Ronnie James Dio’s estate gifted Stranger Things' Eddie Munson the Dio patch featured on his jacket

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By ( Metal Hammer ) published

Ronnie James Dio's estate contributed an authentic Dio patch to Stranger Things' metalhead Eddie Munson

Eddie Munson and Dio
(Image credit: Mark Weiss/Getty Images)

The costume designer behind the horror/sci-fi Netflix global smash series Stranger Things has revealed that the Dio patch featured on the back of character Eddie Munson's jacket was bestowed directly from the metal icon's estate.

Munson, one of the latest season's new arrivals (played by Joseph Quinn), is the outlandish Dungeons & Dragons-obsessed Hellfire club leader that our lovable main characters Dustin and co. find themselves entangled with, and also, is a stereotypical 80s metalhead.

The only costume Munson wears on the show consists of a hair-metal style shoulder length perm, a Dio patch-adorned denim jacket and a W.A.S.P. pin badge.

In an interview on the Netflix website, costume designer Amy Parris has revealed that after reaching out to Ronnie James Dio's estate, which is run by Dio's widow Wendy, they agreed to send over several vintage items.

“I love Eddie. I think Eddie feels so real,” Parris says. "And he’s wearing one thing because he’s in that outfit the whole time, so I really focused and zeroed in on making sure everything in that outfit was authentic.

“He’s a fan of wizard metal, he’s a fan of Dio. He’s a fan of Metallica. Actually, Dio was a popular band in the ‘80s, and we reached out to the estate [of the late Ronnie James Dio to source a band shirt].

"His wife is in charge of his estate and offered to send us vintage T-shirts, which was such a dream.”

Recently, Quinn revealed that to immerse himself into his new role, he listened to lots of heavy music.

"I listened to a lot of heavy metal," he tells Entertainment Weekly. "That was my... God, it's impossible to not sound pretentious when you say it, but, yeah, that was my way in."

"I've played [guitar] since I was 7," he adds. "I wouldn't consider myself a brilliant guitarist, but I can play it. That was very lucky because those scripts came out, I think, at some point in the pandemic. I did start practicing pretty furiously."

Liz Scarlett
Liz Scarlett
Content Editor

Liz manages Louder's social media channels and works on keeping the sites up to date with the latest news from the world of rock and metal. Prior to joining Louder as a full time staff writer, she completed a Diploma with the National Council for the Training of Journalists and received a First Class Honours Degree in Popular Music Journalism. She enjoys writing about anything from neo-glam rock to stoner, doom and progressive metal, and loves celebrating women in music.