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NANA MENSAH as YAZ in THE CHAIR

Netflix's The Chair Soundtrack Is Full Of Academic Bangers

It's a lesson in good music.

by Ani Bundel
ELIZA MORSE/NETFLIX © 2021

Netflix content comes in all different forms, but despite the plethora of genres and styles of productions, one thing remains constant across the streaming service: soundtracks. From movies to limited series to multi-season hits, the bangers Netflix rounds up to augment its storytelling consistently leans toward top-notch. The same holds true for Netflix’s The Chair soundtrack. The six-episode series might not have as many songs as some shows, but it makes up for it in quality over quantity.

Warning: Mild spoilers for The Chair Season 1 follow. For a series that’s all about higher education, quality over quantity is the right direction. Moreover, the songs which play as Dr. Ji-Yoon Kim (Sandra Oh) navigated leading the English department at Pembroke University are educationally appropriate. From classical chamber music that fits the institution’s hallowed halls to pop songs about higher learning, The Chair is on brand at nearly every turn. And in those few places where it might veer off the beaten path, well, college is where most people discover the offbeat and unknown indie bands before they were cool. As for David Duchovny’s song, well, that’s just a matter of taste.

Luckily, Netflix has put together a Spotify playlist of all the songs that appear in The Chair so you can study up.

Here’s the full list of songs from the first season of The Chair.

  1. “Gloria” - Vivaldi
  2. “M79” - Vampire Weekend
  3. “Oxford Comma” - Vampire Weekend
  4. “Uncontrollable Urge” - DEVO
  5. “I’m A Winner” - Smoked Sugar
  6. “Tinseltown Swimming In Blood” - Destroyer
  7. “Brilliant Mistake” - Elvis Costello
  8. “Do You Dig It” - Ray Barretto
  9. “Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours)” - Rufus Wainwright
  10. “Girlfriend” - Phoenix
  11. “Paris Summer” - Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazelwood
  12. “(Nothing But) Flowers” - Talking Heads
  13. “Deceptacon” - Le Tigre
  14. “Cemetery Gates” - The Smiths
  15. “Stakes Avenue” - Love As Laughter
  16. “It’s A Good Day (To Fight The System)” - Shungudzo
  17. “Backseat Swinging” - Coolhand Jax
  18. “Calling All Angels” - Jane Siberry & k.d. lang
  19. “Hell or Highwater” - David Duchovny

All six episodes of The Chair Season 1 are streaming on Netflix.