Two of the legends of comedy….Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi….who hailed from the famous 2nd City Comedy in Chicago, IL….were big-time lovers of soul and rhythm + blues….as a result of being part of the entertainment scene in The Windy City….when they formed a musical group called The Blues Brothers….who became instant successes in the music business when they starred in a movie by the same name….which featured the lives of Joliet’s own Jake and Elwood Blues….as they went on a mission from God to raise money for the failing orphanage that they had been raised in.
Jake Blues (Belushi) was the lead singer and brother Elwood Blues (Aykroyd) played the harmonica….as these two comic legends parlayed their love of R & B into an incrediblely sucesssful run as recording artists under The Blues Brothers name.
The Blues Brothers began as an affectionate joke-cum-tribute to R&B music….and taken in that spirit it retained its entertainment value….even after this live album topped the charts and selling two million copies….which produced hit singles in “Rubber Biscuit” and “Soul Man” as seen in the video herewith. The guardians of popular music had always been entirely too reverent and humorless….whom after all the success…it wasn’t long before they were leveling charges of rip-off against the Brothers…. while complaining that John Belushi couldn’t sing as well as Otis Redding. So what? No one seems to have noticed that Belushi was as obsessive about citing his sources as Frank Sinatra is about naming his arrangers — you’d have thought those critics would have appreciated the footnotes. The beneficiaries of Belushi’s encomiums didn’t mind the increased exposure or the renewed royalty checks….saying, “I suggest you buy as many blues albums as you can,”….as Belushi told the audience at the time….and even today, what comes across in these performances is the sincerity of feeling….the humor in the adaptation….and some tasty playing from a top-notch band.
Any way you cut the pie….everything Blues Brothers is pure gold here at ImaSportsphile.
