Back to the Future Day is in full swing, and it’s getting a little weird out there. In case you’ve somehow managed to avoid the Internet until now, today is the exact day Marty and the Doc visited from 1985 in the seminal time-travel masterpiece, Back to the Future II, and it seems like everyone’s getting in on the action — including Spotify. The streamer created a new playlist, Welcome Marty McFly, which melds the music Marty would’ve jammed to on his Walkman back in 1985 with top hits from today.
It could’ve been so awesome — but, unfortunately, the future (especially as Spotify sees it) isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. You lied to us, Doc.
There are no flying cars, the devices passing for hoverboards are disappointing at best, and the Cubs are totally tanking. Piling on the rude awakenings is Spotify’s selections from today’s hottest hits: Justin Bieber (twice), Demi Lavato, and (shudder) Nick Jonas, to name a few. We’ve traded songsmiths like Elvis Costello for the ginger musings of Spotify demigod, Ed Sheeran. Welcome to the future indeed, Marty.
To be fair, Spotify’s playlist does have a few welcome new selections from the likes of Hozier, Mumford and Sons, and Mark Ronson/Bruno Mars. And it’s also toting some campy awesomeness from good old 1985, including some hot Philly Collins (Sussudio), Duran Duran (A View To A Kill), Bryan Adams (Heaven), and of course, the BTTF title track from Huey Lewis & The News, The Power of Love. Still, while the idea is a brilliant one, we think there’s real room for improvement here. After all, 2015 isn’t all bad — this isn’t the skewed timeline created by Biff’s ill gotten gains … is it?
If Spotify wanted to welcome Marty McFly to 2015 in style, the Biebs isn’t the way to do it. Marty was the rocker kicked out of a talent show tryout for being “too darn loud,” for pete’s sake. I mean, the guy was experimental — remember the punk rock truth bombs he dropped on the crowd at that fateful dance in 1955? A guy like that, we submit, would be sorely disappointed with the majority of Spotify’s samples from 2015.
In short, Spotify, you kind of blew it. So, we fixed it, keeping a few good ones and scrapping the rest.
Here are the songs we would pick to welcome Marty McFly warmly into the future that is now. Give it a listen, and help give the man the sonic welcome he deserves.
