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If Marty McFly went back in time thirty years ago today, what song does he play at the dance to blow everyone's mind?

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I don't know how much of an introduction this needs but if you've seen Back to the Future you of course know that *spoilers* Marty McFly plays Chuck Berry's Johnny Be Good and it is the most wild thing any of these kids have ever heard, etc.

If Back to the Future were made today and you had to pick one song for the character to play at the dance to represent the unpredicted future of pop music, what song would you pick for him to play? **This is assuming the character is somewhat of a competent musician and can effectively imitate what he wants to cover. He doesn't have to be good at guitar necessarily and he can specialize in another field if you wish him to**

― Cunga (Cunga), Friday, 24 March 2006 21:52 (7 years ago) Permalink

BO DIDDLEY

― Werner Herzog Books On Tape (sexyDancer), Friday, 24 March 2006 21:55 (7 years ago) Permalink

"Seawolf" - Underground Resistance

xpost hahaha

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 24 March 2006 21:56 (7 years ago) Permalink

So it would be 1976...

My vote is "King Of Rock"

― Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Friday, 24 March 2006 21:58 (7 years ago) Permalink

"And now the Oscar winning song of this year..."

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 24 March 2006 21:59 (7 years ago) Permalink


IN ITS ENTIRETY

― Sparkle Motion's Rising Force, Friday, 24 March 2006 22:00 (7 years ago) Permalink

This is such an excellent topic! I actually think about this exactly thing whenever I stop and watch the movie on cable.

If we're talking 1976, he should introduce the crowd to some NYC hip-hop or Bay Area thrash metal.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Friday, 24 March 2006 22:02 (7 years ago) Permalink

Yeah, I was gonna say he grabs the mic and does "Lose Yourself," which is essentially a Led Zep song in its basic riff and swing, but with just enough heretofore unheard elements to blow everyone's mind.

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Friday, 24 March 2006 22:03 (7 years ago) Permalink

"Angel Of Death" would be righteous.

― Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Friday, 24 March 2006 22:03 (7 years ago) Permalink

yoo doo right

― cutty (mcutt), Friday, 24 March 2006 22:04 (7 years ago) Permalink

Then again, in BttF, he was only three or so years ahead of the curve with Johnny B Goode, so we'd need kind of an early 80s vibe.

Eminem would turn the movie into Scanners.

― Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Friday, 24 March 2006 22:05 (7 years ago) Permalink

Great Scott! Doc!/We need to go back in time to when motherfuckers could rock!/88 miles per hour, bring it back to the block!/
Peel the fuck out before the lightning hit the clock!

― Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Friday, 24 March 2006 22:11 (7 years ago) Permalink

Back up ya libyan bitches I know yall want the bomb/
Step the fuck out the way while I make out with my mom

― sparkle motion's rising force, Friday, 24 March 2006 22:16 (7 years ago) Permalink

I'd say Edgar Winter's "Frankenstein."

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Friday, 24 March 2006 22:17 (7 years ago) Permalink

Oh shit, I totally misread this. Never mind. Let him do "Rapture" instead.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Friday, 24 March 2006 22:17 (7 years ago) Permalink

It would be awesome if he did "Frankenstein" tho!

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Friday, 24 March 2006 22:20 (7 years ago) Permalink

House of Jealous Lovers - k thx bye

― Le Baaderonixx de Benedict Canyon (baaderonixx), Friday, 24 March 2006 22:23 (7 years ago) Permalink

"It's me! Your cousin, Marvin. MARVIN MATHERS."

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 24 March 2006 22:27 (7 years ago) Permalink

ROFFLES!

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Friday, 24 March 2006 22:28 (7 years ago) Permalink

Hey Ya.

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 24 March 2006 22:28 (7 years ago) Permalink

More importantly, what would he have to say to the band instead of "this is a blues riff in B, watch me for the changes"?

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 24 March 2006 22:30 (7 years ago) Permalink

"Trapped in the Closet"

― A|ex P@reene (Pareene), Friday, 24 March 2006 22:31 (7 years ago) Permalink

TRAPPED IN THE CLOSET CHAPTERS 1-12

― maura (maura), Friday, 24 March 2006 22:34 (7 years ago) Permalink

shit, xpost

― maura (maura), Friday, 24 March 2006 22:35 (7 years ago) Permalink

Afuken: Psychometry No. 1-10.

