dead poster, she heads to the work shed in her backyard, grabs an axe, and returns to the shadows of her living room unwilling to walk away as Bernard Sumner’s guitar flares up. Oof.


03. Peter Gabriel – “Heroes”

Season 3, “Chapter Eight: The Battle of Starcourt”

Some of the most affecting needle drops are those that stitch to their respective shows. Peter Gabriel‘s stripped-down cover of David Bowie’s “Heroes” is one such song. When it first reared its head in the debut season, it was a stroke of genius: an ’80s icon paying homage to another ’80s icon in a show paying homage to the ’80s. (Look, this writer is well aware that Gabriel and Bowie are hardly confined to that decade. Go with the point.) So, it wasn’t surprising to hear it return at the end of Season 3 — it almost made too much sense. Emotionally, it’s a savvy callback that hits even harder because we recognize it’s a part of that world. But logistically, it adds some finality to what could have very well been the series finale. Because we’re not just grieving the “loss” of Hopper or the Byers big move away, but the end of a summer that changed everything. As we see in these last fleeting moments, it certainly did.


02. Kate Bush – “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)”

Season 4, “Chapter Four: Dear Billy”

It’s a little maudlin, but the idea that music sets you free works in the world of Stranger Things. So much of this franchise is built on the idea that these pop cultural touchstones have served as essential escapes for myriad generations. So, the notion that Kate Bush could save a life in Hawkins isn’t that much of a stretch. If anything, the act is fitting for the anthem in question: “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” is one of the most enchanting pop compositions to ever grace the genre, and if you’re going to use it, you better earn it. They do by pairing the ballad with Max Mayfield, whose own traumatic past with her brother Billy Hargrove grooves to the beat of the song’s lyrical heart: “And if I only could/ I’d make a deal with God/ And I’d get him to swap our places.” The track appears early on in Season 4, but the way Levy wields it at the end of this fourth chapter truly makes a deal with the gods.


01. Moby – “When It’s Cold I’d Like to Die”

Season 1, “Chapter Eight: The Upside Down”

Believe it or not, but the best needle drop of the entire series isn’t even from the ’80s. It’s from Moby‘s 1995 third studio album Everything Is Wrong. Why does that sound familiar? Because it’s the same album that also features “God Moving over the Face of the Waters” and “First Cool Hive”, two tracks that respectively bring down the curtains on Michael Mann’s Heat and Wes Craven’s Scream. Well, it’s three times the charm for the record as another essential track pops up at the end of the first season of Stranger Things: “When It’s Cold I’d Like to Die”. The hypnotic ballad materializes when Hopper and Joyce try to resuscitate Will in the Upside Down. Making the scene even more harrowing is the way the Duffers crosscut the action with Hopper’s own memory involving the tragic death of his daughter, Sara. Moby’s spiritual sounds dance through every pounding fist and every guttural scream, be it Joyce’s emphatic pleas (“I need you to wake up”) or Hopper’s stone-cold urgency (“C’mon, kid!”). It’s impossible to watch without either straining your eyes from fighting back those tears or letting them rain down your face, a feeling that the greatest needle drops should always elicit.

Editorials

The 10 Scariest Moments in the ‘Ghostbusters’ Movie Franchise

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scariest Ghostbusters

WARNING: The following contains mild spoilers for the Ghostbusters franchise. 

Yes, Ghostbusters is a horror movie – gateway horror to be exact. Setting aside the fact that the title literally contains the word “ghost,” a foundational element of the scariest genre, the franchise follows a group of paranormal researchers who battle entities attacking from beyond the grave. After countless rewatches, the classic films and newer sequels may not scare us much anymore, but how many times have we as genre fans asserted that a film does not have to be “scary” to be considered horror?

Genre classification is nebulous and any film that centers on ghosts has a place in the sprawling house of horror. Yes, it’s true that most viewers over the age of thirteen will find more to laugh about than scream while watching a Ghostbusters film, but each entry contains a handful of terrifying moments. With Gil Kenan’s Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire uniting three generations of the parascientific warriors, perhaps it’s time to highlight the most frightening moments from each phase of this legendary franchise. 


Ghostbusters (1984)

A Haunted Library

scariest Ghostbusters movie

Ivan Reitman’s original film begins with a campfire tale come to life. We follow an unsuspecting librarian as she ventures deep into the stacks to reshelve a book. With her hair blowing from a spectral breeze, we watch a hardcover float across the aisle to the opposite shelf. A second book follows, but the librarian remains unaware. She finally notices the disturbance when card catalog drawers open on their own spewing cards into the air like literary geysers. She flees through the maze of narrow stacks only to come face to face with a mysterious force who blows her back with a powerful roar. We won’t see the Library Ghost (Ruth Oliver) until a later scene, but this introduction firmly positions the film that follows in the world of horror. On first watch, we can only speculate as to the ghost’s malevolence and whether or not the librarian has survived the encounter. It’s the perfect introduction to a world in which ghosts are not only real, they will pounce on unsuspecting humans at the drop of a … book. 

