As we get closer to the end of season two, our eyes and ears are glued to Yellowjackets—now streaming on NEON. The show has more than satisfied Steve Newall’s appetite for a soundtrack.
The use of music in TV shows has become an arms race in recent years, evolving from having one or two big songs signposting a key beat in an episode (or even season) in decades past to a seemingly neverending list of shrewd choices in the contemporary landscape. Leading the pack over its two seasons is Yellowjackets, although I must concede my bias, with the show’s heavy use of mid-90s alternative classics resonating all too strongly with my own teenage years…
Yellowjackets may not have had its Running Up That Hill moment (yet), but neither has the show chased this sort of over-obvious song placement. Instead, the first season established a focus on the music suited to its characters, with an emphasis on songs alt-leaning high-schoolers would listen to before they have a disastrous plane crash in 1996 (yes, probably applicable to teens of the time who don’t have a disastrous plane crash, too). Some of Yellowjackets’ song choices add period colour, while other selections lean harder into the thematic elements of scenes with their lyrics, and then there are those that flesh out the characters, with their own musical choices on display in the privacy of their cars or walkman selections.
Only Beef has rivaled Yellowjackets in its music syncs this year, both shows drawing from the personal experiences of its showrunners and music supervisors—but Yellowjackets triumphs in the sheer volume and tonal consistency of its selections. It may not have Steven Yeun covering Incubus, but with nearly 100 songs synced to date, most of them very recognisable to those listening to alt-rock of the era, Yellowjackets has fast become the modern incarnation of The Trip compilations (a reference that may stir memories of 90s Kiwi alt-rock/grunge fans and remain meaningless to others). And its use of Papa Roach’s Last Resort is up there with the best listening choices any screen character has made in recent memory—more on that later.
Jen Malone and Whitney Pilzer were the music supervisors on Yellowjackets’ first season, building on already-impressive work on Euphoria and Atlanta (and Malone’s previous life as publicist for the likes of Nine Inch Nails, Portishead, and Chemical Brothers). “Yellowjackets was all in the mid ’90s. I’m from New Jersey; I was in high school. Boy, it was great,” Malone told Vogue last year. “I can give options all day… we haven’t even scratched the surface.”
The pair of music supervisors got to work early in Yellowjackets’ pilot, setting out the show’s music stall in its 1996 timeline with Smashing Pumpkins’ Today accompanying the title card. In rapid succession we hear Liz Phair’s Supernova—Shauna is listening in her car, before a dismissive Jackie flicks on the radio to replace it with Snow’s Informer—followed by Salt-N-Pepa (Shoop) and Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch (Good Vibrations) soundtracking a pep rally, while Hole (Miss World) and Throwing Muses (Counting Backwards) later play at a party. As if that wasn’t enough, episode one still had a bunch of aces up its sleeve with PJ Harvey (Down by the Water), Radiohead (Pyramid Song) and a Paloma Faith cover of INXS’ Never Tear Us Apart.
Over the course of season one, Yellowjackets went on a tour of 90s alternative music—with the odd detour into more contemporary tracks like Peaches and Iggy Pop collab Kick It, playing in the show’s 2021-set timeline. There were big pop hits (by Wilson Phillips, Seal, Ace of Base, Montell Jordan etc), crossover acts (Portishead, The Cranberries, Republica), and the constant presence of early to mid-90s “alternative”—Jane’s Addiction, Dinosaur Jr, Belly, Lush, Love and Rockets & co.
The music selections work so well because they feel so organic, as opposed to on-the-nose. As Pilzer told Harpers Bazaar, their choices came from “looking into these characters when they were young and getting into their personalities and trying to put ourselves in their shoes in terms of what they might actually be listening to.”
For Misty, that meant a lot of show tunes—particularly Andrew Lloyd Webber, which has continued to provide a dose of humour as it also illuminates a side of her personality. Fortunately for some of us, while Misty may be into musicals, there’s also an appetite for punk and female-driven alternative among these doomed young footballers.
It’s a technique that does more than flesh out the show’s characters—though it does this in spades. Yellowjackets might not have turned a song previously unknown to a younger generation into a chart-topper, but instead it has steadily built an authentic-feeling playlist that its characters would have listened to, one that can resonate with fresh audiences today.
“The idea of the show opening the door to these kids to an amazing era of music… surely, it had its low points as well, but to introduce young women and dudes to PJ Harvey and Portishead, how could you not think that’s amazing?” Malone said to Harpers Bazaar, comparing these acts to today’s musical offerings and noting “a lot of music today is uninspired.” The show’s social media is proactive about this too, posting lists of the songs in each episode to aid the discovery process
#Yellowjackets 🤝 Madonna… it was only a matter of time https://t.co/QqmgYgUi8f pic.twitter.com/2e7z8aZPDI
— Yellowjackets (@yellowjackets96) May 8, 2023
As season one reached its climax, Yellowjackets had one more big musical trick up its sleeve—Only Time by Enya. Perfectly fitting with show’s adult characters attending their high school reunion, it connected both timelines of the narrative seamlessly. Yellowjackets creators Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson had been firm on wanting the song, but it had proved elusive—Enya originally denied its use, Malone explained to Vogue. “I said to my showrunners, write a letter to the publishing company about why this song is important to you. They wrote such a beautiful, eloquent letter, but we didn’t hear from them.” Until two days before the episode was due, that is… which hopefully is not the norm.