― paulhw (paulhw), Friday, 24 March 2006 22:35 (7 years ago) Permalink

POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING

― strongo hulkington is a guy with a belly button piercing (dubplatestyle), Friday, 24 March 2006 22:38 (7 years ago) Permalink

More importantly, what would he have to say to the band instead of "this is a blues riff in B, watch me for the changes"?

"I just need the drums from the Ronettes' Be My Baby. That's great. Can you just repeat that for the next four minutes or so? Beautiful."

― Cunga (Cunga), Friday, 24 March 2006 22:40 (7 years ago) Permalink

Actually, something from Psychocandy (Never Understand FTW) would work.

― Cunga (Cunga), Friday, 24 March 2006 22:42 (7 years ago) Permalink

w0lf ey3s

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 24 March 2006 22:44 (7 years ago) Permalink

yeah, i'd say play grandmaster flash or kool herc or afrika bambaataa or run dmc or eric b and rakim or anything from that era. in 1976 it would be a couple years before hip hop would really break, so that would be the time... i think that if 1970's marty mcfly somehow had the mix for "the message" and rapped over it people's minds would be blown.

that or, say, slayer, or maybe "screaming at a wall" or early sonic youth.

― Emily B (Emily B), Friday, 24 March 2006 22:53 (7 years ago) Permalink

Alternately, "hey guys, this is a blues in B flat, watch me for the changes" --> plays Prince's "Kiss".

(I don't actually know what key it's in)

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 24 March 2006 23:02 (7 years ago) Permalink

I'm amazed nobody has answered "Anarchy In The UK"

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 24 March 2006 23:02 (7 years ago) Permalink

Public Enemy "Bring The Noise"

― Yoo Doo Nut (donut), Friday, 24 March 2006 23:12 (7 years ago) Permalink

There's not much sonic shock about "AitUK" tho - plus it should be "God Save the Queen".

Not many of the rock answers on here would sound unprecedented in '76, if you had any knowledge of Krautrock, the VU, contemporary Classical, avant-garde etc. So the real answer pretty much has to be Hip Hop.

― Why does the birds always shitting on me? (noodle vague), Friday, 24 March 2006 23:14 (7 years ago) Permalink

Keep in mind that a lot of stuff from the early '80s onward would've been technologically impossible in 1976.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Friday, 24 March 2006 23:14 (7 years ago) Permalink

There's not much sonic shock about "AitUK" tho - plus it should be "God Save the Queen".

That one is from 1977 though.

Not many of the rock answers on here would sound unprecedented in '76, if you had any knowledge of Krautrock, the VU, contemporary Classical, avant-garde etc. So the real answer pretty much has to be Hip Hop.

What kind of hip-hop was being made in 1976?

(Maybe U-Roy if you are stretching it)

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 24 March 2006 23:18 (7 years ago) Permalink

And Marty's taking something that wouldn't have sounded so alien to a hip black audience at the time and introducing it to the white kids that are about to embrace/co-opt it. I guess the difference in 1976 is it would take Hip Hop a few more years to mainstream than it does Rock and Roll in the Back to the Future timeframe.

― Why does the birds always shitting on me? (noodle vague), Friday, 24 March 2006 23:20 (7 years ago) Permalink

x post

I'm not sure about the history, but by '76 turntablism would exist I think? And as you say, MCing at least in its Jamaican form.

― Why does the birds always shitting on me? (noodle vague), Friday, 24 March 2006 23:21 (7 years ago) Permalink

Yeah, but a lot of the sampling and sequencing tech used on Public Enemy tracks wouldn't.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Friday, 24 March 2006 23:23 (7 years ago) Permalink

Yeah, but if the band at the school prom was The J.B.s he wouldn't need no sampler...it all fits...

― Why does the birds always shitting on me? (noodle vague), Friday, 24 March 2006 23:25 (7 years ago) Permalink

Still Tippin'


"If you're from the future, tell me who's President of the United States in 2006."
"George W. Bush??? The alcoholic??!!??"