Shaky Ground

The original finale may not be the film’s most terrifying moment, but it has become the franchise’s most iconic image. When faced with choosing a form for Gozer (Slavitza Jovan), Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) inadvertently conjures up an image from his childhood. Moments later, a set of once-cheery eyes peer through the skyscrapers. The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man towers over the city, stomping and destroying everything in its path. While there’s definitely something terrifying about a jovial mascot turned deadly killer, what happens moments before is arguably scarier. 

The Ghostbusters arrive at the luxury apartment building to throngs of adoring fans. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) plays into this hero-worship and promises an easy solution to a supernatural problem. But before they can enter the building, lightning strikes the upper floors sending massive chunks of brick and cement raining down on the barricaded street. The ground begins to shake and a giant fissure swallows the entire team. It’s a destabilizing moment made all the more terrifying by its shocking reality. Speculation about the existence of ghosts may vary from person to person, but there’s no doubt that sinkholes are very real. It’s entirely possible that the ground we’re standing on right now could spontaneously begin to crumble, sucking us down into a seemingly bottomless void beneath the earth. 


Ghostbusters II (1989)

Runaway Baby

Ivan Reitman’s sequel begins with a sly update on the life of a beloved character as Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver) pushes a baby carriage containing her infant son Oscar (Henry and William Deutschendorf). When last we saw the attractive cellist, she was kissing Venkman in the wreckage of Gozer’s demise and the thought of this loveable lady’s man becoming a father may be more nerve-wracking than anything contained in the first film. We never learn much about Oscar’s real father, but we do discover that fate has a sinister plan for the adorable child. While Dana chats with her landlord, Oscar’s carriage rolls a few feet away. Dana reaches for the handle, but the buggy begins speeding down the sidewalk careening through the busy crowds. As if guided by unseen hands, the carriage twists and turns, then abruptly swerves into oncoming traffic. Cars honk and veer out of the way, but the racing carriage marks a collision course with an approaching bus. The wheels screech to a halt moments before what would surely be a deadly crash and Dana rushes to embrace her vulnerable child. This harrowing scene is likely to terrorize any parent who’s experienced the fear of trying to protect a baby in an unpredictable world.  

Sewer Screams

scariest Ghostbusters scene

While investigating the second film’s primary villain, Vigo the Carpathian (Wilhelm von Homburg), three of the Ghostbusters venture into the sewers hoping to find a growing river of slime. Ray, Winston (Ernie Hudson), and Egon (Harold Ramis) trek down an abandoned subway line while speculating about the hordes of cockroaches and rats they hear scurrying behind the walls. These vermin may be scary, but there are more malevolent monsters lurking in the dark. Ray and Egon both amuse themselves with the tunnel’s echo but Winston’s “hello” goes unanswered. Moments later, a demonic voice bellows his name from the dark end of the corridor. Waiting behind him is a severed head floating in the empty tunnel. As he tries to retreat, the team finds themselves surrounded by dozens of ghoulish heads that disappear faster than they materialized. Moments later, a ghostly train hurtles towards them, swallowing Winston in its spectral glow. Egon theorizes that something is trying to keep them from reaching their destination with effective scares designed to frighten the Ghostbusters and audience alike.  


Ghostbusters (2016)

Haunted Basement

Like its predecessor, Paul Feig’s remake opens with a spooky vignette. Garrett (Zach Woods) gives a tour of the Aldridge Mansion, a 19th century manor preserved in the middle of the busy city, and walks visitors through a troubling history of excess and cruelty. Hoping to inject a bit of excitement, he pauses near the basement door and tells the horrifying story of Gertrude Aldridge (Bess Rous), a wealthy heiress who murdered the house’s many servants. Hoping to avoid a public scandal, her family locked her in the basement and her restless spirit can still be heard trying to escape. Garrett triggers a trick candlestick to fly off the shelf, hinting at the spirit’s presence, but a late night incident shows that the deceased murderess may actually be lurking in her ancestral home. While closing up for the night, Garrett hears ominous noises from behind the barricaded door and watches the knob rattle against the heavy locks. An unseen attacker hurls him through the house and eventually drives him down the basement stairs to a sea of green slime pooling on the floor. The stairs crumble leaving the tour guide hanging on to the door frame for dear life as a spectral figure glides toward him with menacing hands outstretched. Once again, we won’t see the fully revealed ghost of Gertrude Aldridge until later in the film, but this terrifying opening sets the stage for a dangerous showdown with an army of the dead.

