The Music Behind “Stranger Things”

A conversation with Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein of S U R V I V EGRAMMY-nominated duo, and 2017 Emmy nominees, Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein, half of the Austin band S U R V I V E, traveled back in musical time to soundtrack the biggest pop culture phenomenon of 2016: the Netflix series Stranger Things. The duo’s dreamy, throwback score helped sell the nostalgic ode to when John Carpenter and Steven Spielberg were the tastemakers of the horror/fantasy genre. Series creators The Duffer Brothers fell in love with the band’s albums, which spin classic synths into a distinctly modern sound—and the resulting alchemy produced the most talked-about soundtrack of the year that garnered two GRAMMY nominations for Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media. Season two, which they’ll return to score, is in production now. Dixon and Stein, both Texas natives, were born in the early 1980s when the inspirations for Stranger Things were being made. They met as teenagers, and both eventually gravitated toward the analog, electronic tones of their childhoods. The GRAMMY Museum welcomes Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein to the Clive Davis Theater for a unique evening exploring their creative process for writing music for film and television. The evening will be hosted by Scott Goldman, Executive Director of the GRAMMY Museum.