Music responsibilities for season two passed to Nora Felder, who’d masterminded Stranger Things’ use of Running Up That Hill and Master of Puppets. Adept at working with the character-oriented selections of season one, Felder opened the door to music that wasn’t necessarily period-specific. “We agreed that moments that weren’t coming from within the world of the characters could be stamped musically with music from any era, just as a song from yesterday can accent a current moment,” Felder told Variety. “We also agreed that it could be the reverse case with a current song resonating with past events, and that’s what audiences hear this season.”
The first example of this arrived early in the opening ep of season two, with Sharon Van Etten’s Seventeen. With its refrain “I used to be seventeen” you can see why this would have been irresistible to use in a scene connecting the show’s two timelines—and even though it’s from 2019, Seventeen is in the same family tree as much of the music used elsewhere in the show. Not that Felder has turned Yellowjackets’ music into some anachronistic, borderline offensive disaster (like half of Hollywood movies seem to be of late). Seventeen was quickly followed by Drown (Smashing Pumpkins’ contribution to the Singles soundtrack) and two other songs that would make standout appearances in this ep.
Tori Amos was another big touchstone for the showrunners and Felder alike, and the show’s use of Cornflake Girl nailed both period specificity and thematic oomph. Felder saw the song’s core meaning as dealing primarily with betrayals between women, she told Variety. “The lyrics in connection with the ending of the first episode felt like a befitting underlying message. “Cornflake Girl” adds to the anticipation of things to come with these rich multilayered and downright compelling female characters, our Yellowjackets.”
And then there was a little private moment for a dude. Shauna’s husband Jeff is a bit of a doofus, and he’s got as much to blame for their unsatisfying marriage as anyone—but you’ve gotta feel for him a little bit dealing with the aftermath of her affair. What better way to do that than going into the garage and sitting in the minivan to blow off some steam to your favourite aggressive song… Time for Papa Roach’s Last Resort, anyone?
Also in Variety, Felder explained: ““Last Resort” emphasizes one’s emotions of coming to the end of one’s rope, and it seems pretty perfect as a physical outlet to what Jeff would listen to and turn to during moments of despair. There’s no one that Jeff can really talk to confide in or explain his mixed emotions. With “Last Resort” he really got to feel a bit connected in a way that others out there have gone through similar emotions of feeling trapped.”
Plus, it’s a bit naff. Like Jeff. (Sorry, Jeff).
Among Felder’s other season two syncs you’ll find Garbage (#1 Crush), Massive Attack (Inertia Creeps), repeat Radiohead (Climbing Up the Walls), Veruca Salt (Seether), White Town (Your Woman) and plenty more—even Nirvana (Something In The Way) and Madonna (Rescue Me). Jeff gets another (slightly less dramatic) adrenaline charge in the minivan, too, thanks to cranking NWA’s Fuck tha Police (what’s next, Rage Against the Machine’s Bulls on Parade?).
Felder has served up a couple of standout surprises this season, too. First, she surprised the hell out of me with a Sparks sync—perfect in tone for the comical, burgeoning relationship between Christina Ricci and Elijah Woods’s characters, the idiosyncratic Mael brothers’ Angst in My Pants was nevertheless nowhere near the top of the list of songs I expected to hear in a hit TV show… but here we are:
As the show’s wilderness teen pregnancy storyline has progressed, it’s always been building to a big moment on screen. While metal might not feel the most maternal of musical genres, Felder and Yellowjackets proved there’s no better way a horror-tinged show can soundtrack a birth scene than Danzig’s Mother. Even if Glenn Danzig’s lyrics “Tell your children not to walk my way / Tell your children not to hear my words” are about the PMRC’s parental advisory sticker seen on album covers, as opposed to literal motherhood, it’s still a great fit.
Of course, no discussion of Yellowjackets’ music would be complete without praise for the show’s opening theme. We had to wait until episode three for the full (slightly True Blood-y) opening credits, accompanied by awesome theme song No Return.
Written and performed by Craig Wedren and Anna Waronker, who contribute the show’s score and original songs, No Return sets a great tone every episode—making for one of TV’s increasingly rare unskippable title sequences. They’ve worked on a couple of different series together previously, but another nugget that ties the show’s original and synced music together is the duo’s own past as ‘90s alt rock musos—Wedren with Shudder to Think and Waronker in That Dog (neither of which would feel out of place on Yellowjackets).
Speaking of 90s alt musos… was there a bigger crossover than Alanis Morrissette? What a coup, then, for Yellowjackets to have snared the Canadian 90s megastar to cover No Return for a season two episode. “I love the original version of ‘No Return,’ Morissette told Variety, calling it “a perfect song” and noting parallels with her own songwriting in its sheer intensity and “going for the jugular with no fear around going for the profane”
Morissette continues: “I’ve strived my entire career to support the empowerment of women and sensitives and see the world through the female lens, and what’s so wonderful about this show is that each character is allowed to be dynamic and complex as opposed to oversimplified, reduced versions of women.”
I couldn’t have put it better. For now, let’s all agree that the music in Yellowjackets rules—and because I have spent way too long listening to them, I’ll leave you with my fave ten songs that have popped up in the show so far. Bring on the rest!
