The quick answer
Netflix Tudum lists ten songs, ranging from The Runaways and Jefferson Airplane to Chromatics and Wet Leg. Series co-creator Ian Brennan has described the modern music as a way to keep the period story emotionally immediate instead of making it feel like a museum display. That is the creators' explanation; the short notes below are our listening guide, not official scene-by-scene annotations.
The ten songs
Listed in Netflix Tudum's order. These short descriptions are our listening notes, not official scene annotations. TheWrap's separate song guide places several tracks by episode and also lists “Stumblin' In” by Suzi Quatro and Chris Norman, which is not in Tudum's ten-song list. Its interview additionally mentions Bikini Kill. The sources therefore differ; neither list should be treated as a definitive cue sheet.
01 · The Runaways
“Cherry Bomb”
A burst of teenage defiance, delivered with more force than period polish.
Find on YouTube Music ↗02 · Kate Bush
“Hounds of Love”
A song about fear and pursuit that gives the season a more inward, uneasy register.
Find on YouTube Music ↗03 · Wet Leg
“mangetout”
A sharp, contemporary guitar track whose title Netflix Tudum misspelled in its list.
Play track ↗04 · Lambrini Girls
“Cuntology 101”
A confrontational punk voice that sits naturally beside the season's depiction of female anger.
Play track ↗05 · Jefferson Airplane
“Today”
A softer, dreamlike counterpoint to the louder and more abrasive selections.
Play track ↗06 · The Doors
“The End”
A slow-building, ominous choice with a scale larger than a conventional period drama cue.
Play track ↗07 · Chromatics
“I'm On Fire”
A restrained cover of Bruce Springsteen's song; the arrangement changes the temperature of a familiar track.
Find on YouTube Music ↗08 · Bronski Beat
“Smalltown Boy”
A synth-pop classic that carries the soundtrack decisively beyond the Victorian setting.
Play track ↗09 · Andrew Oldham Orchestra
“The Last Time”
An orchestral reading that makes a familiar rock title feel formal and uneasy.
Play track ↗10 · Natalie Merchant
“Carnival”
A later-era song whose title echoes the season's finale, without making the music a historical record.
Find on YouTube Music ↗
Another track reported by TheWrap
TheWrap's episode-by-episode list includes “Stumblin' In” by Suzi Quatro and Chris Norman (Episode 4), a song not included in Netflix Tudum's ten-title article. This is why we keep the two source lists separate instead of presenting one as exhaustive.
Play the official “Stumblin' In” video ↗Why does a Victorian story use modern songs?
Because this season does not stay in one century. It moves between Lizzie Borden's 1890s world, Elizabeth Báthory, and Aileen Wuornos in the late twentieth century. In a September 21 interview with TheWrap, Brennan said the music grew from the story's emotional logic and from the links the creators saw between those lives. He also described the songs as a way to break the stately surface of a conventional period drama.
That choice can be heard as a bridge between eras: the songs make a viewer feel the pressure and anger in the scene before asking them to treat the image as history. The distinction matters. The show is a dramatization, and its music helps express a point of view; neither the playlist nor the fictional story settles what happened in 1892.
One title correction
Netflix Tudum's September 23 list spells Wet Leg's song “mangeout.” The band's official release spells it “mangetout,” which is the title used here. The same Tudum article identifies Chromatics' “I'm On Fire” as a cover of Bruce Springsteen's song.
For the original title, see Wet Leg's official “mangetout” audio.
Sources and listening notes
- Netflix Tudum — The Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story Soundtrack Chops Up Some Old Favorites — the ten-song list, publication date, and Brennan's comments about using modern music.
- TheWrap — All the Songs in Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story — an episode-by-episode list that includes “Stumblin' In.”
- TheWrap — Ian Brennan on the finale and the season's musical approach — interview published September 21, 2026.
- Wet Leg — “mangetout” official audio — confirms the band's spelling of the title.