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Over the course of its five seasons, Stranger Things has continually found ways to reinvigorate 1980s culture – perhaps nowhere more effectively than through its many memorable musical cues. And the series’ most recent finale featured perhaps the greatest moment of its kind yet: with two classic Prince songs. (Spoiler alert.)
Speaking to Netflix’s Tudum, Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer explained how they secured songs “When Doves Cry” and “Purple Rain” for the finale.
As is well known, both tracks come from Prince’s 1984 album “Purple Rain” and the accompanying film, but have hardly been licensed for other films or series. (Some covers of “When Doves Cry” have appeared elsewhere, such as Quindon Tarver’s version for Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo + Juliet.”)
The idea behind the song selection
The Duffer brothers knew that two big songs would be crucial to the final episode after they came up with the idea of using a record player as a remote detonator for a bomb that would destroy the bridge between the real world and the Upside Down. Specifically, they needed an album side that begins with something celebratory – matching the euphoria of detonating the bomb – and ends with something emotionally heavy, as Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) appears at the interdimensional gate, apparently still in the Upside Down.
Ross Duffer said they had “never talked about a song choice as much as they did with that moment,” adding, “We knew we needed an epic musical cue, and there were so many ideas thrown around. I don’t think there’s anything more truly epic than Prince.”
Why “Purple Rain” was a perfect fit
And when it came to hitting those two moods, side two of “Purple Rain” “was a perfect fit for us,” says Ross Duffer.
But getting the rights to both songs was by no means a given. “We were told it was a very slim chance, so we just kept our fingers crossed,” Matt Duffer said. He cited the show’s use of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” – which returned to the charts in 2022 after its use in the fourth season of “Stranger Things” – as a crucial factor in ultimately convincing the Prince estate to license the two songs.
Effects and backgrounds
“Thank God they agreed,” Matt Duffer said.
It also seems like the decision to dub the two “Purple Rain” titles is already paying off. According to Variety, “Purple Rain” saw a 243 percent increase in Spotify streams since the finale aired on New Year’s Eve, with a 577 percent increase among global Gen Z listeners. Meanwhile, “When Doves Cry” increased 200 percent, with a 128 percent increase among Gen Z listeners.
It is also worth mentioning that the Prince Estate’s decision to license “Purple Rain” and “When Doves Cry” for a Netflix series for the first time comes at a time in which the streaming service and the estate maintain particularly good relationships.
Last February, Netflix announced that it would not release a documentary about Prince by filmmaker Ezra Edelman (director of the Oscar- and Emmy-winning film “OJ: Made in America”). According to a report in The New York Times Magazine, Edelman’s film included allegations of physical and emotional abuse against Prince made by some of his former creative and romantic partners.
In deciding not to show the film, Netflix and the Prince estate said they had “agreed to an amicable solution that will allow the estate to develop and produce a new documentary featuring exclusive material from Prince’s archive.”