What vinyl record does Murray play in the “Stranger Things” finale? And why does the album play such a key role?
Note: This article contains mild spoilers for “Stranger Things” season 5, episode 8.
The final episode of “Stranger Things 5″ came out on New Year’s Eve, wrapping up the series with a killer soundtrack. Highlights included songs by Fleetwood Mac (“Landslide”), the Pixies (“Here Comes Your Man”), Iron Maiden (“The Trooper”), David Bowie (“Heroes”), and Cowboy Junkies (“Sweet Jane,” written by Syracuse University alumnus Lou Reed).
Perhaps none of them were more important than a famous 1984 album.
About halfway through the two-hour episode, Murray Bauman (Brett Gelman) drops a needle on a record spinning on a turntable. A quick vertical shot shows viewers it’s Prince and the Revolution’s “Purple Rain” album as the No. 1 hit song “When Doves Cry” begins playing.
“How can you just leave me standing / Alone in a world that’s so cold?” Prince sings as the Hawkins gang flees the Upside Down.
After a few minutes, the soundtrack shifts to another epic Prince song: “Purple Rain.” It might sound like a surprise to hear two songs back-to-back by an artist, once known as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince, who was very strict about how his music was used, in a Netflix TV show in 2025.
Prince and The Revolution perform live at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y., on March 30, 1985, in this Nancy Bundt photo provided by the Prince Estate.
But what (younger) viewers might not realize is that “When Doves Cry” is the first song on side 2 of the “Purple Rain” vinyl, and “Purple Rain” is the last song on that same side. The show’s heroes let the record play with an elaborate setup that would trigger explosives when the needle gets closer to the end of side 2 and an attachment wire strikes a Dungeons & Dragons figure spinning on the center.
“Once we came up with the idea that the record was going to be the trigger for the bomb, we knew we needed an epic needle drop, and so many ideas were thrown around,” series co-creator Ross Duffer told Netflix’s Tudum. “I think there’s nothing really more epic than Prince.”
It’s certainly more epic than the Butthole Surfers, which Mike (Finn Wolfhard) pitched in an earlier episode as the characters discussed their grand plan to defeat Vecna / Henry / Mr. Whatsit. Robin (Maya Hawke) suggested The Replacements while Mike insisted “I built the bomb, I should be able to pick the record.”
The Duffer Brothers said they talked about the musical moment more than any other on the show and wanted to use an album that “started with a celebratory song and ended with a weighty track that had emotional gravitas.” The title track from “Purple Rain” ends up making a character’s semi-ambiguous goodbye, with flashbacks to key moments from the “Stranger Things” series, all the more heartbreaking.
The Duffer Brothers previously teased the choice of Prince by saying the last episode of “Stranger Things” would feature a song that has never been used in a TV show before. “When Doves Cry” and “Purple Rain” were both in Prince’s 1984 movie, “Purple Rain,” but not in a television series.
“What is also very exciting about it is it just has not been used. [Prince’s] estate does not generally allow that song to be licensed outside the ‘Purple Rain’ movie,” Ross Duffer told Tudum.
“And then, thanks to Kate Bush, we were able to acquire the rights,” Matt Duffer added. Prince was reportedly a big fan of Bush, whose “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)” exploded in popularity after it was featured in season 4 of “Stranger Things” in 2022.
“Purple Rain” sold more than 25 million copies worldwide and is widely considered one of the best albums of all time. Featuring additional hits like “Let’s Go Crazy,” “I Would Die 4 U,” “Darling Nikki” and “The Beautiful Ones,” it won multiple Grammy Awards and an Oscar, plus was added to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry.
Prince, who died in 2016, famously performed “Purple Rain” in the rain at the Super Bowl XLI halftime show in 2007. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer also played much of the album (with a 10-minute guitar solo on “Purple Rain”) at a 1985 concert at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, broadcast live on TV to more than 12 million viewers in Europe through Eurovision.
“Playing Syracuse is just one of those memories I’ll never forget,” Prince and the Revolution drummer Bobby Z. told syracuse.com | The Post-Standard in 2022.
All five seasons of “Stranger Things” are currently streaming on Netflix. Prince’s “Purple Rain” and 1985 Syracuse concert are both available on Spotify and other music platforms.
