How The Creators Of ‘Stranger Things’ Licensed Two Prince Songs For Their Epic Finale

Since its release in 2016, Netflix’s hit show “Stranger Things” has featured many iconic ’80s needle drops, from the Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go” to Diana Ross’s “Upside Down” in its most recent season. However, the show’s most impressive acquisitions came from its action-packed finale: Prince’s notoriously difficult-to-license hits “When Doves Cry” and “Purple Rain.” Here is how the creators of the ’80s sci-fi show got the rights to the songs.

But before you read on, be warned: There are major spoilers ahead!

The series finale is filled with emotional moments as the characters finally defeat the monster attacking them since middle school. To hit the right notes, creators Matt and Ross Duffer wanted an album that opened with an upbeat track and ended with a heavy one. That is where Prince and the Revolution’s “Purple Rain” album came in, according to Rolling Stone.

During the climax, the crew triggers a bomb to destroy the Upside Down, an alien world that mirrors the human world, using Prince’s “When Doves Cry” as a countdown. It is a celebratory moment, and the Duffer brothers knew it needed an epic backing track.

“Once we came up with the idea that the record was going to be the trigger for the bomb, we knew we needed an epic needle drop,” Ross Duffer told Netflix’s Tudum. “I think there’s nothing really more epic than Prince.”

However, before the crew manages to get to safety, they are stopped by the show’s secondary antagonists, the U.S. Army, who want to capture Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown). To save her family, Eleven runs back into the Upside Down just before the bomb explodes while the characters—and viewers—bawl their eyes out with Prince’s “Purple Rain” in the background.

Speaking with Tudum, Ross Duffer said that they had never thought so much about a song before that scene.

“We never talked about a song choice as much as we did for that moment,” he said. “What is also very exciting about it is it just has not been used. (Prince’s) estate does not generally allow that song to be licensed outside the ‘Purple Rain’ movie.”

Noting how difficult it is to acquire the song, Matt Duffer noted that they managed to get the licensing.

“Thanks to Kate Bush, we were able to acquire the rights,” Matt Duffer told Tudum. “We were told that it was a real long shot, so we just crossed our fingers. Thank God they agreed.”

After the success of “Stranger Things 4,” Legendary British singer Kate Bush’s 1985 hit “Running Up That Hill,” which was an important song in the season, shot up to the No. 3 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2022, according to Billboard. And that proved to the estate that the show could not only introduce older songs to a new and younger audience but that it could also honor classics.

Speaking on behalf of Prince’s estate, Marty Silverstone, president of music publishing company Primary Wave, told the New York Post that the estate was thrilled to be part of the show.

“We’re thrilled that we could play a part in bringing these very special uses to life and have Prince’s music included in the phenomenon that is Stranger Things. You have to admire the unique connection the show has with its fanbase, its brilliant music curation over its entire run, and its spotlight on the cosmic importance of music in the lives of young people, and all people,” he said.

Since the finale released, “Purple Rain” has received a 243 percent increase in streams with a 577 percent surge in global Gen Z streams specifically. “When Doves Cry” is close behind with a 200 percent surge in streams and a 128 percent increase in Gen Z streams, according to Variety.

Although “Stranger Things” has come to an end, Gen Z’s interest in the ’80s seems to be far from over.