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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closer to god by nine inch nails
or
bombs over baghdad by outcast

― JB Young (JB Young), Saturday, 25 March 2006 08:34 (twenty years ago)

LOSING MY EDGE by The Liquid Crystal Display Soundsystem

― nancyboy (nancyboy), Saturday, 25 March 2006 11:09 (twenty years ago)

To really blow their minds, he could do one of the countless songs where a rapper threatens to "leave you shaking worse than Michael J. Fox."

― ramon fernandez (ramon fernandez), Saturday, 25 March 2006 11:14 (twenty years ago)

"Wuthering Heights" gets my vote for best answer upthread. Especially if he sings it in the original key and octave.

― Myke. (Myke Weiskopf), Saturday, 25 March 2006 12:07 (twenty years ago)

No ne is gonna say "Light of Day"?

― EZ Snappin (EZSnappin), Saturday, 25 March 2006 13:41 (twenty years ago)

Something like "Whip It" would work well.

― Patrick South (Patrick South), Saturday, 25 March 2006 16:03 (twenty years ago)

[b]Killing in the name of[/b]. obv.

― rchinn (rchinn), Saturday, 25 March 2006 16:14 (twenty years ago)

I vote for the NIN - Closer is OK but March of the Pigs would work even better--traditional riff but weird arrangement and screaming. Or else some Nirvana, actually. I think after 1976 the only really new thing is screaming--the only thing I can really see stopping people in their tracks is the lead singer for Pantera screaming out lyrics. Most of the things suggested upthread like techno and hip-hop are new but crowds would just react positively and cheer.

― richardk (Richard K), Saturday, 25 March 2006 16:15 (twenty years ago)

Right about now, the funk soul brother.

― Eazy (Eazy), Saturday, 25 March 2006 16:17 (twenty years ago)

Actually if it's 3 years ahead of time..The Wall comes out in 79...Another Brick in the Wall would blow minds, man!!!!!

― richardk (Richard K), Saturday, 25 March 2006 16:22 (twenty years ago)

So he should start off with a lite-funk proto disco thing and start doing some light MC-ing over it. Everyone would be all "hey, this is pretty cool" until he ran out of "hip-hop don't stop" stuff and started doing lines from "Like A Pimp" or "Freek-A-Leek"

I think this nails it - the timeline is right, the progression of the scene is right, the idea of the hip band being able to play it is right...this is exactly what it should be. Not sure about Freek-A-Leek, mind you. How about "Wait"? Love to hear that over a Kurtis Blow beat...

― Doctor Casino (Doctor Casino), Saturday, 25 March 2006 16:30 (twenty years ago)

Hongroe

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Saturday, 25 March 2006 16:35 (twenty years ago)

March of the Pigs would work even better--traditional riff but weird arrangement and screaming.

"Ok guys, play some double-time in 7/8 with every fourth bar in 4/4, watch me for the changes."

― Jordan (Jordan), Saturday, 25 March 2006 17:33 (twenty years ago)

Husker Du : "First of the Last Calls"

― kingfish ubermensch dishwasher sundae (kingfish 2.0), Saturday, 25 March 2006 17:43 (twenty years ago)

The Knack - My Sharona

He's playing to a bunch of square middle-class high-school kids so anything too alien e.g. hip-hop is just gonna get him kicked off the stage and beaten up by the football team. My Sharona works in that it feeds off (or in the context of this discussion, anticipates) punk and disco, and condenses them into a safe pop song for cheerleaders everywhere. Also, it's simple and repetitive so would have been easy to pick up by the band.

― Ben Dot (1977), Saturday, 25 March 2006 17:55 (twenty years ago)

Happy Hardcore

Or Squarepusher's "My Red Hot Car"

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Saturday, 25 March 2006 18:31 (twenty years ago)

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"?

For hip-hop - "play the drum intro to Bowie's "Five Years."

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Saturday, 25 March 2006 18:44 (twenty years ago)

I'll second "My Sharona" and destroy everyone who suggested a track that came out after '85.

― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Saturday, 25 March 2006 20:13 (twenty years ago)

"Suicidal Sacrifice" by Deicide, er ... Amon.

― Cameron Octigan (Cameron Octigan), Sunday, 26 March 2006 01:27 (twenty years ago)

Dunkelheit.

― jimnaseum (jimnaseum), Sunday, 26 March 2006 01:31 (twenty years ago)

Any Cryptopsy song.