Mannequin On the Move

The scariest moment of the 2016 remake is arguably the vicious online hatred sparked well before the film’s release. In response to brutal comments posted to the first official trailer, the cast returned to film an additional scene in which they react to dehumanizing negativity. But another sequence may cut closer to the heart of this upsetting experience. The Ghostbusters respond to a call at a concert venue and split up to cover more ground. Patty (Leslie Jones) enters what she calls a “room full of nightmares” and immediately reverses course to avoid a multitude of mannequins stacked haphazardly in the dark. As she walks out the door, one of the faceless creatures turns its head her way. Walking on its own, this sentient prop follows her down the hall, pausing the moment she turns around. Eventually breaking cover, the mannequin chases Patty down the hall to the rest of the team. They unleash their proton packs and make quick work of the gargoyle-like ghost. Though this connection is surely unintentional, it’s a terrifying parallel to a faceless monster sneaking up to attack a woman simply trying to do her job. 


Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)

Smoke and Monsters

While Ghostbusters: Afterlife is nowhere near as scary as the horror films playing in the local summer school science class, Jason Reitman’s legacyquel does contain its share of frights. The film opens with a harrowing scene as we join Egon (Oliver Cooper) in the last moments of his life. Racing away from a sinister mountain, Egon’s truck collides with an unseen force and flips upside down in a field of corn. The elderly scientist races back to his crumbling farmhouse with a trap in hand, intent on ensnaring this invisible being. Unfortunately, the power fails and Egon has no choice but to hide the trap under the floorboards and wait. He sits in a comfortable old chair as a horrifying cloud of smoke drifts in behind him, momentarily forming the shape of a fanged beast. Demonic hands grab him from within the chair, likely causing the heart attack that will be listed on his death certificate. But his abandoned PKE meter below the chair activates, reminding us that Egon may be deceased, but he is far from gone.  

The Terror Returns

scariest Ghostbusters moments

Ghostbusters: Afterlife turns out to be a touching tribute to Harold Ramis as his friends and family unite to complete the beloved scientist’s heroic mission. In addition to a tearjerker ending, Reitman also includes a bevy of callbacks to the original film. Not only do the Spenglers square off against the team’s first enemy, Gozer (Emma Portner), the nonbinary entity brings back the Terror Dogs that once possessed Dana Barret and Louis Tully (Rick Moranis). These demonic beasts first rear their ugly heads while Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd) stops by Walmart to buy a midnight snack. While the horde of mini marshmallow men are eerie in their gleeful self-destruction, the ghostly canine that chases him through the store is the stuff of nightmares. Early iterations of this fearsome creature are hindered by ’80s-era special effects, but Reitman’s version feels frighteningly real. While Gary frantically tries to find his keys, this Terror Dog snarls at him from atop his car dashboard, leaving the endearing science teacher with no way to escape. 


Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)

Frozen Dinner 

After a film set in a small mountain town, the opening of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire takes us back to New York circa 1904. We see the fire station in its early years as a horse-drawn carriage responds to a call. Arriving at the scene, a fireman tests the door for heat and watches in horror as his hand instantly freezes. Inside, they find jagged shards of ice surrounding and piercing a frozen dinner party. Guests are posed in various states of ice-covered surprise while an eerie record skips in the corner. A figure covered in brass armor we will come to know as a Fire Master is crouched in the corner clutching a mysterious orb. When the fireman touches this rippling sphere, the frozen diners’ heads begin to explode, an ominous precursor to the chilling threat awaiting the newest Ghostbusting team. 

Lights Out

If Ghostbusters: Afterlife featured the lo-fi gear of the 80s, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire hurls us into the future. Wealthy financier Winston Zeddemore has been surreptitiously building a new containment unit to relieve pressure on the original model along with a secret lab designed to study ghosts and haunted objects. In addition to fancy new gadgets and gear, this facility contains several captured spirits like a fanged Wraith and a speedy Possessor. Lab techs assure the astonished Spengler team that they are perfectly safe, but it seems they’ve overestimated the facility’s security. Lucky (Celeste O’Connor) and Lars (James Acaster) are studying the aforementioned orb when the power goes out, leaving them stranded in the dark with a cache of haunted objects. Not only does the ancient sphere hold a deadly spirit, the proton fields containing the captured ghosts have just been disabled. These terrifying creatures begin to drift through the walls toward the defenseless lab techs, perhaps at the bidding of an evil commander. Thankfully the generator kicks on in the nick of time, drawing the ghosts back into their cells. It’s a tense moment reminding us that no matter how charming the Ghostbusters may be, they still spend their days with evil spirits just waiting for an opportunity to wreak havoc.  


The Ghostbusters franchise excels at mixing humor and fear, practically setting the blueprint for the modern horror comedy. Moments from the original two films terrified a generation of gen-xers and elder millennials and newer iterations are currently scaring their kids. The fifth franchise installment effectively passes the proton pack torch to a new generation of Ghostbusters and we can only hope additional films will continue to induct future generations of Ghostbusters fans into the horror family as well. 

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is now playing in theaters. Read our review.

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