Beach Boys Featured Prominently in New Season of "Stranger Things"

[Sound of Free]

Any artist that would get their song on the show would likely only celebrate it. It’s a ton of exposure, and apparently even with the pennies that Spotify pays artists, at least Kate Bush is apparently bringing in some huge bucks.

But I can’t say much of any of the songs featured prominently in the show really reflect the artists a ton or are integral to the plot thematically. There are a few. Even the Kate Bush track could have easily been another song and still worked with the plot. The fact that the character listens to the song is what’s integral to the plot, more than the content of the song itself.

Artists being pleasantly surprised by the success this show’s exposure brings them is really more akin to an artist having a weird surprise hit, rather than the show really deeply delving into the thematic nature of the songs or the artist in question.

But yeah, this is easily the most exposure Al Jardine and Carl Wilson’s voices have seen in eons. The song has never left Mike’s setlist; I’m a bit surprised Al isn’t doing the song with Brian currently. But, especially prior to the BB’s social media picking up on the song’s success and upgrading the video on YouTube, etc., it wouldn’t have surprised me if Al had no idea about the song being in the show.

MATT: Dad, the BB version of California Dreaming was used on Stranger Things!
AL: Golly gee whiz, that’s great! *pause* What’s Stranger Things?
MATT: It’s a TV show on Netflix.
Al: Golly gee whiz, that’s great! *pause* What’s Netflix?

AL: Why did they use our California Dreamin'?
MATT: The show is set in 1986, and it was on Made In USA.
AL: If we'd put Loop De Loop on Made in USA like I wanted they would have used that.

[Alex]

Yeah, the BB track isn't getting as much attention as the Kate Bush song, which was integral to the actual plot of multiple episodes of the show. But as far as the show is concerned, that's probably for the better as it would seem ridiculous if they not only shoved a bunch of "needle drops" into the show (which they've always done), but tried to make a bunch of them actual plot points.

But the BB track is getting more attention than anything in quite some time; as I mentioned earlier, it bumped "Kokomo" as the most popular song on Spotify, which is the first time I can ever remember "Kokomo" not being at the top.

I suppose technically the BB song would have to be laid over the show as it was, as opposed to being part of the plot, as the season is set in March 1986 and "California Dreamin'" didn't come out until later in the year as a single and on "Made in USA."

This is still probably the most popular song placement the BBs have had in ages. It's probably for the best it's getting the amount of attention it is and not more. The quickness with which popular stuff gets around the internet and social media can quickly lead to complaints of a song being "overexposed." Backlashes happen much faster now. I watch this show and I have no problem with the Kate Bush track, and I don't even go out of my way to read articles about the show or the song placements, and even I'm kind of sick of hearing about the song!

In a perfect world, Ding Dang would have the BBs number 1 spot on Spotify.