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

xpost hahaha

My vote is "King Of Rock"

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

Eminem would turn the movie into Scanners.

"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."

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

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

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.

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)

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.

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

I could see that working!

wuthering heights, bitches

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

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 !

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

this thread makes me want to watch this again !

more mj dancing inspiration

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUlEBhGgEe0

Not sure how we missed doing this one last year, but, whatever: it's 1986, a full decade after this thread first went back in time and found Marty easing the audience in with some good-time hip-hop, then losing them completely with an aggressive turn into crunk stylings. What now?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCUPc9zVfyo
(Phuture - Acid Trax)

Made only a year later, but would totally blow the minds of 1986 suburban teenagers.

And then he would alienate them by seguing into this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MoFEomFmLU
(Squarepusher - Acid Tape Track)

What a perfect thread

I vote Pump Up The Volume or It Takes Two for 86 - the audience will be familiar with some elements but also blown away

No twists though, guess he should segue into something even wilder

Blue Monday maybe?

coldplay

"two phones"

If it's 86, it's gotta be something with a sampler, right? Like he builds a track in front of an audience of confused teenagers, but with each element he adds, the kids are more and more into it, eventually going totally nuts at a certain point. It takes two is probably a good choice.

"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," segueing into idk "Pompeii" or something

ya

the obvious answer is he takes out his macbook pro and goes aphex twin on them with a synchronized light show

2 Live Crew "We Want Some Pussy"

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/bttf/images/0/06/Erasedfromexistance.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/300?cb=20070614134919

"you made me realise"

just the "holocaust" section

i change my answer

if johnny b good was a hit the song we choose must also be a hit

so i'm going to say he performs a miley cyrus track and starts twerking in a bikini

sorry michael

Remember: the song he starts with is soon to be a hit, symbolizing a revolutionary new sound, in the period he's visiting. What he transitions into is hip with his generation and totally offensive and inaccessible to his old-timey audience.

Starts with Push it by Salt N Pepa and transitions into I've Seen Footage by Death Grips? Or are those too similar?

there's nothing he can do with a fucking guitar, that's for damn sure. i suggest he introduce his good friend hatsune miku.

i would modify that and say biff is on stage and forces him to dance and sing push it

kind of like how he makes him dance in part 3 by shooting his feet and marty starts to moonwalk

beastie boys - fight for your right

"Then tell me futureboy - who's the President of the United States in 2017?"

well, looking at the biggest hits from 1987 et 1988, I don't see anything that he could play to them shortly before it hits that would be a shock...
but "Pump up the volume" seems a good answer. Or maybe some new jack swing ?

or "Straight outta compton" released in 88.

Voodoo Ray? A bit late maybe, having been released in 89.

Though recorded June 88.

actually, in the movie, he plays jonnhy b good 3 years before it's released.
so we're looking for something from 1990 !

snap : the powa !

Killer - Adamski

91, but whatevs.

I'm not sure some of these would be especially out-there to people who were used to some of the more epic synthpop of the mid-80s. Like at this stage he'd be playing some house music and people would be into it but they really wouldn't be expecting a veer into, say, 'Original Nuttah' by Shy FX. Or any jungle really.

Actually that's probably the metal guitar solo bit rather than the Chuck Berry bit.

oh I've got one : "Smells like teen spirit" ! "91, the year punk broke" !
for mainstream kids from 87, that would be a big wtf, I guess.
and exactly like in the movie, I could see the actor smashing everything at the end of the performance in front of the audience in awe and struck by feedback.
on the other hand, that wouldn't sound much like the future in a "this will change everything" way...

I was thinking about this thread recently and reckon it misses an important point - Chuck Berry was not the unpredicted future of pop music in 1955, music along the lines of rock & roll had been around for a decade by that point. Rock & roll as a cultural phenomenon was just taking off, but the music itself was around already - it just hadn't made its way to Hill Valley yet. So the contemporary example for 1996(!) now would have to be something already existing and gaining popularity but which hadn't penetrated small town America yet.

something already existing and gaining popularity but which hadn't penetrated small town America yet.

1996? Got to be something from Vision Creation Newsun, then.

Roni Size/Reprazent

Well, bear in mind that, as poster xgurggleglgllg observed early on, the scene has two parts: Johnny B. Goode, which the crowd is feeling... and then the Van Halen shredding, which blows everybody's minds (in a bad way). Chuck Berry's first singles dropped in 1955, and "Johnny B. Goode" is just two years away, so this fits for something "already existing and gaining popularity but which hadn't penetrated small town America yet." Whereas the second part is something that was officially mainstream (but still annoying parents) in Marty's home time of 1985, and which had its fresh-and-new moment about 5-6 years before that.

So for 1996, the first part would be a trend that was bubbling up circa 1995-1996 and breaking through majorly to define the late 90s. The second part would be something that was a hot, mind-blowing new sound circa 2020-2021, and had peaked by 2026, ideally in the same family tree as the previous genre. This makes me think he's doing a Backstreet Boys number that turns into a K-Pop showstopper.

but isn't part of the point also that Johnny B. Goode wasn't released until 1958? so the answer is "Believe" followed by Marty going way too hard on the autotune and alienating everyone

xp

Okay, yeah, rob's idea fits all of the criteria and I'm into it.

lol rob

Ms. Jackson > Suddenly dropping into a dissonant modern rap verse.

sub Q: what song does he play when he puts headphones on his dad to scare the hell out of him?

instead of walkman it'll be iphone, and he carefully places bluetooth earbuds in george's ears.

instead of vader mask, he does full darth maul makeup, keeping with the star wars theme.

but what does he play instead of (uncredited) eddie van halen shredding?

Three 6 Mafia

but what does he play instead of (uncredited) eddie van halen shredding?

sings like the Geese guy

*terrifying*

https://i.imgur.com/ICeaoWP.png

The second part would be something that was a hot, mind-blowing new sound circa 2020-2021, and had peaked by 2026, ideally in the same family tree as the previous genre.

"I Gotta Feeling" falls apart as Marty McFly starts doing ASMR whispering and close-mic-ed crinkling of bubble wrap.