Bill & Ted 3: Every Wyld Stallyns Album Explained

Bill and Ted’s band Wyld Stallyns Bill & Ted Face the Music doesn’t fully explore the legacy of Wyld Stallyns, though it summarizes the band’s history in the opening minutes. In each of the three franchise films, the title characters dream of changing the world through their creativity. During the 2020 film Bill & Ted Face the Music, the main conflict stems from the fact that Wyld Stallyns have accomplished little over the years, and that Bill Preston (Alex Winter) and Ted Logan (Keanu Reeves) may want to put the past behind them.

In Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, just the idea of Wyld Stallyns is a recurring joke because the central heroes can still barely play their instruments. There’s also, of course, a recurring musical motif in the form of dual air guitars, as Bill and Ted figuratively rock out when they receive good news. In Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, Wyld Stallyns have managed to change the future of the world with their music, but the storyline mostly follows their attempts to win the San Dimas Battle of the Bands in the present with the assistance of their star bass player, Death (William Sadler).

The opening minutes of Bill & Ted Face the Music acknowledge specific Wyld Stallyns albums that never took off, but without providing much cultural context beyond the cover art. Here’s what you need to know about the Wyld Stallyns’ discography that’s referenced in Bill & Ted Face the Music.

Wyld Stallyns “Those Who Rock”

Bill & Ted Face the Music opens with Thea Preston (The Babysitter‘s Samara Weaving) and Billie Logan (Brigette Lundy-Paine) telling the story of their most excellent dads, and what happened shortly the musicians became fathers with familial responsibilities. Bill and Ted hoped to change the world with their #1 hit “Those Who Rock,” but they ended up breaking up not long after.

Wyld Stallyns “Destination: Destiny”

Bill and Ted later reunited and adopted edgier personas that seemingly aligned with the alternative rock movement of the early ’90s. On the black and white cover of Wyld Stallyns “Destination: Destiny,” Ted gazes at the camera with a slight smirk while cusping the head of his bandmate Bill, who exudes all the angst of a totally un-pretentious alt-rocker. A critic review describes the album as “another disappointing attempt at music,” which suggests that Wyld Stallyns hadn’t quite found their groove.

Wyld Stallyns “Never Givin’ Up”

With the release of Wyld Stallyns “Never Givin’ Up,” Bill and Ted shifted to a psychedelic aesthetic, at least based on the album’s cover art. Ted’s appears at the top with a shaggy mop-top (which is not unlike the questionable cut worn by Javier Bardem’s Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men), while Bill appears at the bottom, and with his chin tilted upward. Overall, Wyld Stallyns appears stuck between ’60s psychedelia and early 2000s Nu-Metal.

Wyld Stallyns “Still Believin’!”

For “Still Believin’!,” Bill dyed his hair purple and grew a soul patch. A critic review describes Bill and Ted as “two aging hipsters” and suggests that their latest album is “possibly the most out of touch attempt at relevancy yet.” The article also references Wyld Stallyn’s “enormous brand” and their “handful of salt-shaking classics.” The black and white album art implies that Bill and Ted have indeed embraced a lifestyle of “yoga, politics, and kaballah,” with their appearances suggesting that the album was released somewhere around 2006, just as pop culture began to change with the rise of social media. Sadly, Bill & Ted Face the Music shows that at least one copy of “Still Believin’!” was slapped with a 99 cent price tag,

Wyld Stallyns “Untitled”

The last Wyld Stallyns album appears to be self-titled, as the black and white cover art just includes the band’s logo and two chairs. One may be reminded of Clint Eastwood’s 2012 appearance at the Republican National Convention when he took the stage and spoke to an actual chair. Whether or not Bill & Ted Face the Music references that bizarre moment is unclear, however, the film does suggest that Wyld Stallyn’s creative vision had become hollow and uninspired. One critic labeled their new music as “more manure.”

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Q.V. Hough
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Q.V. Hough is a senior writer at Screen Rant. He’s also the founding editor at Vague Visages, and has contributed to RogerEbert.com and Fandor.

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