One of the most unforgettable moments from Back To The Future is when Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) plays “Johnny B. Goode” in 1955, but who sang and played the classic song in the movie? In 1985, Robert Zemeckis took the audience on a journey through time with the sci-fi movie Back to the Future, starring Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, and Christopher Lloyd as Emmett “Doc” Brown, Marty’s eccentric scientist friend who had been working on a device to travel through time. Back to the Future was a big success with critics and viewers, making way for a franchise consisting of three movies, a short film, and an animated series.
Back to the Future follows Marty McFly, an 18-year-old teenager who is accidentally sent back in time from 1985 to 1955 through a time machine created by his scientist friend Doc Brown. Once in the 1950s, Marty has to find a way to not only return to his time but also make sure that his parents fall in love, as there’s a risk of his presence in the past creating a paradox that could end with his existence. Marty is friendly and easygoing but accident-prone, which made way for many fun moments through the movie, but one of the most iconic scenes was thanks to his love for music. Marty plays guitar and has a band named The Pinheads, and during his parents’ prom in the 1950s, he performed the rock classic “Johnny B. Goode”, three years before the song was released.
Marty takes the stage with the band playing at the prom when their guitarist injures his hand and the band refuses to continue without him. Desperate to make sure his parents kiss as he knows that’s when they began dating, Marty takes the place of the guitarist so there can be music to set the mood, and once his parents kiss, he takes the lead and starts playing Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode”. Marty lets himself go towards the end of the song and goes on full-rockstar mode, leaving the crowd confused. The “Johnny B. Goode” performance became one of the most memorable moments from Back to the Future, and contrary to what some may believe, Michael J. Fox didn’t sing nor play, but he did make an effort to make it look as he was.
Marty’s singing voice was that of Mark Campbell, member of the soul and R&B band Jack Mack and the Heart Attack. Campbell wasn’t credited as the production crew wanted to fully make the illusion that Fox was singing, but music supervisor Bones Howe made sure Campbell got a small percentage of the soundtrack revenue as compensation. As for Marty’s amazing guitar skills, they were achieved through two methods. First, Fox was taught how to play the song by Paul Hanson, and Fox shared with Empire that he told Zemeckis he could cut to his hands any time he wanted as he knew how to play. The second step was syncing Fox playing with the actual music, and so Tim May was brought in to record the guitar. Although it would have been somewhat logical to have Paul Hanson play the guitar as well, the crew went with May instead, though Hanson still took part in the movie as The Pinheads’ bass guitarist.
As for Marty’s rockstar moves, they were all thanks to choreographer Brad Jeffries, who taught Fox how to move like guitar legends like Pete Townshend, Chuck Berry, and Jimi Hendrix. All these elements combined resulted in an unforgettable scene with great music in Back to the Future, and it’s especially great as Michael J. Fox was willing to learn how to play the song to make it look real, even if he didn’t go as far as to play it himself.