― Mike Dixn (Mike Dixon), Friday, 24 March 2006 23:25 (7 years ago) Permalink

I think the early Sonic Youth one is a keeper. That stuff still sounds amazing even today! I don't really know about the hip hop one......can't really picture Marty McFly doing that. C'mon, it would look/sound ridiculous!!
In the original he started out with a Chuck Berry number, but what I think everybody is forgetting is that he eventually started getting all into it, and then started kicking things over, while playing some Van Halen type of stuff.
So I'd say that he would start out with maybe punkish type of song, but then get all into it and bust out the drumsticks and other various other accessories, and start going into the crazy ass Sonic Youth type of stuff.

― xgurggleglgllg (xgurggleglgllg), Friday, 24 March 2006 23:31 (7 years ago) Permalink

"You want something, kid?"
"Uh, yeah...gimme a latte."
"What?"
"A latte."
"A What?"
"Uh, coffee"

― R.I.P. West Village Bird Shaman ]-`: (ex machina), Friday, 24 March 2006 23:33 (7 years ago) Permalink

"Who's governer of California in 2006?"
"Arnold Shrwazeneger?? The Actor!?!"

― xgurggleglgllg (xgurggleglgllg), Friday, 24 March 2006 23:34 (7 years ago) Permalink

The Sonic Youth version of "I wanna be your dog"

― R.I.P. West Village Bird Shaman ]-`: (ex machina), Friday, 24 March 2006 23:34 (7 years ago) Permalink

Hip hop would seem more natural to most than techno.

― paulhw (paulhw), Friday, 24 March 2006 23:37 (7 years ago) Permalink

"The Sonic Youth version of "I wanna be your dog"

I could see that working!

― xgurggleglgllg (xgurggleglgllg), Friday, 24 March 2006 23:47 (7 years ago) Permalink

what about blondie's "rapture"? if we're following the rule that the song is only a few years older than the moment in time we're visiting... i mean, its got all that rap stuff that i hear is a hit with the kids...

― mts (theoreticalgirl), Friday, 24 March 2006 23:50 (7 years ago) Permalink

Early Sonic Youth doesn't have nearly as much cultural resonance as hip-hop, though. Isn't the point that he'd be playing something that is so fucking common in the future that it's amusing for us to imagine what it'd sound like to an audience who'd never experienced it? Whereas I can imagine there are plenty of people in 2006 who don't really hear anything like Confusion is Sex on a regular basis, even if it's somehow more "imaginable" now than it would've been thirty years ago.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 24 March 2006 23:51 (7 years ago) Permalink

if he really wants to blow everyone's mind..

wuthering heights, bitches

― Dr J Bowman (Dr J Bowman), Friday, 24 March 2006 23:54 (7 years ago) Permalink

Skipping 131 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

"Gimme a blues riff in B, yeah, you know what you wanna do with that, you wanna put a bangin' donk on it"
--Hreidarsson The Storm (Matt DC)

Oh man

― some dude nights (Whiney G. Weingarten), Sunday, 1 July 2012 05:20 (10 months ago) Permalink

xp skrilla would be what he plays via walkman (now a droid) when he tells george mcfly he's darth vader from planet vulcan

― sleepingbag, Sunday, 1 July 2012 05:33 (10 months ago) Permalink

Or that he's Donnie Darko from Planet Matrix.

― pplains, Sunday, 1 July 2012 05:44 (10 months ago) Permalink

He'd have to start out with some mid-80s-ish shit before moving onto Skrillex: "King of Rock"? "Fight for Your Right"? "Music Is the Key"?

― EveningStar (Sund4r), Sunday, 1 July 2012 05:53 (10 months ago) Permalink

Someone in Hollywood is going to realize this is a good idea and remake the movie with just this premise.

― earlnash, Sunday, 1 July 2012 06:00 (10 months ago) Permalink

There was already some talk of a remake, but it's apparently been halted. Justin Bieber was the name floating around for the Marty role.

― Johnny Fever, Sunday, 1 July 2012 06:17 (10 months ago) Permalink

"Fight for Your Right"

came here to post that. marty plays what's about to break. in the backbround, there's some A&R dude on the telephone saying, "mr. rubin? i think i just found that new sound you've been looking for." then he goes all skrillix at the end and looses the band/audience.

― contenderizer, Sunday, 1 July 2012 06:29 (10 months ago) Permalink

I seriously would wanna write this reboot treatment with you guys.

