The  Blues Brothers are a unique phenomenon in entertainment history.  Their story includes Hall of Fame musicians, Late Night TV Stars, Hollywood directors, gold records, a big favor and, above all, American-grown blues, rhythm and blues and soul music. 

The Killer Bees

The Killer Bees were returning characters on Saturday Night Live. Most of the cast was involved in the “Bee” group. They all wore spring-loaded antennae and bee suits. They were inserted into regular skits with John Belushi acting as the leader. This was in season 1. The premise was that even though they are wearing bee suits, everyone acted like nothing was odd. On January 17th John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd donned the Bee costumes and with members of the SNL house band, performed the blues song ‘I’m a King Bee’ as a skit. The performance was somewhat of a surprise as Aykroyd showed off his harmonica talents. Belushi owned the stage and sang the song with the proper gusto. The Blues Brothers seed was planted.

How? Why?

Dan Aykroyd was the blues music fan and expert. He had grown up in Canada and discovered the blues at an early age. Dan was a fan of the ever Canadian Blues band,  Downchild Blues Band and joined them on stage numerous times. He knew about all the blues players, past and present. Aykroyd was a walking blues encyclopedia. He turned his co-worker, Belushi, onto the blues and Belushi ate it up. It was the late 70’s and disco was king. Belushi wasn’t interested and took to the blues as his main intake. He became obsessed. In October of 1977, when Belushi was filming “Animal House” in Eugene, Oregon, he frequented a local hotel where a young blues singer/harmonica player was performing. Belushi befriended the 25 year old musician Curtis Salgado and the two spent hours talking about the blues. Belushi’s obsession grew with the new knowledge. The picture here of Salgado shows how his look inspired the look of the Blues Brothers.

America Watched

‘The Fabulous Blues Brothers Show Band and Revue’ (their official name) made their debut on Saturday Night Live as a musical guest on April 22, 1978. The band supporting Aykroyd and Belushi was carefully constructed, with the help of musical director, Paul Shaffer, and included some big names in the world of rhythm and blues. THIS IS THE KEY to the craziness that followed. Because the band was top-notch and the SNL pair was so committed to being real blues singers, the music produced was authentic and legit. By the way, Steve Martin was the host that night and he was also very impressed by the group.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ORIGINAL BLUES BROTHERS BAND LINEUP

Steve Martin was so impressed that he asked Belushi for a big favor. Would the band want to open for him in LA at the Universal Amphitheater for a series of comedy shows in September 1978? Steve Martin was about as big as a comedian could get at the time but even he was surprised at Belushi’s answer. Belushi and the rest jumped at the chance to play a whole concert. This patchwork of a band learned an eclectic list of blue songs. That night, in Los Angeles, The Blues Brothers band and their veteran musicians played a whole set and sounded fantastic. Their set of rhythm and blues rarities hit just the right tone for the evening and America agreed. A recording was made and the Blues Brother’s first album, A Briefcase Full of Blues, was released a short time later. The album shot to #1 behind the Top 40 hit, “Soul Man’” ! A real bon-a-fide hit for the late night comedians. This particular album was where I came to know the Blues Brothers. And where I began my love of the blues. 

A few months later, the band played another one-off gig in San Francisco at the famous Winterland Theater. On New Year’s eve, 1978. The venue’s LAST concert was headlined by the Grateful Dead. Bill Graham asked The Blues Brothers to open. The whole show has recently shown up online and it served as a big reminder to me why the Blues Brothers were so unique and important. SEE THE FULL PERFORMANCE HERE

“Mission from God”

Most actor/comedians turned musical stars would be very happy to have those concerts and that one album be the beginning and the end of the experiment. The Blues Brothers had another big trick up their sleeves. As it turns out, the liner notes from the album sparked interest in making a movie about the odd couple. The liner notes told the fictional story of “Joliet Jake” and Elwood Blues. Those notes, written by Aykroyd, were enough to cause a bidding war among studios. Universal Pictures won the rights. John Landis was picked to direct and Dan Acykroyd made an attempt at a real script. 

The movie was a huge undertaking with big action and lots of extras. Big names in music history had parts. Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Cab Callaway. The movie came in way over budget. Belushi’s erratic behavior during filming slowed things down also. Initially the film did not do great box office but it has since become a cult classic. The soundtrack, however, was quite popular immediately and sold over 1 million copies.

On The Road

The band went on an actual, real tour to promote the film. I saw them at The Concord Pavilion in Concord, CA on 7/17/1980. It is one of my fondest ‘WTF’ concert  moments. To actually see Belushi and Aykroyd in person, doing their thing, was glorious.  Belushi actually DOING the cartwheels across the stage! At the time I didn’t realize that I was seeing Hall of Fame musicians on stage as the backing band. A new live recording was made from this tour, “Made In America”. Selling well, again.   Check out “ Riot Going On in Cell Block No. 9”

A few years later, tragedy struck when John Belushi died on March 5th, 1982 from an accidental heroin and cocaine overdose.

Still Blue..

The Blues Brothers franchise kept growing, even without Belushi. Although, they never could re-capture the magic. Aykroyd continued to wear the shades and hat as Elwood. He teamed up with other partners, John Goodman, Jim Belushi. Universal Studios owns the movie rights so there are Blues Brothers shows at the theme parks. Another movie was made in 1998 with Jim Belushi and Aykroyd. Nowhere near as good as the first one.  Aykroyd has put his money where his harmonica sits and opened a now-franchised nightclub call “The House of Blues”. To date there are nine restaurant/clubs sprinkled across America

For me, as a 15 year old, in 1978, The Blues Brothers Band introduced me to a style of music that I already loved but could never name. Even songs that I never heard before, like “Hey Bartender” and “Shotgun Blues”, seemed familiar and fun. In a calculated move (I assume), after every song, Belushi would make it a point to tell the audience who originally performed the song. A one-man blues jukebox! Shame on those in America who kept the blues out of the mainstream. God Bless The Blues Brothers for forcing the blues down those snob’s throats and for introducing the genre to a whole new set of fans.