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

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

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

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."

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pass the dutchie

Has to be hip-hop, still. This question will be a lot harder in 2010.

had "Ace of Spades" been released?

Mark OTM with this really. Has a drastically different general genre like hip hop and other electronically based genres come along since 1980? I can't really think of one...

Chuck Berry was about to become one of the biggest musical acts in the world - much bigger than any hip-hop artists until the late-80s (or any electronic-a/ally/etc. artists to this day).

If you stretch the time out, "Walk This Way" might work. (Also mirrors the movie in use of familiar elements in a new setting)

MATTHEW WILDER BREAK MY STRIDE

oops wrong thread

...or is it?

nah i was just kidding. right thread, wrong time, SUNG TO TUNE OF RIGHT PLACE right oooof. boring self. high. leaving.

first of all - brilliant thread. king james and i have come up with a lot of them (i'll let him post his), but i think that "don't stop believin'" would pretty much kill.

Mark OTM with this really. Has a drastically different general genre like hip hop and other electronically based genres come along since 1980? I can't really think of one...

House was only in its proto stages in 1980, techno would take 5-6 more years to emerge, and even electro was still a couple of years ahead. There was synth pop, of course, but the coming electronic genres would be quite different to it formally. So I guess the Marty McFly of 2010 could easily confuse people with house or techno. The question becomes more difficult if we move 10 years ahead, though - I can't think of any radically new genres to have been born since the late 80s.

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For pure sonic shock, Dimmu Borgir's "Progenies of the great apocalypse"

The Smiths.

"Wow, and I thought this newfangled disco thing was gay!"

I can't think of any radically new genres to have been born since the late 80s.

let's ask Lex

Burial's Unite, off the Soul Jazz Box Of Dub: Dubstep And Future Dub compilation.

Or the F---k Buttons.

My Neck, My Back

What about pig fuck?

(I like to ask that question in any discussion about music, no matter what the specific topic)

1978? "Blue Monday"

1978? "Blue Monday"

Quite a good answer, actually. People were kind of getting at this above with the post-punk and all the British rock, but this is a damn good example.

Although "Confusion" would add some American electro, I think that'd be too much to handle.

Surely some Soulja Boy.

it's your cousin, MARVIN ASTLEY

"Head" by Prince.

Voodoo Ray.

Fight For Your Right

Surely some Soulja Boy.

― Cunga, 28 January 2009 06:30 (7 hours ago)

yeah, first thought exactly

Loveless, duh.

Hey, I got some runner up prize for Resident Advisor where: I get to ask one of the artists a question about a song that is close to them. The question must begin with: "What song would you listen to whilst...."

Here are the people you're able to ask: DJ T, Gilles Peterson, Storm, DJ Hell, Kevin Saunderson, Laurent Garnier, Chloe, David Holmes, Ewan Pearson, Ricardo Villalobos, Richie Hawtin, Francois K and Coldcut.

I'm thinking of borrowing this question, otherwise help me brainstorm!

it's a good question!

Okay so seriously, what would win in a fight, a silverback gorilla or a grizzly bear?

So who to ask "What song would you listen to whilst taking stage at a high school dance in the fifties, a la Marty McFly, in order to blow people's minds?" to, since I'm guessing the other people who get to ask are all going to jump on 'cardo, richie, and kevin right away.

No, no, you're not at a dance in the 50s, it's in the late seventies now...that's really the beauty of the whole thing.

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

― El Tomboto, Tuesday, August 5, 2008 9:08 PM (6 months ago) Bookmark

Pocket Calculator was the first thing that came to mind.

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, March 24, 2006 10:11 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark

i am fucking dying here

omg

Those bastards didn't print my question, Argh!

I think we need to remember that what freaked out the crowd was not Marty playing 'Johhny B. Goode.' After all, he told the band to play a simple blues riff and they kept up just fine. When he started to shred, that's when he lost the crowd and the band. Based on this, the song we're looking for has to include the instruments and sound familiar from the time period but used in a completely foreign style.

Synthesizers would have been familiar to a high school crowd in 1979, what with Bad Girls being the #2 song of that year. Just like the electric guitar; a bit novel but still accepted.

Taking all this into account, my answer is Crank That (Soulja Boy). It's made using cheap synths and drum machines, but used in a way totally foreign to a 1979 crowd. All that technology and what he produced was Crank That? Awesome

For '79, I'd say "Fuck wit' Dre Day."

Or "Groove is in the Heart."

"Gimme a blues riff in B, yeah, you know what you wanna do with that, you wanna put a bangin' donk on it"

hahaha

OV by Orthrelm would be pretty sweet.

At a dance in 1979? Bombs Over Baghdad - Outkast

In 2020, the answer to this question will be Firestarter by Prodigy or Block Rockin' Beats.