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Stranger Things season 4 featured an epic scene paired with “Running Up That Hill” by Kate Bush. Shortly after the season aired, many viewers became intrigued by the song and it received a massive resurgence in popularity, despite being almost 40 years old. Stranger Things creators, the Duffer Brothers, say they were never expecting the Kate Bush song to become so popular, but they will most likely not try to recreate the same success in season 5. 

‘Running Up That Hill’ has been dominating the charts since ‘Stranger Things’

Stranger Things creators the Duffer brothers (Ross and Matt) speak at Netflix's FYSEE Storytellers at Raleigh Studios Hollywood
Ross Duffer and Matt Duffer | Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Netflix

In Stranger Things season 4, characters are getting killed off by a creature from the upside down known as Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower). Vecna places them in a trance that appears to be inescapable. However, the crew figures out that playing someone’s favorite song can possibly snap them out of the trance and free them from Vecna’s grasp. 

In episode 4 of season 4 of Stranger Things, Max (Sadie Sink) becomes possessed by Vecna, but before she is killed, her friends play “Running Up That Hill” by Kate Bush. This gives her enough motivation and energy to fight Vecna and escape from his world. This moment is quite suspenseful and is a favorite scene of season 4 for many Stranger Things fans. 

After this, the popularity of “Running Up That Hill” skyrocketed, giving Bush her first US top 10 hit of her career. It’s still dominating the charts as fans can’t escape this dangerously catchy tune. 

The Duffer Brothers had no idea the Kate Bush song would become so popular

In an interview with Collider, the Duffer Brothers talk about the recent popularity of this song. Matt Duffer says he found it very “bizarre” and says that people were telling him that it was going viral on Tik Tok, which he didn’t really understand. It’s true that many Tik Tok users were using the song in many videos on the service, leading to even more people discovering the Kate Bush track. 

“The ‘Running up that Hill,’ the Kate Bush thing, [is] so bizarre,” Matt said. “I’m not on TikTok, but people are like, ‘Oh, it’s all over TikTok!’ I don’t even really understand what that means, but it’s just bizarre how that stuff happens.”

“Running up That Hill” has been an important motif for season 4 and it even made a return in the finale. Pop culture can often impact one another and that is certainly true with this scenario.

The Duffer Brothers are not expecting the same success in ‘Stranger Things’ season 5

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Old Songs finding new popularity from Stranger Things is nothing new. Songs like “Should I Stay or Should I Go” by The Clash and “every Breath You Take” by The Police are used in creative and memorable ways. Most recently, “Master of Puppets” by Metallica got a boost thanks to the amazing finale scene of Eddie (Joseph Quinn) playing the song in the upside down.

However, the success of “Running Up That Hill” remains an anomaly and the Duffer Brothers do not expect to have the same success with another song in Stranger Things season 5. 

“Whether it happens again with another band, I don’t know,” Matt shared. “It’s certainly the type of thing you’re not going to, in Season 5, attempt to replicate. I’m already getting asked that question, it’s like, ‘What song are [you] going to do in Season 5?’ I’m like, ‘We’re not going to do that again.’ Because if we do it, it will fail.”

Volume 2 of Stranger Things season 4 is currently streaming on Netflix.

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