The playlist Keanu Reeves made with Alex Winter
In the early 1980s, Keanu Reeves found his footing as a stage actor with an early occupation at the Hedgerow Theater in Pennsylvania. His first glimpse of Hollywood fame came in 1986 after he appeared in Youngblood alongside Rob Lowe, but his major breakthrough wouldn’t come until 1989 with his more prominent role in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure alongside Alex Winter.
Following this formative performance, Reeves attracted stand-out roles in 1991’s Point Break and 1992’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula. During this period, the young actor impressively balanced his acting aspirations with concerted efforts in the realm of grunge music as the bassist for Dogstar.
The band formed in 1991 after Reeves became acquainted with fellow actor and musician Robert Mailhouse. “You know, we started in a garage, and then you end up starting to write songs, and then you’re like, ‘Let’s go out and play them!’ and then you’re like, ‘Let’s go on tour!’ and then… you’re playing,” Reeves told Jimmy Fallon in 2017.
Dogstar maintained a healthy touring presence and released two studio albums during their initial run until 2002. Over the past two decades, Reeves has taken a step back from his music career to focus on Hollywood but has recently announced that he’s set to reunite with his old Dogstar bandmates.
“Last set up on the roof in Lincoln Heights for Dogstar photo shoot. Exciting news coming soon. Thanks for being so patient,” a recent message to fans on Dogstar’s Instagram account read.
A follow-up comment elaborated on the planned reunion: “Thank you everyone for the kind comments. We are overjoyed to see such a response! Honestly, didn’t expect this. It makes us want to play out even more. We will be rolling out some new music this summer, followed by some gigs. As soon as it’s all figured out we will let everyone know immediately. So much to do, but rest assured, we are on it and have assembled a fantastic team that are helping us.”
“We are also going to make a music video to support our first tune,” it continued. “That’s all I can say now. Can’t wait to share our new music with everyone. It’s the most satisfying and meaningful batch of songs we’ve ever done. Thanks again for being so patient with us. We truly have the best, most loyal fans!”
While we wait for Dogstar to get the show on the road, we divert your attention to a playlist created by Reeves and his Bill & Ted co-star Alex Winter in the run-up to 2020’s Bill & Ted Face the Music, the third movie in the sci-fi comedy franchise.
“It was a surprising card that the writers played,” Keanu Reeves told Apple Music about being approached to reprise his role as Ted “Theodore” Loga. “They came to us maybe seven or eight years ago, and they were interested in pursuing it and collaborating with us to tell another Bill & Ted story. And I think that because the idea was good and relatable, Alex and I were on board with that.”
In the run-up to the movie, Reeves and Winter created a playlist in collaboration with Apple Music consisting of songs appearing in all three Bill & Ted movies. In relation to one of the selections, Winter revealed that he had been a member of the Kiss Army fan club in his youth. “In the Kiss Army, you got a cloth arm patch and special stickers,” he said. “I had two pages of my photo album that are collectors’ stickers of all the different albums; you got like a special version of the Destroyer cover. At like 12 years old, that was it. That was my whole universe.”
Hear Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter’s Bill & Ted-inspired playlist below.
At Home With Keanu Reeves & Alex Winter: The Playlist
- Van Halen – ‘Panama’
- Extreme – ‘Play with Me’
- Kiss – ‘God Gave Rock ‘N’ Roll to You II’ (Live)
- Steve Vai – ‘The Reaper Rap’
- Wyld Stallyns – ‘Face The Music (feat. Animals As Leaders & Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah)’
- Mastodon – ‘Rufus Lives’
- Weezer – ‘Beginning Of The End (Wyld Stallyns Edit)’
- Frank Zappa – ‘Joe’s Garage’
- Megadeth – ‘Go To Hell’
