Music has always been a crucial element of the Netflix Original Series “Stranger Things.” Each season, the show’s creators find ways to weave music from the period into the show’s being either to set a mood (Peter Gabriel’s “Heroes” at the end of season three broke me) or, in the case of “Stranger Things 4” as a crucial plot point.
WARNING: Mild spoilers ahead…
In “Stranger Things 4,” Max is targeted as one of the next victims of Vecna, the new big bad from the Upside Down. Like Freddy Krueger in “A Nightmare On Elm Street,” who can kill you in your dreams, Vecna’s ability is to kill you via your memories. He entrances you by tapping into your memories, forcing you to relive painful moments from your past before ultimately snapping you like a twig using his mind. But through investigating Vecna’s origins, the group figures out that the trance can be broken with the help of your favorite song, which for Max happens to be Kate Bush’s 1985 single “Running Up That Hill.”
The song, off Bush’s fifth album, “Hounds of Love,” is literally played on repeat during various parts of the show to help keep Max grounded. Since introducing viewers to the song, it seems many are following Max’s lead. The song has charted #1 on iTunes, and Bush’s album “Hounds of Love” is currently trending alongside Kanye West’s “True Love” on Spotify.
I’ve been a long-time fan of Bush’s original, but over the years, there have been several solid covers of the track released by modern artists that I’ve equally grown fond of. So if you’ve found yourself entranced by this newly discovered piece of musical magic, here are some alternate versions of the song you may want to check out.
Placebo (2003)
While I’m not sure if this is the first studio cover of Bush’s classic, it was the first I was made aware of and, to this day, is one of my favorite covers of the track. A more stripped down and simplified version of the song, Placebo’s take on “Running Up That Hill” draws on the song’s emotion and highlights the song’s lyrics the Brian Molko’s vocals.
Meg Myers (2019)
One of the more recent covers of the song, Meg Myers brought a new level of energy and her unique vocal styling to this cover, which still gets regular alt radio airplay here where I live in So Cal. As a fan of Myers, this cover became a quick favorite of mine for finding the perfect balance of staying true to the original while giving it a modern alternative sound. And the song’s music video is either a seizure or an insane trip just waiting to happen.
Georgia (2020)
Another more recent cover of the song, Georgia’s “Running Up That Hill” appeared on the “Ultimate Thrills Edition” of the singer-songwriter’s second studio album “Seeking Thrills.” Her cover of the song leans into the synth-heavy danceability of Bush’s original but recreates it for the modern dance floor.
Dilba (2019)
I don’t know what sparked the “Running Up That Hill” craze in recent years, but I remember coming across this version from Swedish artist Dilba when trying to stream the Meg Myers track a few years back. Like Georgia’s more recent take, Dilba’s take on the track leans into the danceability of Bush’s original, but her version has a much more laid-back vibe to it.
Ellevator (2019)
Another 2019 release, this one I just discovered over the weekend, thanks to Ryan Hollohan on Twitter. I had shared with my followers that if they had just discovered the song, it was worth checking out the Placebo and Meg Myers versions. He responded to my tweet saying that the Myers cover was his go-to but that he really liked the Ellevator cover as well. Conveniently, with the hype around the new song, the band recently tweeted their performance of the song for Sirius XM Canada, which you can see below. I was instantly a fan, as the band added their own unique stylings to the song while still holding true to the original.
