Blues Brothers

Soul Man

 

Original by Sam and Dave, re-released by the Blues Brothers and was a minor hit.



The Blues Brothers first appeared as an act on the USA TV Show Saturday Night Live performing I'm A King Bee in Bee costumes with several Stax session members in their band - Duck Dunne and Steve Cropper to mention but two. The John Landis film itself, released 1n 1980, became one of the all time best selling video outputs. In a phenomenon reminiscent of the UK Blues and Soul movement which put many US stars on the map in their own country, the film revitalised an interest in the artists shown as part of the film's raison d'être. It showcased Cab Calloway, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles among the more well known stars.

---

Sandra Brennan, Hal Erickson , Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide ©:

Several R n B revivals have come and gone and one was definitely related to the Blues Brothers film.

Starting out on the USA on a TV programme called Saturday Night Live, Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi were 'The Blues Brothers. They led and sang with most of the MG's (Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn) with ex Markeys brass section.
The Film from John Landis, started off interest in soul, blues and Stax, once again.
18 years later followed up with Blues Brothers 2000.

Without any doubt a sincere tribute to earlier soul and blues artists the Blues Brothers -- Joliet Jake and his silent brother Elwood -- was among the most popular groups of the late '70s. With hit records, a sold-out concert tour and a feature film they revived interest in the soul blues genre and in particular, Stax Records. Clad in 1960's vintage black suits, narrow ties, fedoras and eternal shades (sunglasses), They brought this music to a new generation of listeners and bringing the most gifted session men in the business another chance to show off thiwer talents on stage and the big screen.

According to 'Don Kirshner' (actually Saturday Night Live bandleader Paul Shaffer in disguise), the Blues Brothers' history is as follows: 'In 1969, Marshall Checker, of the legendary Checkers Records, called me on a new blues act that had been playing in the small, funky clubs on Chicago's South Side...Today they are no longer an authentic blues act, but have managed to become a viable commercial product.' In reality, however, vocalist Jake and harpist Elwood Blues were music lovers John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, two of SNL's brightest stars who created their respective aliases in early 1976 to warm up crowds before performances of the hit series. The Blues Brothers made their national TV debut with Belushi and Aykroyd outfitted in the bee costumes they often wore for another sketch, performing (naturally enough) Slim Harpo's I'm a King Bee, and in the months to follow they grew in popularity, appearing on the program with increasing regularity.

The Blues Brothers' band included top Memphis session men lSteve Cropper and bassist Donald ''Duck' Dunne who together appeared on many of the original Stax label recordings of songs in the group's repertoire. Later incarnations also featured notables like bluesman Matt 'Guitar' Murphy. While opening for comedian Steve Martin in Los Angeles in 1978, the Blues Brothers recorded their debut live LP Briefcase Full of Blues. The album quickly went platinum, launching Top 40 hit covers of Soul Man and Rubber Biscuit.They also toured in 1980 to promote their feature-length movie The Blues Brothers, a sprawling musical comedy featuring cameos by everyone from Cab Calloway to Aretha Franklin, as well as their second LP, Made in America; two more Top 40 hits - Gimme Some Lovin' and Who's Making Love - appeared that same year.

In 1981, The Best of the Blues Brothers was released, further solidifying their massive popularity; however, on March 5, 1982, John Belushi died in Hollywood of an accidental drug overdose, and the Blues Brothers' saga was effectively over. Or so it seemed; however, as the movie remained a cult favorite and old Saturday Night Live sketches continued to run in syndication, the group's 'legend' continued to grow, and in 1988 Cropper, Dunn, Murphy and other players re-formed the Blues Brothers Band for a world tour, often backing singer Eddie Floyd. In 1992 they even cut a new LP, Red White and Blues, which featured a guest appearance from Aykroyd/Elwood. Around the same time, Dan Aykroyd also mounted his House of Blues franchise, an international chain of highclass blues venues; he, actor John Goodman and Belushi's brother Jim also appeared on occasion in a new Blues Brothers lineup. Finally, in 1998 a second movie, Blues Brothers 2000, was released to negative reviews and poor box office returns. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

John Belushi Biography

Son of a Chicago restaurateur, American comic actor John Belushi played drums in a high school band and excelled in football. But acting was his first love, a love requited by college productions and summer stock. Belushi and several old pals auditioned for Chicago's Second City comedy troupe; only Belushi was selected, and he became the youngest-ever performer to appear in Second City's 'mainstage' productions. Belushi's improvisational style sometimes had a nasty, dangerous, 'politically incorrect' edge, but these were the early 1970s, when such traits were prized rather than discouraged.

