Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill"

Submission 11,043

Part of a series on Stranger Things. [View Related Entries]

About

"Running Up That Hill," also known as "Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)," refers to a song recorded in the 1980s by female pop singer Kate Bush. The song received increased attention in memes in mid-2022 after the premiere of Stranger Things Season 4 when it was revealed to be the character Max's favorite song. On TikTok and Twitter, the song was used in memes as a sound as well as humorously referenced alongside differences between Boomers and Gen Z.

Origin

On August 5th, 1985, English singer-songwriter Kate Bush released a single titled Running Up That Hill, being the first single for her then-upcoming album Hounds of Love.^[1] On January 15th, 2011, the music video, originally created in 1985,^[2] was uploaded to YouTube, where over the course of 11 years, it received roughly 65.5 million views (shown below).

Spread

In the summer of 2012, "Running Up That Hill" was used in the London Olympic Games. It was performed during the closing ceremony of the event and featured newly recorded lyrics from Bush. After a clip of it was uploaded to YouTube on August 12th, 2012, the video received roughly 1.8 million views over the course of ten years (shown below).

2022 Stranger Things 4 Revival

On May 27th, 2022, the first seven episodes of the fourth season of Netflix's Stranger Things released for streaming.^[3] In the new season, the character Max, who's been present in the series since Season 2, had major developments in her character including the addition of her favorite song, "Running Up That Hill," to be a central part of the main plot. For instance, one scene from the fourth season titled, "Max’s Favourite Song," was uploaded to Youtube on May 30th, 2022, by the channel Still Watching Netflix. Over the course of 12 days, the video received roughly 4.4 million views (shown below).

In the scene shown above, the other characters attempt to save Max after she's possessed by Vecna at Billy's grave. They play "Running Up That Hill" through headphones over Max's ears. The song's importance to Max has been likened to her relationship with the character Billy, who was redeemed earlier in the show's history after risking his life to save his stepsister and Eleven.^[4] Overall, Max feels that she is responsible for Billy's death and Kate Bush's song offers an escape.^[4]

After the song became a pivotal feature in the new season, it became the No. 1 song on the iTunes Chart^[5] as well as entering the top ten for the first time in New Zealand, Canada and the United States. ^[1] On June 9th, 2022, the song became the No. 1 searched-for song on Genius's lyrics website.^[10]

On platforms like TikTok and Twitter, the song started to be referenced in memes and used as the audio for videos. For instance, on May 29th, 2022, TikToker^[6] dantelij2 parodied the "Max's Favorite Song" scene from Season 4, making a joke about a Spoitfy ad playing if his friends were trying to save him. Over the course of 12 days, the video received roughly 9.4 million plays and 2 million likes (shown below, left). On May 31st, 2022, TikToker^[7] baconwithsyruppp posted a similar video, instead making a joke about her Airpods dying and earning roughly 11.2 million plays and 2.6 million likes in ten days (shown below, right).

On Twitter, many users posted tweets about the song's revival, both surprised that people were just now hearing it and that it was trending No. 1 on many music charts. On May 31st, 2022, Twitter^[8] user iMattClarke referenced "Running Up That Hill" alongside the success of Top Gun: Maverick and the conflict between Russia and the U.S. in regards to the 2022 Invasion of Ukraine as humorous evidence of everyone saying, "f--k it, let’s give 1986 another go then?” The tweet received roughly 4,700 likes in ten days (shown below, left). On June 3rd, 2022, Twitter^[9] user cloudbusting posted an American Psycho Patrick Bateman meme of him holding a Kate Bush CD, earning roughly 15,000 likes in six days (shown below, right).

Additionally, many memes were made about the song's revival that referenced the generational differences between Boomers and Gen Z.

"Running Up That Hill" Drill Remix

On June 3rd, 2022, TikToker^[11] cswiff_music2 posted a drill remix to Kate Bush's song, earning roughly 74,500 plays and 15,200 likes in one week (shown below, left). TikTokers started using the sound in more Kate Bush memes going into June 2022. For instance, on June 9th, 2022, TikToker^[12] adaamara posted a video that used the sound, essentially making fun of its use. In one day, the video earned roughly 2.9 million plays and 833,800 likes (shown below, right).