Stranger Things may be most closely associated with Halloween for its supernatural horror themes. Still, the fifth and final season will be released in three batches in 2025, around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve. No matter the holiday, the theme song immediately transports you to Hawkins, Indiana, in the 1980s.
It is one of the most effective pieces of music in Netflix history. While we wait until December 25th to find out what happens to Eleven, Hopper, Will, and the gang, let’s break down what makes the Stranger Things theme so special.
Show creators The Duffer Brothers set their Stranger Things pitches for Netflix to music by Austin-based synthwave band Survive. After getting the green light, they contacted Survive members Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein to score the real thing. The duo was already creating horror-influenced, synth-heavy tracks, so they had the right gear for the job.
“Between Michael and I, we have quite a substantial collection [of vintage synthesizers],” Dixon admits, “but I would say the core of the sound set of Stranger Things is probably the Prophet 6, Arps (2600, Odyssey, Solus) & the Oberheim Matrix, tape echo and spring reverb.”
Get the scoop from the composers about their influences and a look at the gear they used in this interview with Vanity Fair:
The theme’s sonic signature draws you in, but the composition itself is just as mesmerizing. The hair-raising song is actually very simple in its idea. It relies on a deceptively simple two-chord idea.
The central arpeggiated figure outlines a Cmaj7 chord, which is built with C, E, G, and B. On its own, this could seem like its just a technical exercise. In context, it creates a sense of wonder. The four notes create a constant stream of sonority, which the composers then play with by changing the bass notes.
The bass note shifts between an E and a C. Gravitating to the E readjusts how we perceive the Cmaj7 arpeggio, even though the notes don’t change. Major chords are generally thought of as happy or joyful. With the E underneath, it pulls our ear toward an underlying minor sound, which brings out an ominous feeling.
Why does it work? An E minor chord is built with E, G, and B. All three of those notes are already in the Cmaj7 chord. Even though the C does not belong to Emin, it creates a dissonance against the rest of the notes in the chord, mirroring the tension in the show.
The track’s rhythm does the same thing by keeping a steady pulse that sounds like a heartbeat. All of this adds up to raise your pulse and get you into the headspace to be on the lookout for the Demogorgon.
Due to the many variables involved, it’s nearly impossible to perfectly recreate a synthesizer’s sound. However, Stein and Dixon took the stage at the 2017 ASCAP Screen Music Awards to do just that.
Check it out, then get the sheet music to play your own version of the Stranger Things Theme:
