Here’s a fun thing about Stranger Things. The Netflix juggernaut turned a group of unknown kids into household names, revived interest in 80s classics like Kate Bush and The Clash, and quietly assembled one of the most musically stacked casts on television. Half of Hawkins moonlights as a working musician. Behind some of the series’ most beloved characters are nine actors who have formed bands, recorded albums, and gone on concert tours in between hunting alternate dimension monsters.
So grab your Walkman. Here are the Stranger Things stars who turned out to be the real deal behind a microphone.
Joe Keery, aka Djo
If you’ve spent any time on TikTok in the past couple of years, you’ve heard his music whether you knew it or not. Before Steve Harrington’s hair became iconic, Keery was the vocalist and guitarist for the psychedelic rock band Post Animal, joining the Chicago group in 2015 and recording their debut album before leaving as Stranger Things took off. He then launched a solo project under the name Djo, and it has become the most successful music career to emerge from the cast.
The breakthrough came from an unlikely place. ‘End of Beginning’ was originally released in September 2022 as the sixth track on his second album ‘Decide,’ but gained massive popularity on TikTok in early 2024 and was issued as a single that March. The song kept climbing. It peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart and reached number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100, then caught a second wave following the end of the series, eventually hitting number one on the UK Singles Chart in January 2026. The song is deeply tied to the show’s themes. Keery has said it was inspired by leaving Chicago for Los Angeles after his breakout role, and is about looking back at a section of your life and yearning for it while appreciating what happened. He’s kept the momentum going, releasing a new Djo album, ‘The Crux,’ in April 2025, recorded at legendary studios including Electric Lady in New York.
Maya Hawke
Robin Buckley’s portrayer is a serious singer-songwriter with a real catalog behind her. Maya Hawke has been steadily building a body of folk-tinged indie work, and her third studio album, ‘Chaos Angel,’ arrived on May 31, 2024, while she was filming the fifth and final season of Stranger Things in Atlanta.
Fans have begged for the obvious crossover. Asked whether she’d ever make music with Keery, Hawke offered a thoughtful no, at least for now. She explained that the show is so big anything they did together would probably overshadow it, and that it would be a long time before anyone on the show publicly collaborated, though they all listen to and engage with each other’s work.
Finn Wolfhard
Mike Wheeler himself has been making music almost as long as he’s been on the show. Wolfhard took center stage as the frontman of the rock band Calpurnia, formed in 2017, which released a single EP, 2018’s ‘Scout,’ showcasing his howling vocals and funky guitar riffs. When that project ran its course, he started another. After Calpurnia dissolved in 2019, Wolfhard formed a second band, The Aubreys, featuring more mature songwriting, which released an album called ‘Karaoke Alone’ in 2021. He’s gone solo too, dropping the album ‘Happy Birthday’ in 2025, leaning into indie rock, folk, and introspective songwriting.
Jamie Campbell Bower
The actor who brought the terrifying Vecna to life is no newcomer to the stage. Known to fans as the season four big bad, Jamie was the frontman of the UK punk-rock band Counterfeit, which released the album ‘Together We Are Stronger’ in 2017 and toured extensively before going on hiatus. His more recent work takes a far more personal turn. In 2024, he returned with his solo album ‘The Panic Years,’ a dark, emotionally raw project that dives into mental health, addiction, and recovery.
Charlie Heaton
Jonathan Byers’ moody artistic streak isn’t far from the truth. Charlie Heaton was a musician before he was an actor. Drumming, specifically. Before he got into acting, Heaton played drums in several rock bands, even moving to London at 16 to pursue music, and played in the band Comanechi where he met former partner and lead singer Akiko Matsuura.
Caleb McLaughlin
Lucas Sinclair’s actor has been carving out his own lane as a solo artist. Caleb McLaughlin has released singles including his 2021 debut ‘Neighborhood’ and a follow-up, ‘Soul Travel,’ and has stressed that he takes music seriously as a pursuit rather than a hobby.
The Broadway Crew
Not every musical Hawkins kid went the rock-band route. A few honed their chops in the most demanding live setting there is. Gaten Matarazzo performed in Les Misérables on Broadway, Caleb McLaughlin was in The Lion King, and Sadie Sink starred in Annie, all roles requiring serious vocal ability. It’s part of why the cast is so musically gifted across the board.
When you step back, a cast this musical feels almost inevitable given the show itself. The music of Stranger Things, whether the original score or the licensed soundtracks, has been one of the show’s most beloved elements, from reviving Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’ to soundtracking key emotional beats with 80s staples. A show that lives and breathes music was always going to attract performers who feel the same way. The Upside Down may be closed for business, but the cast’s recording careers are very much still open.