#stranger things score

[weeeezey]

Aww man "Real Life Honest To God Sorcerer" sounds like it has the faint melody of "The first i love you" or better yet the "Being Different" Version why the hell would you do that maybe im hearing things but yknow

[cheshire-smiley-fries]

the fact that there's a song in the official stranger things score titled 'my BOOBS hurt.' is INSANE to me I am CACKLING.

[auracobaltblue]

The fact that “The Upside Down” hasn’t played this season means a lot about how unscary it was…

[sawyer-bailey]

“what do you do when you’re sad?”

listen to all of the music from the devastating byler/will scenes (I’m looking at you being different- don’t think you can hide like I could fly I can see you)

[chirpsythismorning]

They had no reason to not reveal which scene it was from. I think they just put themselves in a corner by first admitting it’s one of their favorites songs. There was no way they could follow that with, “so we used it for Will & Mike.” 🤫👀😅🤣

[aurorabyler]

i know it’s been a while since my analysis but it’s still absolutely fucking wild to me that the song “being different” is a combination of the first lie and the first i love you, and LITERALLY plays during will’s first lie and first i love you to mike.

like what the fuck. combining songs from seasons 2 and 3?? that played in situations that work for the context of byler?? that display a deep level of care and attention to detail over the seasons for a pairing that may well be not only the endgame of the show but also the pairing that perfectly displays the overall message of the show? that our differences are what make us unique, and it is love in all its forms that make our differences so important? that amongst all the chaos and hatred in the world, two childhood friends falling in love is not the (forgive me) strangest thing that could ever happen? it’s just so…. wow.

with what the duffers have been saying about season 4, that it’s them “peeling back the layers” and “showing their hand” to the audience, all of this just makes so much sense. it’s going to be really beautiful to watch this story come to fruition. i’m so excited :’)

[lesbicosmos]

Music In Stranger Things

and how it is used to queer-code Mike and Will

Music is integral to what makes the show so great and both the soundtrack and original score is used throughout every season to sometimes parallel scenes or imply things about the characters or plot

OST

The First I love You

This piece first plays in season 3 episode 7, during the scene in the bathroom where Steve confesses his feelings for Robin and she turns him down and comes out to him as a lesbian (it doesn't start til after the coming out scene, when Steve starts joking around and making fun of Tammy)

The same piece plays again in the final episode of the season, when the Byers and El are leaving Hawkins to move to California and El talks to Mike, saying she loves him and kissing him. Mike says nothing in response and stands still, eyes open the whole time and has a confused expression on his face afterwards.

This could imply a parallel between the two scenes; that Mike, like Robin, is gay and can’t love El back the way she wants him to. This is even represented in the title, with ‘love’ being the only word not capitalised to show that it is a different type of love.

In the closet (at Rink O Mania)

I don’t think much more evidence is necessary after this piece, it's literally titled ‘In the closet’. This piece plays during the scene where Will and Mike argue in Rink-O-Mania, after El gets bullied on the rink and Mike is annoyed at Will for not telling him El was being bullied.

While the piece does play into the next scene and the title is literally referring to El hiding from Angela and her friends in a storage closet, it begins during the Mike and Will scene, specifically starting as Mike is talking, implying the double meaning – that Mike is closeted and hiding from his own feelings.

Being Different & You’re The Heart

The piece that plays in the van scene is called ‘Being Different’ (referencing Will’s line about how when you’re different, sometimes you feel like a mistake).

‘You’re the Heart’ plays in the scene with Mike’s monologue to El in the final episode. I find it interesting that this specific piece is titled ‘You’re the Heart’, a Will line, rather than something Mike says to El in the scene, like ‘I Love You’ or ‘You’re My Superhero’. This kind of leads us to think Mike wasn’t being entirely honest with El and is actually just repeating a lot of what Will said the episode prior to cover up the truth.

What’s interesting about these two pieces is they both feel like they’re missing something, much like how the scenes themselves aren’t entirely what they seem (Will talking about himself but not saying it and instead lying that it’s about El, and Mike talking about how much he loves El, covering up the fact he feels their relationship is falling apart and that his feelings may not be genuine).