― Cunga, Sunday, 1 July 2012 07:24 (10 months ago) Permalink

Someone in Hollywood is going to realize this is a good idea and remake the movie with just this premise.

The "Let's Get It Started" bit in Hot Tub Time Machine comes to mind.

― Electro-Shock Rory (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 1 July 2012 07:25 (10 months ago) Permalink

It's your cousin, MARVIN SKRILLEX.

― Vitaly Petrov Boys (King Boy Pato), Sunday, 1 July 2012 07:37 (10 months ago) Permalink

What would play during the Mr. Sandman sequence? I can't think of anything that makes the era sound so sweet and innocent. They could play Power of Love, I guess.

― pplains, Sunday, 1 July 2012 14:59 (10 months ago) Permalink

Or that he's Donnie Darko from Planet Matrix.

― pplains, Sunday, July 1, 2012 1:44 AM Bookmark

hahahaha!

― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 1 July 2012 16:37 (10 months ago) Permalink

I really like the earnest tack '06 whiney took to this thread

― some dude nights (Whiney G. Weingarten), Sunday, 1 July 2012 20:36 (10 months ago) Permalink

what's changed?

― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 1 July 2012 20:59 (10 months ago) Permalink

'06 ILX generally held a nice balance of earnestness and zingy wit, IMO - though I know this is perhaps a challops to some!

― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 1 July 2012 23:10 (10 months ago) Permalink

oh guys no

― me so fat (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Monday, 2 July 2012 00:46 (10 months ago) Permalink

thats p great

― some dude nights (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, 2 July 2012 00:48 (10 months ago) Permalink

i'll admit i lol'd

― me so fat (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Monday, 2 July 2012 00:48 (10 months ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

What song blares out of Al Czervik's golf bag to irritate Judge Smalls in 2012?

My first answer was going to still be "Any Way You Want It", but hell, George W. Bush probably has that on his iPod these days.

― pplains, Wednesday, 19 September 2012 21:23 (8 months ago) Permalink

"Gangam Style"

― canonical casual cordouroy (Eazy), Wednesday, 26 September 2012 13:44 (7 months ago) Permalink

― Poliopolice, Wednesday, 26 September 2012 16:26 (7 months ago) Permalink

xp skrilla would be what he plays via walkman (now a droid) when he tells george mcfly he's darth vader from planet vulcan

YES

― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 26 September 2012 16:30 (7 months ago) Permalink

It's your cousin, MARVIN PSY.

― Don't Go Home With Your Hadron Collider (King Boy Pato), Tuesday, 2 October 2012 11:54 (7 months ago) Permalink

For some reason I can't see audiences in 1982 being blown away by a cover of "gangam style," that it could be processed as new wave.

Probably go with something like "Let's Go Crazy."

― da croupier, Tuesday, 2 October 2012 13:02 (7 months ago) Permalink

They did this in Hot Tub Time Machine, set in 1986, and the song was "Let's Get It Started".

― Tuomas, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 11:22 (7 months ago) Permalink

I haven't read the whole thread so sorry if it's been written already.
great thread idea but I don't agree exactly with the initial description : in "Back to the future", he plays a song that's just about to be released and be a huge innovative hit that will influence many but not necessarily change everything (since Elvis had already released "Hound Dog", for instance).
So 30 years ago, in 82, it would be a song soon to be a huge innovative and influential hit.
I'd say "billie jean" !
(I could a guy calling MJ from McFly's gig saying : "Michael you gotta to come right now and listen to this" while McFly does the moonwalk for the first time !)

― AlXTC from Paris, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 11:46 (7 months ago) Permalink

i think you have the principle right, but wouldn't it have to be some sorta hip hop like sugar hill gang

McFly does the moonwalk for the first time

on tony basil thread i learned talking heads vid for crosseyed and painless has extended moon walk at 3:34. nobody lost their mind until michael i guess. though.

― you all a buncha takers (say the sad bells of romney) (Hunt3r), Wednesday, 10 October 2012 12:05 (7 months ago) Permalink

yeah, a hip hop hit would be also a good answer but "rapper's delight" was like 1979 so it was already old news in 82... maybe RUN DMC's "walk this way" for the hiphop/rock mix. but it wasn't released until 85...
so, to stay with MJ and the funk/rock mix, maybe "beat it" ?

about the moonwalk, yeah, I guess it existed before MJ's motown thing...

