Stranger Things Fans Are Just Realising Why 'Running Up That Hill' Is Max's Favourite Song

Even if you aren’t a Stranger Things fan, you will have likely heard Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’ over the past week or so.

The 1985 song has recently re-entered the charts thanks to the hit Netflix series, introducing a new generation to the British singer.

But despite the popularity of the song, fans have only recently come up with a theory to explain why it’s Max’s favourite. 

And let’s face it, you’d have to love a song a lot for it to inspire you to run away from the likes of Vecna. 

Taking to TikTok to share their theory, one fan wrote: "just realised why this is max's fave song. it's how she feels abt billy [sic]." 

The fan then repeats the lyrics: "And if I only could, I'd make a deal with God / And I'd get him to swap our places."

In a nutshell, this fan believes Max wishes that she was dead instead of Billy.

The potential link between the song and the character did not go unnoticed on TikTok. 

Responding to the video with a crying emoji, one fan wrote: “I THOUGHT IT WAS SWAPPING PLACES WITH GOD AND CHANGE EVERYTHING [sic].”

A second added: “I was crying when watching this scene and when I realised this I was literally sobbing.”

Another viewer wrote: “Poor Max, all that guilt she is carrying.”

One suggested: “And then ‘be running up that road’ would be her running to save him instead of standing still.”

Another user wrote alongside multiple crying emoji: “Didn’t realise it until I saw this. I wasn’t paying attention to the lyrics while watching.”

This is far from the only interesting fan theory about volume one of season four, and another character's obsession was thought to be linked to the Shadow Monster.

One observant fan took to Twitter to share a clip of Henry Creel's spider obsession and followed it up with an interesting observation about the Mind Flayer.

They wrote: “So does this explain why the Mindflayer is shaped like a spider?”

The theory was also praised on social media.

One fan wrote: “AH YES LOVE THIS THEORY [sic].”

A second added: “This contributes to my theory that Vecna could have made most of the monsters in the upside down because that’s was his dream of a new world [sic].”

It also ties into what the show's creators, the Duffer Brothers, said about the mythology of the Stranger Things creatures.

They told Netflix: "We know what’s going on in the Upside Down, more or less, but we want it to be unknowable. We want it to be mysterious."