NPR’s Daniel Estrin asks Nora Felder, the music supervisor for the collection “Stranger Issues,” how she went about scoring the collection over its decade-long run which ended this week.
DANIEL ESTRIN, HOST:
Considered one of Netflix’s most profitable reveals wrapped its closing season this week.
(SOUNDBITE OF KYLE DIXON AND MICHAEL STEIN’S “STRANGER THINGS”)
ESTRIN: “Stranger Issues,” created by the Duffer Brothers, follows a bunch of youngsters within the Nineteen Eighties who stumble onto a parallel dimension and battle scary monsters. A lot of the present’s success is because of its soundtrack. It served up a heavy dose of nostalgia for a whole era and launched ’80s hits to youthful audiences. And the particular person accountable for that’s our visitor, Nora Felder, the music supervisor of “Stranger Issues.” Welcome.
NORA FELDER: Thanks. Thanks for having me.
ESTRIN: Delighted to have you ever right here. Initially, how do you see your position as a music supervisor on a present like “Stranger Issues”?
FELDER: My job is to verify one of the best tune lands in the correct place within the present. Throughout the price range that we’ve got at hand (laughter), you realize, that is one other side that I believe lots of people do not take into consideration. In different phrases, we’re not simply sitting again and staring on the sky and pulling tune concepts out. We truly need to be sure that we will afford sure concepts, and we truly need to be sure that we will get them cleared.
ESTRIN: Licensed from the artist, you imply?
FELDER: Yeah, as a result of, you realize, it isn’t at all times a no brainer.
ESTRIN: So once you began studying the scripts for “Stranger Issues,” what sort of music have been you listening to in your head?
FELDER: Properly, I used to be positively listening to ’80s music ‘trigger that is the place it takes place.
(SOUNDBITE OF DURAN DURAN SONG, “GIRLS ON FILM”)
FELDER: I grew up in my youthful years in New York Metropolis within the ’80s, so it was form of excellent. And what I do on the initiatives that I begin to work on is I began to get to know the characters by means of the scripts and begin constructing my very own playlist of what I felt represented these characters. As you are studying the scripts, you are arising with perhaps basic themes which are beginning to type. And in addition taking note of the character’s evolution, you realize, as a result of this – these characters began at a really younger age.
ESTRIN: Yeah, this present’s been occurring for 10 years.
FELDER: They grew up. I believe I even modified in that 10 years. You realize, you undergo quite a lot of adjustments. So these playlists for these characters that I used to be continually engaged on tended to alter over these years as properly.
ESTRIN: And the music isn’t just a soundtrack. It actually, on this present, is central to the plot.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE CLASH SONG, “SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO”)
ESTRIN: And I believe one of many first moments within the present that you just actually see that’s in Season 1 with the tune “Ought to I Keep Or Ought to I Go” by The Conflict.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO”)
THE CLASH: Whoo.
ESTRIN: And it is used as a second of connection for one of many most important characters, Will Byers, and his brother, Jonathan. This can be a tune that seems all through the collection. How did you select it?
FELDER: Properly, truly, the Duffers selected this one.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO”)
THE CLASH: (Singing) So you bought to let me know. Ought to I keep or ought to I am going?
FELDER: Lots of people assume that I am on the market selecting all of the songs and presenting it to them. And, you realize, sure, there are these circumstances, however on this case, they knew they needed this tune. With what they have been portray with the preliminary bond that was taking place between Jonathan and Will, form of passing it right down to Will, I assumed it was a wonderful alternative.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO”)
THE CLASH: (Singing) Ought to I keep or ought to I am going?
ESTRIN: Properly, in all probability the most important musical second within the present is from Season 4, the place one of many characters, Max, is consistently listening to her favourite tune, “Operating Up That Hill” by Kate Bush.
(SOUNDBITE OF KATE BUSH SONG, “RUNNING UP THAT HILL”)
ESTRIN: That tune was launched in 1985, and “Stranger Issues” propelled that tune to the High 100 chart for the very first time ever. How did you select that tune?
FELDER: For that one, the Duffers had reached out to me. That second was marked as TBD Max tune. We come into that season. She’s having emotions of isolation. She’s simply misplaced her brother.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “RUNNING UP THAT HILL”)
KATE BUSH: (Singing) Is there a lot hate for those we love?
FELDER: For me, the essential lyrics of that tune – they’re about feeling disconnected from the individuals round you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “RUNNING UP THAT HILL”)
BUSH: (Singing) You. It is you and me.
FELDER: And what Miss Bush was making an attempt to inform everyone is that if we may simply all change footwear with one another, perhaps we would have a greater understanding and have the ability to join to assist us all collectively, in the end, rise up that hill. So, to me, that tune labored on so many ranges.
ESTRIN: I perceive that Kate Bush had been reluctant to license her music to different initiatives however made an exception for “Stranger Issues.”
FELDER: After I first pitched it to the Duffer Brothers, I did inform them she is explicit. However anyway, I felt like I needed to, like, come along with my music clearance coordinator, and we wrote, like, these theses, virtually, of what – how the tune was going for use by means of the season, what it meant to the character, Max, and the way it was going to assist uplift her. I believe, with all that, she granted the rights. Now, I’ll say, we bought a message again that she had watched the collection. Her son had her watch it, and he or she appreciated it very a lot. Yeah, I do not suppose it may have been every other tune. We attempt to by no means say that.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “RUNNING UP THAT HILL”)
BUSH: (Singing) With no issues.
ESTRIN: I am a baby of the Nineteen Eighties. So for me, the attraction of this present is absolutely that rush of nostalgia. It is the haircuts, it is the cereal bins. But it surely’s additionally this nostalgia for a extra harmless time when know-how was less complicated and also you listened to songs on cassette tapes. So I am questioning, what did you need individuals to study in regards to the ’80s by means of the music that you just selected?
FELDER: The Duffers created a narrative that was so genuine to their characters and so genuine to each little element of the best way it actually was between these years and the ’80s. I went to see the finale within the film theaters. I discovered myself crying quite a bit. I discovered myself watching the viewers greater than I used to be watching them. So, like, when a tune, like when “Dove’s Cry” got here on…
(SOUNDBITE OF PRINCE SONG, “DOVE’S CRY”)
FELDER: …You realize, I rapidly whipped my head round, and I noticed a number of the older audiences, a factor of familiarity clearly got here throughout their face, and I heard some ahs. However then I additionally, you realize, was clocking a number of the youthful individuals. And I used to be questioning – I do not suppose they know what it’s, however they’re liking what they’re listening to. It was extra of a what is that this? Ah. This can be a cool tune. So for the older individuals, it was nostalgia. For the youthful individuals, it was new experiences. All of it simply got here collectively that this is the reason the soundtrack has contributed a lot to the success of the present.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRINCE SONG, “DOVE’S CRY”)
PRINCE: (Singing) That is what it appears like when the dove’s cry.
ESTRIN: That’s music supervisor Nora Felder. And the ultimate season of “Stranger Issues” is out now. Nora, thanks a lot for being with us. It has been quite a lot of enjoyable chatting with you.
FELDER: Oh, it has been a lot enjoyable for me. Thanks. And I even forgot we have been doing an interview.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRINCE SONG, “DOVE’S CRY”)
PRINCE: (Singing) Really feel the way it trembles inside. You have bought the butterflies all tied up. Do not make me chase you. Even doves…
Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional data.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts might fluctuate. Transcript textual content could also be revised to right errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org could also be edited after its unique broadcast or publication. The authoritative file of NPR’s programming is the audio file.
