Even the grieving Sam Cooper (played by Alfred Molina) would crack a smile if he heard the soundtrack playing as he’s welcomed into The Boroughs.
The gruff ex-engineer arrives at a seemingly picture-perfect retirement community, the titular Boroughs, to the infectious tune of David Bowie’s disco-funk hit “Golden Years.” Sam’s noteworthy music cue comes courtesy of Emmy winner Nora Felder, music supervisor for the series from co-creators Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews (The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance).
The Boroughs follows a group of unlikely heroes — played by Molina, Geena Davis, Alfre Woodard, Denis O’Hare, Clarke Peters, and Bill Pullman — who join forces to unravel a supernatural mystery embedded in their paradisal New Mexico neighborhood.
Felder curated a rock ’n’ roll sound for Season 1 of the sci-fi drama, utilizing classic songs by such artists as Bowie, The Lovin’ Spoonful, and Bruce Springsteen. After notably serving as music supervisor for all five seasons of Stranger Things, she jumped at the chance to reteam with the Duffer Brothers, executive producers of The Boroughs.
“Usually I want more information, but I consider these people family,” Felder tells Tudum. “So if Matt and Ross [Duffer] want me for something, I want to show up.”
Below, Felder details how she secured a Bowie staple for the series’ opening act and landed not one but two Springsteen tracks to bookend the season.
Felder is a proven expert at needle-drop moments. She’s the mastermind behind the placement of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)” in Stranger Things 4, which became a cultural phenomenon and sent the song to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart almost four decades after its original release. In the same way, Felder knew wholeheartedly that Bowie’s 1975 track, the lead single from his album Station to Station, was the fitting choice to open The Boroughs.
“[It was] one of those kismet things where it just popped in my head,” Felder tells Tudum. “Similar to Kate Bush, I knew overall what it needed to be. It just felt like it had to be that song.”
“It’s lively, but it’s cool. It’s David Bowie,” says Felder. “He had this depth to him and that relates to these characters. When you meet them, it’s like, ‘Wow, they’re each cool in their own way. They’ve had such cool lives.’”
Having secured Bowie’s “Heroes” for the Stranger Things series finale, Felder had already built a trusting relationship with the musician’s estate, which helped clear a path for using “Golden Years” in The Boroughs. “I do believe that having Matt and Ross [Duffer] attached to it gives you this extra thing,” Felder adds. “They’re already a proven entity, so it made things a little easier.”
Felder partnered with Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, to produce The Boroughs (Soundtrack from the Netflix Series). That paved the way for the use of Springsteen’s “Thunder Road” and “Born to Run” in Season 1, since Sony acquired the singer’s entire music catalog in 2021.
When it came to selecting the song that would be the constant thread between Sam and his deceased wife, Lilly (Jane Kaczmarek), Felder and co-showrunners Addiss and Matthews cycled through “probably at least 100 ideas” before deciding on “Thunder Road,” says Felder. Plus, it “needed to work in various ways.”
The song, which Felder describes as “important on many levels,” is woven throughout Season 1. In the first episode, Sam hears “Thunder Road” through the speakers of The Boroughs’ front office and relives the bittersweet memory of dancing with Lilly before she collapses. He also performs a karaoke version of it in Episode 7, and the 1975 track underlines Sam’s teary goodbye to his wife in the finale.
“We got one last chance to make it real,” Springsteen’s voice croons in Episode 8 as Sam is given one final moment with his wife — a gift from Mother just before she dies. As Sam embraces Lilly, he promises, “We will be together again.” And Lilly reminds him, “We are together, always.”
After dark secrets are uncovered and those responsible for harming the Boroughs’ residents perish, Sam and the gang close out Episode 8 with food, laughter, and plenty of booze — just how Jack (Pullman) would have wanted it.
Sam and his daughter, Claire (Jena Malone), reconcile, Art (Peters) and Judy (Woodard) rekindle their romance, Renee (Davis) and Paz (Carlos Miranda) are planning a getaway to Italy, and Wally (O’Hare) has a new lease on life. In other words, there’s so much more for them to look forward to.
Then, as the credits roll, Springsteen’s revitalizing anthem “Born to Run,” the title song of his third studio album (a record that also contains “Thunder Road”), comes into play.
“One thing about these characters is that each of them had their own abilities and each of them had their own purpose, [and that] all came to play in helping uncover these wrongdoings and defeat this supernatural entity,” Felder says of the main crew. “So ‘Born to Run’ just seemed like a really great way to end it because they’re not put out to pasture. Look at them. They’re thriving.”
She adds, “Bruce wrote [‘Born to Run’] when he was young, and originally, I’m sure the song had a different message. I think a lot of [songs], when you attach them to visual media, can take on new meaning. In this case, I think the overall message is that we grow our whole life to become who we are, and we’re going to keep on going.”
All eight episodes of The Boroughs are streaming now, only on Netflix.
