We’re sure that Prince thought long and hard about the sequencing of the tracks on Purple Rain, the 1984 soundtrack album to the movie of the same name, but little was he to know that, more than 40 years later, the position of the two songs at the beginning and end of Side B would lead to them being included in the finale of one of the biggest shows on TV in 2025.
We’re talking, of course, about Netflix’s Stranger Things, which came to an end last week with the strains of Purple Rain (the song) ringing in fans’ ears. And before that, they’d been treated to When Doves Cry, the first song on the second side of the Purple Rain vinyl album.
Without giving too much away, we can say that the plot of Stranger Things’ final episode required that the two songs used during its conclusion had to be ordered on an album in this way, and now Nora Felder, the show’s music supervisor, has been explaining to Variety how Purple Rain ended up being chosen.
Felder says that the Duffer Brothers, the siblings who created and directed Stranger Things, reached out to her before the pivotal scene in question had been shot. “They said, ‘This one is a little more tricky because of the way the scenes are going to be set up: We need something preferably from 1987 - but it could be from before - the songs have to be from the same artist; and the first song has to start the A or B-side of an album by that artist, and the second song has to end the A or B-side of that album.”
That’s quite the request. “My heart stopped, like, ‘ooh, that’s a tough one,’” says Felder, but she eventually whittled it down to two albums - Purple Rain and a record by “a classic artist from the ‘70s” who she doesn’t name.
Taken with the idea of using Purple Rain, the Duffers then asked the all-important question - would the highly protective Prince Estate actually clear the songs for use? “I’m like gulp, ‘I’m really not sure, but I’d be willing to try,’” says Felder.
“The good news is, I majored in English in college, and that helped with creating what I call ‘theses’: where you give the rights owners all the information of how the song’s going to be used, and the backstory of it, the meaning of it,” she continues. Felder and clearance coordinator Jennifer Barron spoke to Primary Wave Music, Universal Music Publishing and Warner Records, all of whom liked the idea, and eventually permission from the estate was granted.
“I know the Duffers feel that Prince’s estate cleared the songs because of Kate Bush, and I’m sure that had something to do with it, as the parties reminded them of the impact the show had with Running Up That Hill,” says Felder.
Bush’s 1985 hit got a second lease of life after it was featured in Stranger Things’ fourth season, of course.
However, Felder believes that, for the estate, it wasn’t just about the potential to monetise Prince’s catalogue: “It’s about what lines up with what Prince would have wanted, and to do it in the most respectful manner possible,” she says.
Whatever the reason, the commercial impact has been undeniable. Variety reports that, since the finale aired on New Year’s Eve, global Spotify streams of Purple Rain have shot up 243%, with a whopping 577% boost among Gen-Z listeners, who are more likely to be less familiar with Prince’s music.
When Doves Cry has surged, too - it has 200% more listeners in total and 128% more from Gen-Z.
All of which suggests that, despite the fact both When Doves Cry and Purple Rain are closely associated with Prince’s 1984 movie, they’ll now forever be part of Stranger Things folklore, too. “A lot of the young people are not going to have that association [with the Purple Rain movie],” says Felder. “[And] even the older people that knew and grew up with these songs, they’re listening to it in a different way.”
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