Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Courtesy of Netflix, Gus Stewart/Redferns/Getty Images
When the Duffer brothers teased at the end of 2025 that the Stranger Things finale featured a never-before-licensed television needle drop made possible by Kate Bush, two main theories emerged: The song was either from her old friend Prince or Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, who was Bush’s early career mentor. The former ended up being correct with the one-two gut punch of “When Doves Cry” and “Purple Rain” soundtracking the group blowing up the Upside Down and Eleven, seemingly, sacrificing herself in it. Speaking to Variety about the lengthy process of getting Prince’s estate to clear the songs — one of which had already been used in Black-ish a decade ago, so, not a first — music supervisor Nora Felder admitted that the dream shortlist also included the greatest song in rock history. “I’m not going to say Led Zeppelin didn’t come up. I tried Led Zeppelin, but it didn’t work because I was thinking ‘Stairway to Heaven’ and it wasn’t a first and a last situation,” she explained. “And I thought maybe Pink Floyd with The Wall.”
Led Zeppelin, famously strict and exacting about the use of their catalogue, has never allowed “Stairway to Heaven” to be used in any capacity in the film and television industries. Robert Plant previously told us that “there are two Capricorns and one Leo” to contend with in the band and “we have to go through the whole thing together” to approve needle drops. They believe the majority of the offers they receive aren’t worthy of their music, and those that are — including The Bear and The Big Short and, perhaps the very best one, School of Rock — are exceedingly rare. “The music is dynamic. There it is, sitting there, and happily waiting for romance or nuance or drive that should link to a film with substance,” Plant added. “But those are hard to come by. It’s not easy to find that. A lot of stuff is completely tasteless.” So, do you really think those three would’ve said “yes” to the CGI Mind Flayer?
Related