I first found this next part on tiktok (@causeineedu) and I think it’s such an interesting detail. If you play both tracks, and scenes, so that they end at the same time, the music actually completes itself and is really beautiful. It would be really cool if both pieces together was a new piece in s5 used in a significant byler scene. The scenes the tracks are used in also parallel to show the truth of Mike’s feelings when synced up, the tiktok linked goes into a lot more detail on that and it's really cool so go check it out (also that whole account is amazing)

Soundtrack

Heroes – David Bowie (cover by Peter Gabriel)

Probably one of the most recognised songs used in the show, Heroes is a song about two lovers who are under constant fear of death dreaming that they are free, and is very queercoded.

The Peter Gabriel cover has been used twice throughout the show in pivotal moments:

1. Will’s fake body is found in the quarry at the end of 1x03 – this scene is primarily from Mike’s POV and the song is inherently romantic, especially the lyrics that play when he gets home after biking back in tears and hugs his mom:

“And the guns

Shot above our heads

And we kissed

As though nothing could fall

And the shame”

"And the guns shot above our heads” could reference the bullying they face for being gay (Troy and James do mostly bully Will but they also direct it at Mike more than Dustin or Lucas, as if taunting him as well).

“And we kissed as though nothing could fall” could reference the strength of their relationship before Will went missing; they were inseparable, and even if they never kissed beforehand, this line would still represent that.

"And the shame” references both Mike’s internalised homophobia and the stigma around being queer in the 80s, and how neither Mike nor Will would be comfortable admitting their feelings for fear of attack.

2. The second time the song is used it in the final scene of season 3 as El and the Byers move away, after El reads Hoppers letter.

The song is reused to parallel to the first scene, mostly to hint that while everyone believes Hopper is dead, he survived, much like how everyone thought Will was dead in 1x03

While the song doesn't play over the exact scene, Hoppers letter does, the repeated use of the song also brings the direct parallel of Mike returning home and hugging his mom, but he doesn’t cry or let out much emotion this time. I think this is the moment he truly realised how much he loves Will and the internalised homophobia really started to hit and he doesn’t think he can be emotional about Will leaving without 'being caught'.

The lines of Hoppers letter that do play over the hug scene do also reflect how Mike is feeling:

"I don't want things to change. So maybe that's why I came in here - to try to maybe stop that change. To turn back the clock. To make things go back to how they were."

Mike wants to go back to when he didn't know about his feelings for Will, because that would have been a lot easier. He doesn't want their friendship to change.

The next bit isn't exactly in the show but...

Mike’s Spotify Playlist

Mike's official playlist, Mike's Bassment Beats, contains a lot of musical hints that Mike might be queer, even from the very first song.

The first song on the playlist is Smalltown Boy by Bronski Beat, which was described as a ‘cry for gay liberation’ when it was released in 1984 and was about how many queer men had to flee small towns due to the intolerance and homophobia.

Season 2 of the show was set in 1984 and I think this is when Mike developed a crush on Will, even if he didn’t fully realise it then. He was a lot more protective of him that season, rightfully so after season one, but he was always there right by his side, somewhat separated from people like Dustin and Lucas when it came to Will, implying their relationship was different.

The lyrics:

“Pushed around and kicked

Around, always a lonely boy

You were the one that they’d

Talk about around town as they

Put you down

And as hard as they would try,

They’d hurt to make you cry

But you never cried to them”

These lyrics can actually apply to both Mike and Will quite easily.

“Pushed around and kicked around” represents the bullying they face, mostly Will, from kids at school like Troy and James, and even his own father Lonnie.

"Always a lonely boy" represents them both, they've always been the outcasts, the loners. Mike specifically mentions he was all alone before he met Will in kindergarten.

“You never cried to them” is a very Mike line, representing how after season 2, he started to realise his actual feelings and pushed them down, suppressing his emotions until they got too much and were forced out, like during the rain breakup in 3x03 where he absolutely projects onto will with the "it's not my fault you don't like girls" line.

