Running up that hill… Stranger Things thread (spoilers)

Just finished watching the last episode of Season 4. Fun stuff.

The family and I started watching the show just as the pandemic started because there was no sports for me to watch; the family couldn’t go out and do their usually activities and we were flipping through Netflix looking to find something to watch. We all have our own individual favorite shows, but it’s awesome that this is one show that my entire family enjoys.

 

With regard to the thread title, it's pretty amazing how a nearly 40-year-old song that barely sniffed the top 40 (and one I don't even remember and I was a teen in that era) can become a huge hit today by attaching it to a TV show that a shit-ton of people can't even access. And it's a great freaking song and I wish I'd paid attention to it back then.

 

Meg Myers covered it a few years ago, so I was rockin’ 2020 with the song. I was cool before it was cool! (BTW, I prefer Myers’ version.)

 

Caught up over the last two nights, watching two episodes last night and the movie tonight. Not complaining, but that final ep is close to 2 1/2 hours but doesn't feel like it. Was definitely worth the time commitment.

I thought the back half of this season did a tremendous job explaining the dynamic between Eleven and One and how Vecna came to be. He's a legit scary big bad. I will say, the scene way back earlier in the season where Nancy and Robin visit the psych ward felt incredibly derivative of Silence of Lambs, so much that I thought someone was going to fling jizz on one of the characters, a la Multiple Miggs. That was probably the point.

Oh, and shoutout to Argyle, who quickly became my favorite bit character this season.

Really enjoyable ride. Can't say it's very rewatchable just because of the time commitment. Season 5 is supposed to be the last, right? Nice foreboding at the end of what's to come...

 

I mentioned earlier all the movie references. It is impossible to name, and likely catch, them all. Some, Nightmare on Elm Street (so many Nightmare ones in this season), Silence of the Lambs, kind of obvious. My wife, probably correct, actually thought the outside psych ward stuff was like Ace Ventura. What a combo there, right? Silence of the Lambs and Ace Ventura. There were lines from Star Wars, Shawshank Redemption, and more just in this season. There are surely dozens of references in that massive season.

Season 5 is it.

 

Just saw another one for Pulp Fiction. I'm sure there's a running list somewhere!

 

My daughter loves Tears For Fears thanks to Tik Tok. It isn’t all that shocking that music that stays semi-fresh can get a new fan base.

So I made her this…
Because MB is into Tears for Fears

She cannot get enough of Pure and Space Age Love song.

 

I was thinking about how much harder it was to find different music back in the day. There were maybe alternative radio channels buried somewhere, or word of mouth from a friend or magazine article or something. But basically you had to hear something on the radio and like that song well enough to buy the album, and maybe then that keyed you on to another song from that artist that wasn't popular or another genre altogether. Now every freaking title in the universe is at your finger tips, just wade throug it. With things like TikTok you have all these clips that become viral instantly -- even for this old foggy it seems some songs are made just for TikTok so when you hear them somewhere else it's weird.

That has its negatives for the industry too, but it is amazing how different it is. For one, I'm glad I got to wait for and listen to albums, but I know there is a ton of music I missed.

Stranger Things has a knack for this stuff too. The Neverending Story scene in season 3 was fantastic in the same way.

 

I was kind of wondering how a girl in rural Indiana was a fan of Kate Bush. I figured it had to do with her being from California and being exposed to a larger swath of music.

 

I'm pretty sure Kate Bush had a modest rotation on MTV.

 

Plus, well, there were always a couple of music obsessives in my school in rural Rhode Island in the late 1990s, and Chuck Klosterman is from North Dakota. It's not like you have to be from NYC or L.A. to be on the cutting edge of music, it's just that your local radio station probably isn't playing Kate Bush. A couple scenes at the Hawkins record store would have been cool, but its established that Robin and Steve are the tastemakers at the video store, and Robin especially has taste.

 

I first became aware of Kate Bush from her duet with Peter Gabriel on "So." Been a fan ever since.