Having made a name for himself playing a kid from the 1980s in the hit Netflix sci-fi series Stranger Things, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Finn Wolfhard is just an aficionado of the music from the decade the series is set in. With tracks like Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’ having come back into the spotlight thanks to its inclusion in the show, there’s no shortage of great music that the decade had to offer, particularly when it comes to synth-led pop hits.
However, Wolfhard, like his co-stars Joe Keery and Maya Hawke, is a music obsessive and a performing artist in his own right, and when it comes to the music that he’s digesting in his spare time, it spans far more genres than synthpop and is far more diverse than one might expect from a 22-year-old. The Canadian, who records under his own name and as a member of The Aubreys and Calpurnia, is equally as influenced by indie, garage rock, and power pop, lacing much of his music with jangling guitars and sumptuous harmonies, backed with a little additional grit.
Also, his age doesn’t mean that he’s blissfully unaware of music that has come from the past, and like most obsessives, there comes a point where you’re exposed to the The Beatles, and invariably, you begin to piece together exactly what it is that every act that came after them was trying to achieve by emulating their formula. So many artists still look up to them as a touchstone for their output, and with them arguably having revolutionised pop music as we know it, younger generations need to acknowledge that this is where things all began.
What most people of Wolfhard’s age don’t acknowledge, let alone older generations, is that some of the music the Fab Four were creating in their pre-Beatles incarnation was equally as impressive, and there’s very little celebration of what the band did as The Quarrymen outside of their most fanatical followers. Wolfhard, on the other hand, knows just how important the handful of recordings they did in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s under this earlier moniker are, and might even stretch as far as to say some of it was better.
In an interview with The Line of Best Fit, where he broke down nine of his favourite songs of all time, there were mentions of several acts who have significantly impacted his musical tastes and approaches, with the likes of Wilco, Big Star and Twin Peaks all being honoured in his selection. However, his inclusion of ‘In Spite of All the Danger’ by The Quarrymen might seem like an unusual inclusion to have above any of The Beatles’ discography, with the actor and songwriter divulging just why he feels so enamoured by the recording.
“I love this song because it’s a piece of history,” he told the publication. “You’re hearing The Beatles as kids, as teenagers, and because they’re shrouded in such a legend, you forget that they were once kids. Growing up, they weren’t the most famous band of all time and weren’t insanely rich and absolute legends.” Going on to mention how they began as a skiffle group who were influenced by Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley, he notes that there’s an element of fun to the track that seems so natural.
“You can hear the beginnings of how amazing they were going to be,” he continued, “and it reminds you that these people started somewhere. I also love that it’s this really crappy recording from some random reel-to-reel that they did. There’s just something about it that’s so charming and great.”
While admittedly, it doesn’t live up to some of their later masterpieces, Wolfhard is spot on when he says it’s an important piece of history and that it marks the birth of one of the greatest acts of all time.