Soundtrack Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

Q: When was the Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure Soundtrack released?

1989. It was released on A&M Records.

Recite some lyrics, Dude! Two extraordinary gentlemen embark on an Excellent Adventure. This soundtrack is the music that follows them.

Updated Oct 28 2022

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Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure Soundtrack album cover — Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure Soundtrack

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure Track Listing

Play with Me - Extreme
The Boys and Girls Are Doing It - Vital Signs
Not So Far Away - Glen Burtnik
Dancing with a Gypsy - Tora Tora
Father Time - Shark Island
Breakaway - Big Pig
Dangerous - Shark Island
Walk Away - Bricklin
In Time - Robbie Robb featuring Stevie Salas
Two Heads Are Better Than One - Power Tool

This soundtrack is an Excellent Adventure unto itself. Bill and Ted quest to the sounds of Extreme, Shark Island, Robbie Robb, Bricklin, and more.

80s & 90s Swag

Another mondo album that really drives home the various in "various artists". In the movie, Bill and Ted reference Eddie Van Halen and Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet, but the soundtrack's most famous name is Extreme.

Commercially successful bands did grace the Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey Soundtrack. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure was the scrappy big brother that did more with less.

Would you call the original motion picture soundtrack hard rock? No, probably not. It's not quite there. It belongs on your playlist though. It is a most excellent musical adventure. Billy the kid and the princesses would be proud.

Bill and Ted (Wyld Stallyns) costumes at 80s Day Loon Mountain, NH — Fizz S. Preston, Esquire, and Pants Theodore Logan!

Robbie Robb's In Time with Steve Salas guitar solo performed by Marcus Wright

I always thought that this should be the song that saves the world. Peace, harmony, and it's excellent to dance to. It's thematically spot on ... it's about the future.

10 most triumphant glam tracks ... we should thank A&M Records for this one.

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure soundtrack notes

Play with Me - Extreme

DO! YOU! WANT! TO! PLAY!

The Mall Chase!

Boston's own, Extreme!

Play with Me, found on Extreme, their self-titled debut album, is a full on excess of fun and unabashed shredding. And we love Extreme for it. The man with the magical fingers, Bettencourt annihilates Play with Me, creating not an accidental collision of atoms, but purposeful collision.

He kicks off the song with a speed metal version of Mozart's Alla Turca, layers in tons of electric guitar riffage, and kicks the fretboard work into hyperdrive for the bitchin' solo. An all around all-star effort from Nuno.

And in between, plenty of power chord chugging, pinch harmonics, finger tapping, flanger, whining horse whammy technique.

Mid solo sounds pulled straight from the Devil's Challenge guitar battle in Crossroads between Ralph Macchio (played by Ry Cooder) and Steve Vai (played by ... uhh, of course, Steve Vai).

Bettencourt is no stranger to classical influence, just check out Pornograffitti's He-Man Woman Hater (Flight of the Wounded Bumblebee).

The Boys and Girls Are Doing It - Vital Signs

Whoa! George Carlin and Adam Curry on the video!

This video is way ahead of it's time. The band is basically an 80s tribute band long before the 80s ended.

It's got the Telephone Booth, a drummer encapsulated by a chained fence, and a lead singer who may or may not be Diamond David Lee Roth. And let's not forget the guitar player who helps the telephone booth girl do some deep bends together mid guitar solo.

We all know the boys and the girls are doing it!

In fairness, the babes look like they can shred.

Not So Far Away - Glen Burtnik

Experimental 80s jazz fusion opening. Straight into some inspirational fluff. The best kind. Glen Burtnik's Not So Far Away definitely belongs on the Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure Soundtrack just for these traits alone.

Programmatic drums. Super chimey guitar. Volume swells. A driving bass. 80s triumphance!

References to history are quite on brand. Nice work, Glen, Glen Burtnik (it's fun to say his name).

