#but anyway i'm fucking insane and i'm Beyond thrilled that the people who made bill and ted 3 CLEARLY loved the series

[brittlebutch]

OK. are y’all ready to listen to me overanalyze wyld stallyns music? Wyld Stallyns music from Bill and Ted?? PLEASE say you are

I’ve been listening to ‘That Which Binds Us Through Time’ and ‘Face the Music’ a lot lately because i’m obsessive, but I’ve been thinking about how much the two songs are able to tell about Bill and Ted’s struggle with their music over the years. Even outside of the entire plot and action of the movie, these two songs say nearly everything you need to know about the journey lmao

‘That Which Binds Us Through Time...’ is a song that utilizes a lot of instruments and a lot of looping; several sections of the song are just repeated chunks of melodies and rhythm played by separate instruments. There are several little arcs of the music, but everything returns back to the same loops. You can hear guitar playing as well, but it’s never the Primary focus of the song - it’s used as an undercurrent beneath some of the primary looping instruments, like the Theremin. When Bill and Ted play the song at the wedding, their guitars don’t even make it to center stage (they also don’t get a chance to play them at all, which I’ll come back to). 

It really is an excellent song, but there’s kind of a slogged sound to it. The repetition is part of that - I do really like the repeating loops and they sound great because Bill and Ted are good at playing the instruments but none of the instruments are allowed to shine because they have to balance so many - especially when performing it live. They don’t have a band behind them anymore it’s only them, and there’s only so much they can do on their own. They have to rely on loops to pad out the song - to extend it and make sure that it sounds like More than just two dudes with a couple instruments - because they can’t rely on any bandmates to help them perform Or help them write. 

It also, like I said, doesn’t really have a big climax to the song that helps burst the vague sense of anticipation that runs through the melody - there’s a lot of build up but no Release in the tension. This, I think, does an excellent job of underlining the place that Bill and Ted are in in regards to their music. They’ve been working so hard throughout their entire life to write the song that unites the world, but they haven’t been able to do it yet. All build up with no release - the tension can’t go anywhere because Bill and Ted still have to carry it. And like I said before, there’s no one around to bear that burden with them, so there’s nothing else contributed to the sound BUT the years of desperation that Bill and Ted have put into it. 

Now with ‘Face the Music’ I’m only focusing on Bill and Ted’s solo towards the end of the song since the overall composition is Billie and Thea, not theirs. But even JUST THAT part of the song is such a Climax for them, both the song and Bill and Ted themselves. It drives me insane, and I think the fact that they went back to guitar has a lot to do with it, because THE FIRST shot we see of Bill and Ted in Every Single Movie is them with their guitars (Not counting the reveal of Evil Robot Bill and Ted in Bogus Journey - Bill and Ted themselves are first seen in their Battle of the Bands audition), but they don’t get a chance to play it even once before MP46. Like I said, even though ‘That Which Binds Us’ has guitar sections included in it, they don’t get a chance to play in movie because they get interrupted due to the unconventional sound of the song.

I think, more than anything, Bill and Ted are guitarists. When they were still planning Wyld Stallyns in high school, they have a piano and a drumset, but they don’t play them. Even despite the fact that it takes them years to properly learn how to play the guitar, they still love to play and perform just because it’s Fun. They don’t even necessarily care what the sound is, just the act of playing delights them, which I’m obsessed with. But anyway, Bill and Ted - shown through ‘That Which Binds Us’ are really good at playing a bunch of different instruments, but they still love the guitar more than anything. 

So during ‘Face the Music’, Billie and Thea could have handed Bill and Ted any instrument, and I bet they’d be able to play it. After all, Jimmi Hendrix is there so they already have a guitar in the sound, and they give Jo and Liz a keytar and a violin, so they’re clearly adding other instruments. BUT they give Bill and Ted both guitars because they know their dads (ALSO worth noting that I’m similarly obsessed with the fact that Billie and Thea were the only ones who stopped to consider the fact that Bill and Ted have been alone in the band for years. When The Great Leader brings Bill and Ted to the future to write the song she talks about Preston/Logan And The Band and claims she gave them ‘everything they needed’, BUT the first thing Billie and Thea tell to Kellye is that ‘they’re all alone’ and they want to help support them because they don’t HAVE a band, they’ve only had each other. Anyway) 

They give Bill and Ted guitars and for the first time in GOD KNOWS how long, they get to play with other people. You can SEE how excited that makes them before they even start to play; how thrilled they are that Billie and Thea have built up this composition and that they get to play with other people again. Ted hops all over the stage to give high fives to his family because they’re all there with him for the first time in a long time!! i LOVE the little grins that Jimmi Hendrix and Bill are able to share - because there’s no WAY that only Billie and Thea were Hendrix fans, Bill and Ted almost certainly were too and to get that surprised little look and nod of approval from HENDRIX HIMSELF - no wonder Bill’s face scrunches up so excitedly dude!! 

Not only that BUT because the sound isn’t resting wholly on Bill and Ted’s shoulders they get to have fun with the music. When they play ‘That Which Binds Us’ during the wedding, they don’t smile before Or during the performance because they’re so concentrated on getting everything done. It’s not something they have the freedom to relax during because the work is balanced so precariously between them. in ‘Face the Music’ however, it’s not just them! They have the space to bounce around stage, to play with each other (in a classic sense, not Just an instrument sense) and play their guitars with proper feel, because they don’t have to focus on playing each part so precisely. The song isn’t preplanned, it’s an Improvisational song they’re all playing by ear with each other. The music has personality because they finally have the breathing room to Give it to it, and the tension that hung over ‘That Which Binds Us’ is GONE because Bill and Ted are finally given the release that they’ve been working for all these years. Their solo IS the climax and the release of the ‘Face the Music’ song, they break the tension! They can play and have fun, work off of each other and the other people in the band, and it can be natural instead of a very carefully planned deliberate attempt and you can HEAR all of that in the solos themselves.

Tl;dr: Both are EXCELLENT songs because Bill and Ted are good at what they do, But “That Which Binds Us Through Time” is a tense and precariously balanced song with no release or relief because Bill and Ted have to handle it alone, while their solo in “Face the Music” grants them the breathing room to play and have fun with feel in their playing because they’re finally able to work with a band again instead of just being on their own. AND I’m still fucking bonkers over these dudes.