Streaming culture has forever changed the way we have the television experience. Suddenly, we are waiting anywhere from a year to even three years to return to small towns and gossip columns. While we are seeing the signs of it right in front of us; the most obvious signs are found in TikTok reels and Spotify playlists. With the conclusion of Stranger Things and season one of Heated Rivalry, Prince and Wolf Parade have taken over the waves. This has become the norm with shows like Wednesday which has put Netflix on the map of this game.  Sometimes, the music takes over a single moment and sometimes the moment isn’t built up for the music. And in some cases it’s meant to be a showpiece, a sign of a budget increase. While this isn’t conclusive, as someone who dabbles in media, I thought I’d try to break it down a little.

The pop song phenomenon isn’t something new. It kicked off at the movies, with films like The Breakfast Club and Pulp Fiction before spiralling into the occasional TV show. Artists like Journey, Queen became overplayed staples on most soundtracks. Then TV became cinematic and with it, so did its music. We can see its earliest manifestation in Sherlock and The Sopranos. Yes, it accompanied moments of suspense but it wasn’t always at the centre of it; music didn’t seem to be a pivotal piece to anything really. It was merely a small part everything, something that tied it together. Until it wasn’t.

I don’t think I can pinpoint when this trend shifted, but it didn’t obviously kick off with Game of Thrones; that was responsible for epic original scores and a pattern of disappointing finales. No, it took off earlier, with shows like Gilmore Girls. Then again, the music was subtle and perfectly niche.  It was never anything mainstream or familiar enough. Nowadays the music is the backbone of every scene, and sometimes the scene is more or less about the music itself. Stranger Things initially kicked it off by revitalising The Clash, but it’s safe to say that The Clash has always been somewhat of a staple. It wasn’t for everyone, just like Stranger Things, which established itself as a show for supposed freaks and geeks. Sure, there was the occasional Bowie cover, but it mostly strayed off from popular music. By the time the final season of Stranger Things kicked off, the show had become a phenomenon, and its music had become representative of that. Suddenly there was Madonna and something that was harkened you right back to the forefront of the 80s. Season four and five continued this pattern with Kate Bush and a hefty dose of Prince. Suddenly, the music was more than a fragment of a montage. It was an integral part of character arcs and the show’s marketing as a nostalgia driven spectacle.

There isn’t an issue in doing this, but some shows have committed themselves to use the music almost as a bandage to cover up things. The most recent incident draws my attention to Stranger Things again. Several underwhelming scenes were accompanied by or followed by the most recognizable pieces of 80s music; dance montages paired to Tiffany and a half-hearted confession was paired with Purple Rain. Suddenly, every possible moment was made bigger by the music, and not by the writing. This became the show’s undoing at times, and it became a mask to carry the weight of the show’s inevitable decline. At least that’s what it felt like. The music was no longer the accompaniment but the scapegoat almost. It was there to compensate for everything going wrong.

However, with the shows like Stranger Things coming to a close, some shows are taking an almost entirely different approach. Heated Rivalry is the most recent show to get into the race, except it pulls off something from Stranger Things season one. The music isn’t at the heart of everything, it has become a part of the bigger picture. It does everything that the original score often does to enhance the moment. At the end of the day, it makes music a component of the storyline and not the bandage that ties the picture together. Music shouldn’t be relegated to something that patches it all up. Ted Lasso for example makes a lot out its soundtrack, with songs by The Rolling Stones and Cat Stevens, that very rarely overshadow the show’s writing.

At the end of the day, a soundtrack represents a lot of things for any show; it can represent the overall vibe and period of the show or just rub the budget in your face. Music can be a revelation or a bandage; a calculated move or a complete miscalculation.

Image Credit: Namroud Goguis via Unsplash