The musical world is infinitely smaller than one might think from the outside looking in, which would explain why the thread connecting George Harrison and Marty McFly, Michael J. Fox’s character from Back to the Future, is surprisingly short.
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The connection between a former Beatle and a fictional character from a movie that came out 15 years after the Fab Four called it quits is also a convincing testament to the merit of saving musical gear, even if you don’t think you have a purpose for it right now.
(This isn’t an invitation to start hoarding more gear, musicians, but…we suppose it isn’t not that, either.)
How George Harrison and Marty McFly Are Related
Behind every great musician playing an equally impressive and beautiful guitar, there is an instrument technician and trusted music shop that the artist relies on to keep their guitars in tip-top shape and find new ones to add to their collection—lovingly referred to as the “guitarsenal” in this writer’s home, as a quick aside. Such was the case for musical greats like George Harrison, who often traveled far and wide to make sure he had the best possible instrument at his disposal.
In 1973, Harrison found himself in the middle of a guitar deal that likely added insult to injury. A thief had stolen the musician’s Gibson Les Paul, which he lovingly named Lucy, and sold it to an anonymous player elsewhere in Los Angeles. When Harrison eventually tracked down the musician who had Lucy, the musician said he would only give it back if Harrison bought him another Les Paul and a Fender Precision bass. Harrison found Norman Harris, a guitar dealer in L.A., through a mutual friend, who helped him find a suitable Les Paul.
“We actually spent the day together,” Harris recalled to The Guardian in August 2025. “I then went to this place he was renting in the Hollywood Hills. Ravi Shankar, the Indian sitarist, was there. To me, the Beatles were bigger than the pope or the president or whoever. I just kept looking at him. I couldn’t believe it was happening.”
Interestingly, Harris was the same guitar dealer who lent a red Gibson ES-345 to the production team for Back to the Future. (Yep, that red guitar that Michael J. Fox’s Marty McFly plays at the prom.)
The Quiet Beatle Went to Great Lengths for a Guitar
George Harrison reaching out to a Los Angeles guitar dealer to find a suitable trade for his beloved Lucy was just one of many times the former “Quiet Beatle” went to great lengths to get his dream guitar. Over a decade earlier, in 1963, George Harrison found himself in the tiny community of Benton, Illinois, visiting his sister, Louise Harrison, who had moved to the southern part of the state with her husband. Because this was before the full impact of Beatlemania made its mark on the U.S., Harrison was able to travel around the tiny town somewhat comfortably, even doing a bit of shopping while there. Harrison bought his soon-to-be signature Fireglo red Rickenbacker 420 guitar from the Fenton Music Store in Mt. Vernon, Illinois.
To commemorate the occasion and Harrison’s early connection to the small southern Illinois town, a 16-foot mural of Harrison playing guitar to a group of screaming youths was erected on the side of I-57 outside of Benton, which is arguably one of the most interesting parts of that drive if you ever find yourself on that sleepy section of interstate.
George Harrison’s connection to rural Illinois and Back to the Future is not only a testament to how small the musical world really is. It’s also proof that sometimes, if you get a notion to start saving vintage guitars early enough, like Norman Harris, you can become one of the most sought-after guitar dealers in Los Angeles and the connecting thread between different corners of the pop culture realm.
(Photo by REPORTERS ASSOCIES/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
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