“Not many people will let you go as hard as they let us go. With Cobra Kai, it’s like, ‘Turn the gain all the way up!’” How Cobra Kai’s soundtrack senseis brought black-belt guitarists Tim Henson, Tosin Abasi and Charlie Robbins to their musical dojo

Cobra Kai composers Zach Robinson [left] and Leo Birenberg in the studio. Pictured in front of a bank of keyboards, Robinson plays an Ibanez RG550, while Birenberg plays woodwind.

Since debuting in 2018, Cobra Kai, a sequel to the original Karate Kid movies, has become one of the most popular streaming shows on TV.

And while viewers have primarily been drawn to the spectacle of longtime adversaries Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) teaming up to battle increasingly outrageous karate villains – and kick each other’s asses while continually reliving their petty teenage karate rivalry – a key ingredient of the show’s success is its brilliant, guitar-driven score.