The 11th song on the playlist is Don’t You Want Me by The Human League and was originally on the playlist with a cover from a ‘Celebrate Gay Pride’ album (Steve also has this song on his playlist but the original album cover so this was very likely intentional). Since, however, it has been changed to the original, perhaps to be more subtle.

One song on the playlist is Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’ by Tubeway Army. The lyrics themselves aren't intentionally queercoded but the title and in the context of Mike's character they are. Electricity is mentioned a couple of times in season 2 to allude to a romantic relationship; Steve tells Dustin that once you feel the electricity you know something is going on between two people, and Dustin then tells Lucas he can feel the electricity between him and Max (one of the main couples that have always paralleled Mike and Will).

Some songs on the playlist could link to hiding in the closet, such as Cars by Gary Numan:

“Here in my car

I feel safest of all

I can lock all my doors

It’s the only way to live in cars”

The car represents the closet and how Mike is hiding from his own self and who he really is behind his ‘straight boy’ cover act - the closet is safe for him as it hides him from the reaction of the real world.

Many other songs on the playlist are about running away:

I Ran (So Far Away) by A Flock of Seagulls

Running in the Night by FM-84 + Ollie Wride

Destination Unknown by Missing Persons

Run Away by International Music System

These could all be metaphors for Mike running away from his own feelings and identity out of fear, or even running from his parents and their reactions, specifically his dad's - Ted has made a couple of homophobic micro-aggressions throughout the seasons, mostly in season 1.

Mike's playlist overall is really interesting as so many of the songs could be linked to his feelings about his sexuality and running away from himself.

The next point is also not entirely in the show itself, but links to a set piece.

Will’s Vecna Song – Theory

Although Should I Stay or Should I Go by The Clash has been a song associated with him since season 1, I don’t think it would be the song that would save him from Vecna. He probably has a lot of trauma from it as it is what he kept singing when he was stuck in the Upside Down. While it is linked to happy memories and Jonathan distracting him from his parents’ fighting, it has always also been linked to the negativity and trauma in Will’s life.

Instead, I think Will’s Vecna song would be Boys Don’t Cry by The Cure.

For starters, he has a poster for the song on his bedroom wall in season 4 (visible in the first scene he’s in when he’s painting in 4x01) so we know he at least likes it.

He would probably like the song so much as he'd relate to it a lot:

“I try to laugh about it

Cover it all up with lies

I try to laugh about it

Hiding the tears in my eyes

‘Cause boys don’t cry

Boys don’t cry”

These lyrics would specifically fit one particular scene that is key to Will and Mike’s relationship in season 4 – when he admits his feelings to Mike in the back of the van but uses El’s name (“cover it all up with lies”), to help Mike in his struggle with his and El’s relationship. He turns and looks out of the window so Mike can’t see him crying (“hiding the tears in my eyes ‘cause boys don’t cry”)

The song could also link very clearly to Mike’s character too. He is also “covering it all up with lies” as his whole relationship with El is covering up his true feelings for Will, and he also pushes down all his emotions so he doesn’t have to open up to anyone.

Another reason I think this would be the song that would save Will from Vecna is the lyrics have similar ties to his trauma as the lyrics of Running Up that Hill have to Max's. Max relates to Running Up that Hill as she feels guilty about Billy's death and wishes she could go back and rewrite that day. It's the thing that makes her hate herself. The thing that makes Will hate himself the most is his sexuality and his feelings for Mike, which the lyrics would reflect; him knowing he can't open up about how he really feels out of fear of both rejection and being attacked, as well as the thought of truly losing Mike, even as his friend.

There are so many more examples of music being used to queercode these two characters and I'll add onto this if I find any more but this post is really long anyway so ill stop 😭

[counting-stars-gayly]

Something something the story of Nina and her dead lover was an allegory for El and Mike something something “Eulogy” was played during the Mi|even fight scene something something the dead Mi|even flowers something something “from El” something som—