How to Know Where You First Heard This Damn Song
Today’s kids are rediscovering the hits of the 80s, and I’m not complaining. More specifically, Netflix’s Stranger Things brought Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)” back to the top, nearly 30 years after its original release. For modern viewers who didn’t yet know the iconic ballad but knew they needed to add it to all of their playlists, searching for information about a particular song took just two seconds. However, for more obscure shows and soundtracks, life isn’t always so easy.
It’s one thing to watch a movie or show and then try to keep track of the music that’s currently playing on the screen. For me, a much more harrowing experience is when you hear a song in the wild and are struck by a mind-boggling mixture of “ I love this song ” and “ How the hell do I know this song? “It’s like having a certain word on the tip of your tongue that is out of your reach.
If you’re like me and need all the help you can get to track down TV and music songs, here are some vital resources to figure out what that damn song is called and where the hell you first heard it. .
When you know the show and you need a song
This is the best scenario for song tracking. If you know the movie or TV episode in which this song was played, it will be much easier for you to understand the name of this song.
One of the most popular sites for this purpose is Tunefind (formerly HeardOnTV). When searching by series, the site will show you all the songs with a brief description of what is happening on the screen while using them. For example, for Stranger Things: Chapter 4 Episode 4 , the site describes “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)” as playing during “Max’s brave encounter”. Tunefind is a reliable resource if you know exactly which movie or TV show episode the mystery song was used in.
Alternatively, most movies and shows will have extensive soundtrack information on their IMDb pages. Click on the title’s soundtrack section to see a list of all the music that plays during it.
Find the name of the song first
Let’s say you’re in a much more embarrassing scenario where you recognize a song but can’t figure out where you got it from. If you’re stuck in this situation, the first thing to do is try to name the song.
For this, the song identification app you are probably most familiar with is Shazam . It’s your choice if you can get your phone out fast enough to use the app while the mystery song is still playing. Sound Hound and Google Sound Search are equally useful in this scenario.
Otherwise, if the song is no longer playing, your best bet is to look for the most unique set of words you can think of. Sounds simple, but lyrics search is a tried and true last resort for finding song titles.
Or, if all else fails, you can sing or sing it to the Google app and it will try to identify it for you with amazing success.
When you know the song and need a show
Once you know the name and artist of a particular track, you can use sites like Tunefind to search by song first. Tunefind seems to reign supreme, but just to be sure, I also tried the WhatSong site. I typed “Kate Bush” into the search bar and found 17 different uses of Bush’s music in film and television. Tunefind appears to be the best option given that it found 47 results for Kate Bush’s music used in movies, TV shows and video games.