One of the most memorable parts of the first movie was when Marty is conscripted into the band at the high school dance. He plays Johnny B. Goode, one of the most famous rock and roll songs ever – since it was one of the first.
Marvin Berry calls his cousin Chuck to tell him about the sound, a reference to Chuck Berry, the song’s actual creator. However, Marty also references other famous guitar players like Pete Townshend from The Who kicking over the amplifier, Angus Young from AC/DC lying on his back while playing, and Jimi Hendrix playing behind his head.
Follow the Yellow Brick Road
When Marty drives the DeLorean through time to thirty years in the past, he goes from an empty mall parking lot to the middle of a farmer's field. The very first thing he sees after the night sky and trees is a scarecrow in the middle of the field.
While it's pretty common to see a scarecrow in a field, it's been thought this is a subtle reference to "The Wizard of Oz". Everybody remembers the Scarecrow on his search for a brain, but it's one of the first main characters that Dorothy meets when she lands in the strange land of Oz.
Not by the Band
When Marty scares his father into asking Lorraine to the dance, he does so with a crazy alien getup and some shocking music by “Edward Van Halen.” The band you're thinking of is “Van Halen,” but why was the “Edward” squeezed in there at the top?
It's because while Eddie himself (R.I.P.) was okay with his name being in the movie, the rest of the band wasn't. So, Eddie whipped up a quick solo for the film, and the prop guys added his first name to the tape, to ensure that no copyright violations were taking place.
The Mayor in Disguise?
Near the end of the first film, when Marty finally gets back to his time and races off to try and save Doc from his gruesome fate, a homeless man Marty refers to as “Red” yells at him, complaining about drunk drivers.
The mayor of Hill Valley back in 1955 was also named Red, and while many think this was intentional, Michael J. Fox, Marty's actor, made the line up on the spot. While it's certainly in-tune with the rest of the movie, the filmmakers have neither confirmed nor denied if the characters are one and the same.
Almost Didn't Get Made
It wasn't a smooth ride for this famous film, and though the movies are now pretty much universally-loved, the pitch for the movie was rejected a staggering forty times before Universal finally purchased it.
One of the main reasons it was rejected was because of the incest detail. Disney in particular brought up the fact that they didn't like Marty being kissed by his own mother in a romantic way, though Lorraine was unaware of the relation, and immediately after kissing him she is creeped out in a manner she doesn't fully understand.