― James Slone (Freon Trotsky), Sunday, 26 March 2006 12:42 (twenty years ago)

Rammstein

― Col Tom Blue (Col Tom Blue), Sunday, 26 March 2006 13:32 (twenty years ago)

Whoever shouted out the Rockefeller Skank upthread wins, not because it would sound totally alien but because it would actually WORK. All that surf guitar stuff would totally get people dancing.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Sunday, 26 March 2006 13:55 (twenty years ago)

"suck my ass it smells" by G.G. Allin…

― veronica moser (veronica moser), Sunday, 26 March 2006 14:46 (twenty years ago)

drill'n'bass

― charltonlido (gareth), Sunday, 26 March 2006 14:48 (twenty years ago)

I guess the answer is "Are Friends Electric" anyway.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Sunday, 26 March 2006 17:17 (twenty years ago)

Anything from Rage Against the Machines or Nine Inch Nails, Marty singing "I want to fuck you like an animal" on prom night...too sick. "Hurt" would be all too fitting as well.

― bah, Friday, 7 April 2006 23:11 (twenty years ago)

booty booty booty booty everywhere!

― charlie bucket (charlie bucket), Saturday, 8 April 2006 02:56 (twenty years ago)

whoomp there it iss

― latebloomer: someone's been drinking my youth! (latebloomer), Saturday, 8 April 2006 03:22 (twenty years ago)

who let the dogs oyut

― latebloomer: someone's been drinking my youth! (latebloomer), Saturday, 8 April 2006 03:22 (twenty years ago)

music sounds better with you by stardust

it would blow everybody's mind to the moon

― lf (lfam), Saturday, 8 April 2006 05:58 (twenty years ago)

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

"And you, the bass player. Take a lap."

― Gilbert O'Sullivan (kenan), Saturday, 8 April 2006 06:24 (twenty years ago)

"Pay to Cum"

― Mike McG, Saturday, 8 April 2006 06:29 (twenty years ago)

McG wins!

― latebloomer: someone's been drinking my youth! (latebloomer), Saturday, 8 April 2006 08:43 (twenty years ago)

i never thought i'd say that in my life

― latebloomer: someone's been drinking my youth! (latebloomer), Saturday, 8 April 2006 08:44 (twenty years ago)

Pixies - Something Against You

― zeus (zeus), Saturday, 8 April 2006 08:58 (twenty years ago)

An Orthrelm song.

― Brian Turner (btwfmu), Saturday, 8 April 2006 13:27 (twenty years ago)

Alice Cooper - "Feed My Frankenstein"

― PB, Saturday, 8 April 2006 19:37 (twenty years ago)

two years pass...

Reviving this thread is the inevitable intersection of the Chuck Berry poll and the revival of the "1984-1994 time travel" poll.

All great threads!

― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 00:55 (seventeen years ago)

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd120/hipsterrunoff/oi5gmw.jpg

― latebloomer, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 00:57 (seventeen years ago)

nobody would time travel to 1978.

― El Tomboto, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 01:03 (seventeen years ago)

anyway though the 1978 options that wouldn't really break for another three years: kraftwerk, speed metal and grandmaster flash

― El Tomboto, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 01:08 (seventeen years ago)

Kings of Leon are from the US?

― David R., Wednesday, 6 August 2008 01:18 (seventeen years ago)

Question answered!

― Carlos 2, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 01:24 (seventeen years ago)

I love this: "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."

I love it because it's like, yeah, totally, prom bands in '76 would totally be into krautrock, contemporary classical and the VU.

I mean, fuck, Chuck Berry wasn't even unprecedented in '55—there's jump blues, Rocket 88, etc.

― I eat cannibals, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 19:29 (seventeen years ago)

"Kick Out The Jams"

― Geir Hongro, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 23:30 (seventeen years ago)

Hmm. I realise we are speaking 1978 here, not 1968.

Well, make that "Don't You Want Me" instead then.

― Geir Hongro, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 23:32 (seventeen years ago)

The Run-DMC version of "Walk This Way." A familiar song in 1978 given a twist that absolutely nobody would expect, yet might actually work in a school dance setting.

Either that or the intro from Gang of Four's "Love Like Anthrax."

― mike a, Thursday, 7 August 2008 00:53 (seventeen years ago)

UPTOWN TOP RANKING

― amateurist, Thursday, 7 August 2008 01:40 (seventeen years ago)

pass the dutchie

― El Tomboto, Thursday, 7 August 2008 01:41 (seventeen years ago)

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