― AlXTC from Paris, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 12:14 (7 months ago) Permalink

ha both of the ppl who saw crosseyed and painless vid in 1980 or 81 thought it was pretty rad im sure, i think one was michael.

― we fed him, now he's an 8 million pound troll all over our board (Hunt3r), Wednesday, 10 October 2012 12:24 (7 months ago) Permalink

Or Grandmaster flash's "the message" in 82.

― AlXTC from Paris, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 12:26 (7 months ago) Permalink

Wikipedia say the dance routine later named "Moonwalk" is decades old, and it was already called Moonwalk in a 1969 children's show.

― Tuomas, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 12:32 (7 months ago) Permalink

did toni basil choreograph that too

― we fed him, now he's an 8 million pound troll all over our board (Hunt3r), Wednesday, 10 October 2012 12:36 (7 months ago) Permalink

yeah, it existed prior to MJ's motown performance, of course, but really, who knew or cared before that !

― AlXTC from Paris, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 12:41 (7 months ago) Permalink

Jeffrey thingybob of Shalamar did it on TOTP a couple of years previous to MJ's Motown thing.

― Mark G, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 12:43 (7 months ago) Permalink

It was a tap dance routine, and tap dancing was pretty popular, so I'm sure people cared. By the time MJ revived it it probably wasn't used much by dancers anymore, though.

― Tuomas, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 12:44 (7 months ago) Permalink

(x-post)

― Tuomas, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 12:45 (7 months ago) Permalink

baseball players been wearing one glove since like end of 19th century, but michael does it and BOOM

― we fed him, now he's an 8 million pound troll all over our board (Hunt3r), Wednesday, 10 October 2012 12:48 (7 months ago) Permalink

And golfers, golfers too.

― Mark G, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 12:52 (7 months ago) Permalink

um james brown was doing the moonwalk from the beginning of his career,very nearly.

― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Wednesday, 10 October 2012 12:55 (7 months ago) Permalink

Jackson took most of his dance inspiration from Brown.

Whereas Jackson Browne was never a dancer...

― Mark G, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 12:58 (7 months ago) Permalink

ahah. yeah, MJ "stole" many dance moves from all over the place, of course (Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, street dance, etc) but the fact that if you show someone doing the moonwalk to 100 persons and ask them who invented it, I'm pretty sure you'll be close to 100% answers for MJ ! (except if you ask 100 dance experts !)

― AlXTC from Paris, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 13:14 (7 months ago) Permalink

anyway, back to the thread, if McFly covered "Beat it" or "Billie Jean" and made the moonwalk, I guess it would blow 82s people's mind !

― AlXTC from Paris, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 13:15 (7 months ago) Permalink

Basically, he needs to do "Beat It," having them (ironically) totally on board through the Eddie Van Halen guitar theatrics... then lose everybody by trying to take it into a chopped-and-screwed Skrillex treatment of same. "Your kids are gonna love it."

― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 14:34 (7 months ago) Permalink

So, there was a remake project of the film and it was scrapped ?
in the current state of the hollywood film industry it just seems insane that this movie hasn't been remade yet !

― AlXTC from Paris, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 14:46 (7 months ago) Permalink

Hopefully some properties are too iconic even for Hollywood execs to tamper with... I mean it would only be step or two down from remaking Star Wars.

― I wish to incorporate disco into my small business (chap), Wednesday, 10 October 2012 15:43 (7 months ago) Permalink

By the way, I think Blue Monday is the best answer on this thread so far.

― I wish to incorporate disco into my small business (chap), Wednesday, 10 October 2012 15:45 (7 months ago) Permalink

I suppose there are a lot of kids out there who have never seen this film. Maybe instead of a remake they should remaster it. in 3D !

― AlXTC from Paris, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 15:47 (7 months ago) Permalink

One of my housemate's twelve year-old students recommended BTTF to him the other day.

― I wish to incorporate disco into my small business (chap), Wednesday, 10 October 2012 15:48 (7 months ago) Permalink

this thread makes me want to watch this again !

― AlXTC from Paris, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 15:59 (7 months ago) Permalink

more mj dancing inspiration

― wk, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 16:00 (7 months ago) Permalink


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