Eddie Munsons This Is Music

2022catchphrase / exploitableclassic

Eddie Munson's "This Is Music!" is a catchphrase and audio meme from Stranger Things 4, where the metalhead character defends his cassette collection against friends looking for pop. After the episode dropped July 1st, 2022, TikTokers built a trend around the audio and Photoshoppers turned stills of the scene into an exploitable cassette macro.

Overview

Eddie Munson's "This Is Music!" is a line shouted by the character Eddie Munson, played by Joseph Quinn, in the eighth episode of Stranger Things season 42. In the scene, the group ransacks Eddie's tape collection hunting for something pop-ish and recognizable, and Eddie snaps back that his metal cassettes absolutely count1.

Online, the moment split into two parallel formats. On TikTok, the audio clip powers skits where creators cut through examples of "not music" before landing on an absurd punchline they insist is real music2. On Facebook and Reddit, stills of Eddie clutching a cassette got turned into an exploitable, with the tape's cover art swapped out for whatever album the poster wants to defend3.

How It Spread

The audio caught on fast. On July 3rd, 2022, TikToker Andrewsgrotto layered a physical-CD gag over mrvl.lu's audio, revealing his whole One Direction CD stash as the final "this is music" reveal, which racked up over 722,000 likes in three days3. Two days later on July 5th, TikToker waterstonenottingham reworked the format to argue Percy Jackson belongs on the same shelf as Emerson and Dickens4.

The exploitable version moved in parallel. On July 3rd, 2022, the Facebook page Scene Dude posted a version of the still with a Blink-182 album Photoshopped onto Eddie's cassette, and it took over 4,000 reactions and 2,300 shares inside three days5. On July 4th, Redditor alienembry0 posted a Bathory-cover edit to r/metalmemes and cleared 1,000 upvotes in two days6.

The meme's timing meant it rode the peak of Stranger Things 4 discourse, when Eddie Munson was already the season's breakout character and Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" was topping charts thanks to the same show1.

How to Use This Meme

For the TikTok audio version, creators typically set up a fake debate about what counts as music, then cut to a punchline pick, an unexpected soundtrack, a franchise's discography, or a non-music object entirely, timed to Eddie's shout. For the exploitable, the common convention is to keep the still of Eddie holding up the cassette and Photoshop a new album cover, book, or logo onto the tape to co-sign whatever the poster is defending.

Frequently Asked Questions