Digging Into the Classic Synthesizers and Musical Style of the Great John Carpenter

When the Netflix’s Stranger Things exploded into the popular consciousness a few months ago, it did so on the back of some serious 1980s nostalgia. But while most people have focused on the amount the Duffer Brothers cribbed from the likes of Steven Spielberg (e.g. compare the storylines – and visuals – of Stranger Things to similar ‘children-on-a-grand-adventure’ movies like E.T. and The Goonies), perhaps less-discussed but equally important are the hat-tips to the great John Carpenter.

In Carpenter’s case though, it’s not just the story and visual elements that suggest an influence on the Duffer Brothers (from the adventure of Big Trouble in Little China to the monster-horror of The Thing). It’s there right in the opening titles, in the theme of Stranger Things. Because John Carpenter is not just the director of iconic films including Halloween, Escape from New York, The Fog, They Live and The Thing – he also composed and performed most of the soundtracks to his films!

For the movie and music geeks out there, check out the cool video below from Reverb that digs into both his musical style, and the armoury of classic synthesizers that Carpenter used to create his soundtracks.

(h/t @JohnReppion)