Wait wait, before we congratulate Glen, we should address the fact that "Life is a Highway" songwriter, Tom Cochrane, wrote Not So Far Away. Bitchin'!

Dancing with a Gypsy - Tora Tora

Conjure the ancient spirits at the gypsy fireside seance!

Tora Tora, putting the hair in hair metal. This is a great track for night cruising in the camaro, cruising for brews and a good time.

Super shreddy solo. The harmonic pling was whipped cream to the drizzled caramel notes that followed.

Father Time - Shark Island

Synth!

Major metal riff! Father Time immediately steps back from the hair metal intro and gives a much more 80s pop verse than metal. Then it throttles way too hard into actual metal for the chorus. Maybe some Billy Idol in there.

Respect to Shark Island for keeping with the "time" theme.

If you've listened to any 80s metal solo, you could probably hum this one sight unseen.

Father Time could have cut it on the Transformers soundtrack.

Breakaway - Big Pig

Heavy bass intro. Dig it.

Bass and multi-layered synth. Even better. Breakaway is a perfect tune for the Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure soundtrack. It combines all of the instrumentation and tonality that you'd expect to follow the most excellent ones throughout time and history.

"I CAN'T BREAKAWAY!" - love the gang vocals.

Question: Are gang vocals different across nations? For instance, Big Pig is an Australian band. Are Australian Gang Vocals different than British or American Gang Vocals? (See Football - Aussie rules, American, etc.)

Hey, at least Breakaway hit #1 in New Zealand.

Dangerous - Shark Island

Missy! I mean, Mom!

Shark Island is one of the most dangerous band names out there. I don't want to go to Shark Island. Not now. Not ever.

Unless Shark Island is a misnomer like Greenland, meant to detract would be plunderers, and it's filled with babes and beers. Then Shark Island is totally worth the trip.

Walk Away - Bricklin

San Dimas High School Football Rules!

The theme song of the final history report. And, one of the best songs on the entire album. Bricklin just shatters expectations with how awesome this one is.

Bill and Ted have succeeded. They got all of the historical figures to the report. Ted isn't going to Colonel Oates military academy. Bill deals with his minor oedipal complex. Missy wants a piece of Mr. Ryan. Mr. Logan and Mr. Preston are pleased with their sons efforts.

No seriously, go check it out. Missy checks out Mr. Ryan. And if I recall, he isn't disinterested.

In Time Robbie Robb featuring Stevie Salas

In Time is the music of the future. The great ones travel through the circuits of time in their phone booth,

The Three Supreme Beings (Clarence Clemons, Martha Davis, Fee Waybill) are in charge of The Future Council, and Bill and Ted bust in right in the middle of things.

One of the best songs on the Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure soundtrack. Robbie Robb & crew adjust their delay pedal dials and bring forth the essence of time itself.

Salas gives us the guitar work we actually knew we needed on In Time. He also rips Carlin's Solo.

I'm a bit sad that Robbie Robb did not write In Time. Rather, producer Bob Marlette (Road House, Point Break, Rad, Navy Seals, etc.) and Sue Shifrin (All the Right Moves, Rad, etc.)

Two Heads Are Better Than One - Power Tool

Double the pleasure! Triple the fun!

The pre-choral ahhhhs are nice.

Two! Two! Heads! Heads! Are better than one! Oooh oooh oooh!

Power Tool is secretly Dweezil Zappa and hair band Nelson (Matt and Gunnar Nelson).

Gotta imagine that's Zappa on the guitar solo. If you pay close attention, and you aren't following the timelines on the song, the solo plays a lot like a guitar solo into outro chorus. So, it's pretty slick that they come back in for a few more Two Heads to close it out.

Two Heads also appears in Season Four of Cobra Kai. The folks behind Cobra Kai know what they are doing.

Original Soundtrack, original artwork

Apparently, there was a Limited Edition Vinyl LP that featured a holographic jacket. The artwork was by Matty Ryan Tobin. This special packaging was printed on 18-point silver board. Most bodacious!