Comments on: Marty McFly Did Not Invent Rock ‘n’ Roll [BTTF Week]

By: frank

frank — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 03:20:38 +0000

you all are fuckin morons…u seriously have nothing better to do than to argue about something that happens IN THE MOVIES! they just made it funny and thats all i seriously doubt the makers of this movie were dead set on proving Marty Mcfly created rock and roll…jesus how stupid can u get

By: alittlepoison » Marty McFly vs. Black History

alittlepoison » Marty McFly vs. Black History — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 13:09:50 +0000

[...] did Marty McFly create Rock n Roll?. There’s some brilliantly earnest comments on this page: “Unless someone was actually [...]

By: Ursula

Ursula — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 08:42:58 +0000

Marty didn’t invent anything. He was playing a Chuck Berry song, as he remembered it from hearing it in the ’80s… even though Marty was now back in the ’50s, before Chuck Berry recorded it. It’s an interesting time paradox that leaves open the question of whether Berry created the song himself, but you really can’t argue that Marty invented rock. No matter how you look at it, Marty never created the song himself, he was only playing the music he thought of as Chuck Berry’s.

By: michael

michael — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 15:24:34 +0000

chuck berry didn’t invent rock n’ roll…ike turner was the first with “rocket 88″…so this point is moot my friends

By: Top Ten Miraculous Fictional Head Injuries | Overthinking It

Top Ten Miraculous Fictional Head Injuries | Overthinking It — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 00:54:43 +0000

[...] time travel was a good or a bad thing, the degree to which it was plausible, or what it might mean, and how it might work. Much seems obscured or inconsistent. There is plenty about the Flux [...]

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 02:40:54 +0000

If we presume the existence of an infinite number of possible realities (as a time traveller probably would), it’s easy to see that in one of those realities (ours), Chuck just came up with the exact lyrics to the first verse Marty sang at the dance. Our extraordinary luck is a sign that God really loves us after all. Which is nice.

By: lee

lee — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 05:54:14 +0000

@Mark, Good points, but in response:

1) At 1:28, Marty’s playing starts to get wild with the sustained big bends and descending lines. The band members exchange looks with each other, indicating that Marty’s playing has moved beyond fresh and new to 1955 ears to something strange and unpleasant. Granted, still in the Chuck Berry ballpark, but…

2) At 1:38, he lets loose a Pete Townsend-esque monster chord wallop, and from there on out it’s no longer anything close to Chuck Berry.

3) Most importantly, though, is that the “new sound” was hardly new in 1955. On the rhythm side, Jump Blues and Boogie woogie had been around for years by that time. On the lead guitar stylings, Chuck had gotten a lot of it from T-Bone Walker and Muddy Waters’ pre-1955 work.

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 04:00:44 +0000

Now just a minute…Marvin suggests to Chuck that he’s discovered the new “sound” he’s looking for, not the new “lick” (guitarist-speak for the specific series of notes played). There is plenty of Chuck Barryesque playing from 1:20-1:42 (prior to the shredding, after the phone introduction) to inspire Chuck stylistically. Methinks Chuck’s matching of the intro is just a coincidence.

Give a white boy his props.

By: Matthew Belinkie

Matthew Belinkie — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 03:59:35 +0000

Mark -

For serious hardcore BTTF nuts, check out a draft of the screenplay:
http://www.imsdb.com/Movie%20Scripts/Back%20to%20the%20Future%20Script.html
This draft is different than the movie you know and love. For instance, after Marty’s Johnny B. Goode solo is greeted with bewildered silence, he breaks into another chorus, and ends the song to wild applause. Then he leaves without saying goodbye to his parents.

But the bit where the guy calls Chuck Berry is in there. Interesting.

- Matt

By: lee

lee — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 01:30:22 +0000

Yup, the guitar in the video was me.

I was Overthinking about the scene some more. Though it’s clear when Chuck Berry starts listening, it’s ambiguous as to when he stops listening.

At 1:52 in the first clip, you can see Marvin standing in the background, but it’s not clear if he’s hung up the phone by that point. He’s obviously not holding the receiver out, but he could still be holding it in his hand.

In any event, there’s a continuity problem with Marvin Berry: he’s clearly back stage to the RIGHT of Marty, but somehow walks up from Marty’s LEFT side to collect the guitar after the solo.

I’ve clearly seen this scene way too many times.