John's guerrilla comic techniques were reportedly inspired by the 1968 Democratic convention riots in Chicago; he was among the few performers who could successfully exploit violence and social upheaval as a source of humor. Belushi was hired in 1973 for the off-Broadway National Lampoon's Lemmings; he then participated in future National Lampoon projects like the syndicated Radio Hour. From here he was cast (along with several Second City alumni) in NBC's new 'gonzo' satirical revue program Saturday Night Live in 1975. Frustrated by the media's concentration on costar Chevy Chase during SNL's maiden season, Belushi fully came into his own once Chase left in 1976; among Belushi's celebrated comic creations were the fish-out-of-water Samurai Warrior, the 'chizzburger chizzburger' short-order cook, and - in tandem with close friend Dan Aykroyd - the ultra-hip Blues Brothers. Belushi's first film appearance was a disappointingly small role in the Jack Nicholson western Goin' South (1978), but with his next movie he truly hit his stride. As Bluto, the beer-besotted fraternity goof in National Lampoon's Animal House (1978), Belushi was grossly uproarious, almost single-handedly launching a nationwide collegiate craze for toga parties. The actor was a full-fledged movie star, but audiences were generally permitted to see only the 'Bluto' side of Belushi.

The actor fought for better and more varied film roles, sometimes succeeding (1982's Blues Brothers), often failing (1981's Continental Divide). Never an advocate of 'moderation in everything', Belushi tended to emulate 'Bluto' in real life with his excessive eating and drinking; his drug intake, already formidable in his Lemmings days, increased as his star ascended, terrifying even those friends who were themselves cocaine users. On March 5, 1982, comedian Robin Williams and writer Nelson Ryan came to visit Belushi in his temporary living quarters at West Hollywood's Chateau Marmont Hotel; they were the last of his friends to see him alive. Belushi was dead before the day was over, the victim of a cocaine and heroin overdose. With him at the time was erstwhile singer Cathy Smith, who would later be charged with involuntary manslaughter for her alleged role in administering the fatal drug jolt. The meteoric rise and fall of Belushi was the stuff that legends are made of, overshadowing his brilliant comic gifts in favor of the sordid details. Two books have been written about Belushi: Robert Woodward's Wired, and John's widow Jackie Belushi's 'answer' to Woodward, Samurai Widow. -- Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dan Aykroyd - Biography

One of the most vibrant comic personalities of the 1970s and '80s, as well as a noted actor and screenwriter, Dan Aykroyd got his professional start in his native Canada. Before working as a stand-up comedian in various Canadian nightclubs, Aykroyd studied at a Catholic seminary from which he was later expelled; he then worked as a train brakeman, a surveyor, and studied sociology at Carleton University in Ottawa, where he began writing and performing comedy sketches. His success as a comic in school led him to work with the Toronto branch of the famed Second City improvisational troupe.

During this time-- while he was also managing the hot nightspot Club 505 on the side--Aykroyd met comedian and writer John Belushi, who had come to Toronto to scout new talent for 'The National Lampoon Radio Hour.' In 1975, both Aykroyd and Belushi were chosen to appear in the first season of Canadian producer Lorne Michael's innovative comedy television series Saturday Night Live. It was as part of the show that Aykroyd gained notoriety for his dead-on impersonations of presidents Nixon and Carter. He also won fame for his other characters, such as Beldar, the patriarch of the Conehead clan of suburban aliens, and Elwood Blues, the second half of the Blues Brothers (Jake Blues was played by Belushi).


Aykroyd made his feature-film debut in 1977 in the Canadian comedy Love at First Sight, but neither it nor his subsequent film, Mr. Mike's Mondo Video, were successful. His first major Hollywood screen venture was as a co-lead in Spielberg's 1941 (1979). Aykroyd still did not earn much recognition until 1980, when he and Belushi reprised their popular SNL characters in The Blues Brothers, a terrifically successful venture that managed to become both one of the most often-quoted films of the decade and a true cult classic. Aykroyd and Belushi went on to team up one more time for Neighbor's (1981) before Belushi's death in 1982. Aykroyd's subsequent films in the 1980s ranged from the forgettable to the wildly successful, with all-out comedies like Ghostbusters (1984) and Dragnet (1987) falling into the latter category. Many of these films allowed him to collaborate with some of Hollywood's foremost comedians, including fellow SNL alumni Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, and Eddie Murphy, as well as Tom Hanks and the late John Candy. In such pairings, Aykroyd usually played the straight man, typically an uptight intellectual, or latent psycho. He tried his hand at drama in 1989 as Jessica Tandy's son in Driving Miss Daisy and for his efforts won an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.


During the 1990s, Aykroyd's career began to falter as he appeared in one disappointment after another. Although there were successes like My Girl (1991), Chaplin (1992), Casper (1995) Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) and Antz (1998), the all-out flops, like The Coneheads (1993) Exit to Eden (1994) and Sgt. Bilko (1996) were plentiful. Likewise, the long-awaited Blues Brothers sequel, Blues Brothers 2000 (1998) proved to be a great disappointment. However, Aykroyd continued to maintain a screen profile, starring as Kirk Douglas' son in the family drama Diamonds in 1999.
 -- Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide