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.