Songfacts®:

• Netflix will let you skip the intros, but you wouldn't do that for Stranger Things, would you? The synthy theme song, which plays as the opening credits appear and the wordmark develops, is well worth the 53 seconds and sets the mood perfectly.
  
  An instrumental conveniently called "Stranger Things," it was composed by Michael Stein and Kyle Dixon of the electronic band Survive. Growing up in Texas, they started out making field recordings, gathering sound by doing experiments like popping balloons in tunnels. They later discovered modular synthesizers, which is what they used to compose this song.
• Stranger Things creators The Duffer Brothers are big fans of Survive's music, and used their song "Dirge" for the mock trailer that was used to sell the show to Netflix. Once Netflix green-lighted the series, the Duffers contacted Stein and Dixon, who agreed to provide music for the show. To create the theme song, they pulled up an unused demo and built it out with direction from the Duffers.
• Stranger Things is set in the 1980s, but this song's composers, Michael Stein and Kyle Dixon, grew up much later and didn't form Survive until 2009. They were able to capture the retro feel in the song by using synthesizers from that era, including an Arp 2600, Prophet-5, and Roland SH-2.
• Stein and Dixon did the scoring for Stranger Things as well; they've written over 200 pieces of music that have appeared in various episodes. Their music can be very dark and foreboding, but a lot of what they compose for the show is lighter, because it stars kids and is more of a sci-fi thriller than a horror series.