Illustration in 1980s airbrush style: two teenage slackers play wild air guitar in a cluttered California garage, a real guitar and amp beside them and a sunset street with palm trees beyond the open door.

Original artwork, not a still

Bill and Ted

Excellent!

— Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure • 1989

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

"Excellent!" is the duo's entire philosophy: no problem so tangled that it can't be met with a grin and an air guitar. It is how they greet everything, from Napoleon to the future, and it set the tone for a film whose real message comes later as "Be excellent to each other." The word and the riff are inseparable; fans can't say one without miming the other.

Context reviewed

In context

Spoilers for Bill & Ted's Excellent AdventureShow the scene

It's early morning in Bill's garage in San Dimas, and Bill and Ted are planning the future of their band, Wyld Stallyns. They'll never be any good without Eddie Van Halen, and they can't get Eddie Van Halen without a triumphant video, which needs decent instruments, which needs them to learn to play. Stuck in that loop, they pause, think, cry "Excellent!" and fire off an air-guitar riff. Then the cuckoo clock strikes eight: their history report, the one they must pass to stay together, is still waiting.

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Context reviewed

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