The moment of birth of "Johnny B. Goode" that perfectly fits the time paradox of "Back to the Future"!

The magic word that created “rock and roll”

Now, let's go back to the line I mentioned earlier, ``The rhythm is blues, come in on B and match it.'' In the film, Marty brought rock'n'roll to America in the 1950s without realizing it, but this line is a wonderful line that condenses the basics of rock'n'roll for us, the audience.

If Marty had told the band he was going to play "Johnny B. Goode," of course they wouldn't have gotten through. In 1955, no one knew the song. So Marty tells the band, ``The rhythm is blues, so come in on B and match.''

The Japanese subtitles have a slightly different meaning, so I will write the original text. Marty says, "This is a blues riff in B. Watch me for the changes and try and keep up, okay?" The literal translation is, ``I'm going to play a blues riff with a B chord, and you'll have to watch the chord change and follow me.''

There are often scenes in movies where the characters play or sing a song that none of them know. It can't be helped if it's a musical, but there are many works that are so abrupt that you end up wondering, "When did you learn the songs?" But that's not the case in this case of Back to the Future. Because really, just this one word is all it takes for a band to perform.

"Back to the Future" (C) 1985 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.

To explain without getting too technical, as soon as Marty says "blues," the band knows that the song only has three chords. That's the basic pattern of the "blues" format. If the first chord is B, you will naturally know the remaining two chords, and you can easily figure out when the chords change. As a band, all you have to do is follow a set progression. But at the same time, they are excited to hear the fast rhythms and beats of Chuck Berry's rock 'n' roll, something they have never heard before.

Strictly speaking, in the video Marty is playing a B chord, but the actual sound is a B flat, which is strange. Chuck Berry's original version is also in B flat, but I think they probably said "B" to simplify the lines. But I'll forgive that because it's a "movie lie". What I would like to emphasize here is that ``Back to the Future'' is a masterpiece that teaches us, the audience, the joy and breadth of playing rock'n'roll.

This is a personal matter, but I started playing the guitar when I was a teenager after watching ``Back to the Future''. That scene with Johnny B. Goode looked really fun. It's not just me, I've heard quite a few people say that this album made them fall in love with rock'n'roll and the guitar. It must be because everyone witnessed it. The moment when Marty's short words magically created "rock'n'roll"!

Text: Akira Murayama

Born in 1971. Writes articles for magazines, newspapers, movie sites, etc. Representative of “ShortCuts,” a review site for distribution-based works.

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"Back to the Future"

Blu-ray (1,886 yen + tax)

Publisher: NBCUniversal Entertainment

Production year/country: 1985

Recording time: 116 minutes

DVD layer: 2 layers on one side

Color: color

Package size: Tall for BD

Screen size: Vista size

Screen aspect: 16:9

Region: ALL

Product specifications (subtitles):

1: Japanese subtitles

2: English subtitles

3: Explanatory subtitles

4:Japanese calligraphy 1

5:Japanese calligraphy 2

audio:

1:Japanese 5.1ch DTS Digital Surround

2: Japanese 2ch stereo Dolby Digital

3:English 5.1ch DTS-HD Master Audio

4: Audio commentary 2ch stereo Dolby Digital