Should I Stay or Should I Go has quietly followed Will Byers through every corner of Stranger Things, from a mixtape in season 1 to a viral TikTok moment during the show’s final season. The Clash wrote the song in 1981 with no idea it would eventually become shorthand for a boy trapped between two worlds, unable to decide which one he belongs to.
Table of Contents
- What Should I Stay or Should I Go meant before Stranger Things
- How the song became tied to Will Byers specifically
- Why the lyrics work as more than just a period needle drop
- How the song resurfaced again in season 5
- Frequently asked questions about Should I Stay or Should I Go
What Should I Stay or Should I Go meant before Stranger Things
Should I Stay or Should I Go was written and recorded by The Clash in 1981 for their album “Combat Rock,” with lead vocals performed by guitarist Mick Jones. According to IMDb’s coverage of the song’s history, it would eventually become The Clash’s first and only Number One hit on the UK Singles Chart, a distinction that came years after its initial, more modest release.
The song itself is a fairly straightforward account of relationship indecision — a narrator caught between staying with a partner or leaving for good, unable to commit to either choice. That theme of being stuck between two options, neither fully resolved, is what made it such a natural fit once the Duffer Brothers went looking for a way to musically represent one of their own characters caught between two literal worlds.
How the song became tied to Will Byers specifically
Should I Stay or Should I Go was, according to IMDb’s reporting, a favorite of both Jonathan and Will Byers within the show’s fiction. Jonathan is shown including the track on a mixtape for his younger brother, embedding the song directly into their relationship well before Will’s disappearance ever becomes the show’s central mystery in season 1.
That connection has only deepened as the series has progressed. Will spends much of the show’s run torn between the ordinary world of Hawkins and his deep, often involuntary connection to the Upside Down — first as a missing child trapped in the alternate dimension, later as a boy whose body remains tethered to the Mind Flayer’s hive mind even after his physical return. A song fundamentally about being caught between two choices, unable to fully commit to either, ended up mapping almost perfectly onto a character whose entire arc is about not being able to leave the Upside Down behind, literally or emotionally.
“Will sing in the first 5 minutes,” What’s on Netflix noted of the song’s placement early in season 5, continuing the show’s practice of returning to it as a recurring touchstone.
Why the lyrics work as more than just a period needle drop
Should I Stay or Should I Go isn’t unique among the show’s soundtrack choices in carrying more thematic weight than a simple 1980s nostalgia cue. The Artifice’s analysis of the show’s most important licensed songs points to a broader pattern the Duffer Brothers have used repeatedly — pairing a song’s surface-level popularity from the era with lyrical content that quietly reflects what a character is going through underneath the scene.
That same technique defines The Police’s “Every Breath You Take” in the season 2 finale, used during the Snow Ball dance to represent the Mind Flayer’s lingering, obsessive surveillance of Hawkins even after its apparent defeat — a deliberate choice Shawn Levy and Matt Duffer have confirmed directly, with Levy telling Diffuser.fm, “The idea of ‘I’ll be watching you,’ given how the season ends, and the fact that there is still something watching. Not accidental.” Should I Stay or Should I Go operates on a similar principle for Will specifically, its central lyrical tension mirroring his own unresolved relationship with the Upside Down long before the show explicitly connects the two.
How the song resurfaced again in season 5
Should I Stay or Should I Go found new life once again with the release of Stranger Things season 5, appearing within the first five minutes of the season according to What’s on Netflix’s soundtrack tracker. IMDb reported the placement sparked a fresh viral moment on TikTok, with clips and covers of the song circulating widely among fans revisiting the show’s musical history ahead of the series finale.
Deadline’s coverage of Spotify’s promotional tie-in for the season notes the streaming platform specifically highlighted Should I Stay or Should I Go as one of the show’s five defining needle drops across its “Stranger Things Musical Time Machine” feature, alongside Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” and Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” — grouping The Clash’s track among the small handful of songs the show has used as genuine emotional through-lines rather than one-off period dressing, appropriate for a track that had already been quietly tracking Will Byers’s story since the very first season.
For more on the character whose connection to this song runs through the entire series, Read more: Will Byers’s Powers covers his full arc and connection to the Upside Down. And for the brother whose mixtape first introduced Will to the song, Read more: Jonathan Byers breaks down his own journey across the series.
Netflix’s Tudum feature on the full Stranger Things soundtrack goes deeper into how the song fits alongside the show’s other major needle drops, and it’s worth reading in full here.
Frequently asked questions about Should I Stay or Should I Go
Who sings Should I Stay or Should I Go in Stranger Things? The song is performed by The Clash, released in 1981, with the studio recording used in the show rather than a cover version.
Why is Should I Stay or Should I Go connected to Will Byers? The song is established as a favorite of Jonathan and Will Byers within the show, and its lyrical theme of being stuck between two choices mirrors Will’s ongoing connection to both Hawkins and the Upside Down.
Was Should I Stay or Should I Go a hit before Stranger Things? Yes. The song became The Clash’s first and only Number One hit on the UK Singles Chart, though that success came separately from its use in the show decades later.
Did Should I Stay or Should I Go go viral again because of Stranger Things season 5? Yes. According to IMDb, the song saw a resurgence in TikTok streams and covers after its placement early in season 5.
What other Stranger Things needle drop uses a similar lyrical technique? The Police’s “Every Breath You Take” in the season 2 finale uses a similar approach, with its lyrics about constant surveillance intentionally reflecting the Mind Flayer’s continued watch over Hawkins.
