# Back to the Future: What song would you have played? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 16, 2004, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-what-song-would-you-have-played/234650 "2004-03-16T16:16:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-what-song-would-you-have-played/234650/1 "2004-03-16T16:16:47Z")
Remember the Jonny B. Goode moment with Michael J. Fox from Back to the Future, when he basically blows their minds with the Chuck Berry song Jonny B. Goode, especially the guitar solo. Assume for the purposes of this thread you have the skills to play any song you wanted. What you play? Mine is currently is: _Sweet Child O’ Mine_ by **Guns and Roses**. I would probably go with this one, just to wear the top hat. Those poor hicks will never by the same! Although having my teenaged mom hitting on me would be a little weird. . . 😉 ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-what-song-would-you-have-played/234650/2 "2004-03-16T16:26:39Z")
“Slave For You”, Britney Spears. I’d lead into it by yelling “THIS IS WHAT YOUR FUTURE HAS IN STORE FOR YOU!”. I wonder if the suicide rate would increase? ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-what-song-would-you-have-played/234650/3 "2004-03-16T16:32:29Z")
“Immigrant Song”. See if I can bust some eardrums. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-what-song-would-you-have-played/234650/4 "2004-03-16T16:34:51Z")
Comfortably Numb, Pink Floyd. Or “Birthday”, by the Sugarcubes, but that shouldn’t count since it’s my favorite song. But either would blow the crowd away even moreso than JBG. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-what-song-would-you-have-played/234650/5 "2004-03-16T16:37:53Z")
Don’t forget that Marty DID rock out at the end, in a way that Chuck Berry didn’t quite envision, and the entire auditorium was left staring, speechless, at him. He offered, weakly, “I guess you guys aren’t ready for that yet.” “But your kids are gonna love it.” ---
**Author:** ![Nathan\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/47e85d/32.png) [@Nathan\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nathan_S)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-what-song-would-you-have-played/234650/6 "2004-03-16T16:51:26Z")
I’d play \*Voodoo Child (slight return) \* by Jimi Hendrix. Then I’d set the guitar on fire. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-what-song-would-you-have-played/234650/7 "2004-03-16T17:35:07Z")
**Draelin** Nice one! **Nathan** I was thinking “Foxy Lady” but actually I like your choice better! And as it happens I do have the requisite skills 🙂 I’ve subjected audiences to the Immigrant Song but I’ve never had the nerve to perform any Hendrix. ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-what-song-would-you-have-played/234650/8 "2004-03-16T18:28:28Z")
I don’t think they’re ready for “Immigrant Song” (but it couldn’t hurt to try!) Because they’re a little less heavy-metal, I think they just might be able to handle “Traveling Riverside Blues” or “Good Times / Bad Times”. “Sultans of Swing” wouldn’t shock them but it would open their minds just a little, but only if, in addition to traveling back in time, I am allowed to have Knopfler-style chops. If they were pretty open-minded, maybe yank them forward into the 1990s with some REM (“Shiny Happy People”) or Nirvana (“Lithium”) or possibly some Pearl Jam (“Evenflow”). And if I don’t care whether I break their primitive brains, then Smashing Pumpkins’ “Rocket”, Cake’s “Sheep Go to Heaven”, and Britney Spears’ “Oops! I Did It Again” (I’d want a laptop and a projector – the song isn’t complete without the video). Garth Brooks’ “Ain’t Going Down (til the Sun Comes Up)” is remarkably simple and similar to the basic three-chord rock they’re used to, but the language implies a very… uppity young lady. They might be shocked just by the lyrics, but they’d tap their feet for sure. And if they’re not shocked I can always go with my Britney plan as above. ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-what-song-would-you-have-played/234650/9 "2004-03-16T18:59:52Z")
“Head Like a Hole” - Nine Inch Nails. Maybe kickstart the 60s rebellion spirit. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-what-song-would-you-have-played/234650/10 "2004-03-16T19:05:37Z")
You would really need the entire band to do most of these songs but given that. Smells like Teen Spirit for the blow them away song. Micky (maybe then I wouldn’t have to hear it in the future) Come Dancing The crowd would be into it, as long as they didn’t listen too closely to the lyrics. Stacy’s Mom what the heck, it’s got a good beat and you can dance to it. Baby Got Back (is that the name of that song) That would get a great reaction. ---
**Author:** ![Myrr21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Myrr21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrr21)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-what-song-would-you-have-played/234650/11 "2004-03-16T19:33:29Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Baby Got Back (is that the name of that song) That would get a great reaction. Actually, I suspect that a lot of the references would be completely bewildering, to say nothing of the slang. It just wouldn’t have the same effect. Personally, I think Johnny B Good was an excellent choice, but I might go with Free Bird, just so I could make a cliche even more overused when I returned to the future. ---
**Author:** ![Husker\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Husker\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Husker_Dude)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-what-song-would-you-have-played/234650/12 "2004-03-16T19:52:15Z")
‘Search & Destroy’ by The Stooges or ‘Angel of Death’ by fucKIINGG SLAYYERRR!!!11 ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-what-song-would-you-have-played/234650/13 "2004-03-16T20:05:53Z")
Stone henge by Spinal Tap complete with dancing midgets. Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen now that would blow their 1955 minds. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-what-song-would-you-have-played/234650/14 "2004-03-16T20:20:41Z")
“The Four Horsemen” by Metallica (or anything off of “Kill 'Em All”). I doubt the drummer or the other band members could even keep up with it. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-what-song-would-you-have-played/234650/15 "2004-03-16T22:37:16Z")
_A Fifth of Beethoven_, that disco-y version of Beethoven’s Fifth. But only as part of an elaborate scheme involving traveling backwards through time, killing Beethoven, stealing the original draft of the Fifth, then revealing the real Fifth years later and claiming Edgar Winter (or whoever it was that wrote it) was a psychic. Kind of like those guys who claimed they wrote _Blowin’ in the Wind_ while they were in high school then Bob Dylan stole it from them, only he didn’t because they later admitted they were lying. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-what-song-would-you-have-played/234650/16 "2004-03-17T04:33:27Z")
**Too Drunk to Fuck** Dead Kennedys ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-what-song-would-you-have-played/234650/17 "2004-03-17T05:35:09Z")
Blitzkrieg Bop Failing that… Ace of Spades. Then I’ll be worshipped instead of Lemmy. And the idea of yelling “THE ACE OF SPADES! THE ACE OF SPADES!” at a gym full of 50s kids is too funny. Or maybe Sober… Damn, can we play a set? ---
**Author:** ![Lazlo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lazlo/32/9678_2.png) [@Lazlo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazlo)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-what-song-would-you-have-played/234650/18 "2004-03-17T07:49:49Z")
Building a time machine is no sweat, but playing Hendrix… Now _that_ takes skill! Heh, I think I would play _Man, I Feel Like a Woman_ by Shania Twain. (Okay, so I just saw the GM commercial) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-what-song-would-you-have-played/234650/19 "2004-03-17T09:06:40Z")
Much as I can’t believe I’m putting this in the same bracket as Hendrix and Zeppelin, I firmly believe the apex of 20th-century rock and roll was **U2** ’s _Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me_. There, I said it. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-what-song-would-you-have-played/234650/20 "2004-03-17T12:56:22Z")
It’d be a toss up between “Timmy! AND THE LORDS OF THE UNDERWORLD (Dun-Dun-Dun-Dun)” and Revolution Man [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-what-song-would-you-have-played/234650.md?page=2)