Before Beavis and Butthead, before Wayne’s World, and before Airheads, there was Bill S. Preston Esquire and Ted Theodore Logan. Thirty years ago the feel-good comedy Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (Orion Pictures) was released. On the surface, the film was a comedy about two SoCal teens who have to travel through time to write a term paper on history. Starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, along with comedy legend George Carlin, there was a lot of teen humor for a late 80s film, but it was also a heartfelt a film about good-natured dudes who play guitar and love rock music with the simple dream in life. That simple dream to play rock music builds a utopian world. Pretty damn cool. When the film came out, the times were pretty friendly to rock the Bill and Ted music had rockers in the film like Jane Wiedlin (The Go Go’s), Clarence Clemmons (Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band), Martha Davis (The Motels) and Fee Waybill (The Tubes). The soundtrack was solid with the debut single from Extreme, Tora Tora, Robbie Robb of Tribe After Tribe, and a track composed by the future band Nelson with an assist from Dweezil Zappa. Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure spawned two sequels (the second has an incredible soundtrack), a live-action TV series, an animated TV series, and pop culture iconoclasm. Among the highly quotable film’s lines “party on!” was years before Wayne’s World became a thing. The film still holds up well today and is being celebrated with an honorary anniversary celebration. by the filmmakers and the fans. Next month shooting begins on Bill and Ted 3, starring Reeves and Winter, due out in 2020. Continue reading →