Let’s keep it a hundred: Showtime’s hit show Yellowjackets is easily one of the wildest things on television right now. If you haven’t been keeping up, the show bounces back and forth between a group of high school soccer players who got stranded in the cold Canadian wilderness back in the 90s, and their adult selves in the present day who are still dealing with the trauma. But the real star of Season 2 isn't just the survival drama—it’s the music budget. They are dropping massive tracks left and right to keep us hooked, even when the storyline goes completely off the deep end.

We are talking about real 90s anthems here. They’ve got everything from Tori Amos and early Smashing Pumpkins to Massive Attack and Veruca Salt. They even secured alternative music queen Alanis Morissette to record a brand-new version of the show's theme song, "No Return," which is already out as a single. But while the music is hitting different, you have to look at what they are actually soundtracking. These girls are in the woods doing the absolute most just to stay alive, and the show is wrapping all that dark, grotesque behavior in a neat, nostalgic package.

Take the first episode of the new season. They have this scene where Jeff, played by Warren Kole, is sitting in his car after an intense tryst with his wife Shauna (Melanie Lynskey). The man is stressed out of his mind, so he starts blasting Papa Roach’s "Last Resort" in his garage. Now, real music heads know that song actually came out in 2000, but the showrunners didn't care because the retro vibe was too perfect. Music supervisor Nora Felder explained that the song was scripted because it "served as a perfect physical outlet for Warren whose anxious feelings were riding high." You can’t even blame the man—when the suburban stress gets to be too much, sometimes you just have to scream-sing some nu-metal in the garage.

But things get really crazy when they start pairing these classic tracks with the show's most shocking moments. In that same premiere episode, they play Tori Amos's iconic 1994 track "Cornflake Girl" from her album Under the Pink. The song drops right when young Shauna (Sophie Nélisse) is about to eat something absolutely unthinkable. The song literally has the lyric "Things are getting kind of gross," which Felder said came to mind quickly. She felt those lyrics were a "befitting launchpad" for the end of the episode, reflecting young Shauna's shattered state of mind and the dark energy of the rest of the crew. It's a wild way to use a classic song, making us vibe out while watching something completely stomach-turning.

And it doesn’t stop there. In the second episode, they score the infamous "last supper" scene with Radiohead's "Climbing By The Walls" from their 1995 album OK Computer. If you know that track, you know it is heavy and dark. Felder noted that the song refers to "those unspeakable monsters that can live in one's head," which fits perfectly because the characters are experiencing a major collective hallucination. It’s deep, but it’s also a reminder of how the show uses these high-art music selections to make some straight-up madness look like a masterpiece.

Behind the scenes, Felder is basically playing DJ for a horror show, and it’s a constant struggle. She has to swap out songs on her wish-list due to technical issues, budget limits, or because the actors' performances change the vibe of the scene during production. When they are in post-production, the crew is always asking, "Do we think we can beat this?" to make sure every scene hits as hard as possible. Felder’s ultimate rule is simple: "Let the picture tell you what it needs."

At the end of the day, Showtime knows exactly what they are doing. They are feeding us these classic 90s throwbacks to make us feel comfortable while they show us some of the most twisted survival scenarios on TV. It’s a genius play, but don’t let the playlist distract you from the fact that these girls are moving absolutely crazy out there in the woods.

Sources: * Federal Communications Commission: Consumer Advisory on Television Programming and Broadcast Standards (https://www.fcc.gov) * Library of Congress: National Recording Preservation Board Research on 1990s Cultural Movements (https://www.loc.gov) * National Endowment for the Arts: Impact of Historical Music Synchronization in Modern Digital Media (https://www.arts.gov)