The influence of both The Blues Brothers Band and the 1980 film of the same name have been enormous in musical and cultural ways, and this paper will explore that influence in depth. In a sense the band and the film have different and independent existences, and, therefore, it is hard to separate them and distinguish between the different incarnations of the Band: it is easier to think of The Blues Brothers as a musical and cultural phenomenon: The Blues Brothers continue to be a legend in the history of blues music, as well as the history of Hollywood. There are countless Blues Brothers fans around the world, and also a large number of Blues Brothers tribute shows are appearing all over the globe. It is a musical phenomenon that will never die. The band’s thriving website – three million and a half registered users worldwide – is a testament to the continuing popularity of anything to do with The Blues Brothers.
The Blues Brothers Band was born on the late night comedy show Saturday Night Live and grew from a sketch performed on January 17th, 1976 in which John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd performed a Slim Harpo song called ‘I’m a King Bee.’ Both actors developed an interest in blues music after the sketch, although Ackroyd was already a blues devotée, having been exposed to the influence of the blues when he was growing up in Ottawa. Their growing and mutual interest resulted in the formation of a band called the Blues Brothers Band who performed for the first time on Saturday Night Live on April 22nd, 1978. The band featured a range of accomplished blues musicians who had been specially assembled and invited to participate. Ackroyd and Belushi were the band’s frontmen and lead singers. The success of the sketch lead to an album – Briefcase Full of Blues – and in 1980 the original film, The Blues Brothers. The first album’s liner notes foreshadowed the plot of the film, by starting to flesh out the back story of the two brothers Jake and Elwood Blues, whose story is told in the film. The liner notes establish the basic premise of the plot – that Elwood and Jake have been brought up in a Roman Catholic orphanage in Chicago and they have been introduced to the blues by the janitor, Curtis – who was to be played by Cab Calloway in the film.
The musical influence of the Blues Brothers’ phenomenon has an aspect which looks to the past, and an aspect that looks to the future. On the one hand, the success of the film gave an immediate boost to some of the blues singers featured in it, effectively reviving their careers and leading to a renewed interest in their old recordings, to new recordings and to individual tours and gigs which was of enormous benefit to the artists themselves. Steve Cropper, the original band’s rhythm guitarist and still a member of the current band, has rejected the accusation that was made at the time of the film and is repeated from time to time even now: that The Blues Brothers were somehow guilty of selling out to the film studios of Hollywood and exploiting both the musical legacy of the blues and the individual artists themselves for the sake of quick profit. In short, The Blues Brothers were just a gimmick, designed to make money. Cropper himself, well before the Blues Brothers were ever thought of, was part of the legendary Muscle Shoals session band and part of the successful mixed race group, Booker T and the MGs. Along with the bass player, Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn, he played on almost every single recorded by Stax Records at the Muscle Shoals studio in Alabama and has asserted, in the face of the accusations of selling out, that John Belushi was as good a singer as many of the recognized artist that he had recorded with. It is also true that Belushi made up for his lack of singing ability with showmanship and superb presentation. The line up of the band has changed over the years and even some band members from the Saturday Night Live show did not appear in the film, but notable members have included the drummer, Willie’Too Big’ Hall, who had been a member of the Isaac Hayes’ band, and Matt ‘Guitar’ Murphy who had previously played with Howlin’ Wolf. Therefore, the musical credentials of the band are very strong and if it is the case that there was any element of exploitation, it is true that the black musicians involved in the project have been happy to ignore them. This accusation of exploitation does not really fit the facts of what happened both during filming and in the many years after it. The crowd in the original movie were genuinely enthused by Cab Calloway’s performance, even though very few had ever heard of him: the enthusiasm of the crowd did not have to be faked. In addition to seeing the Blues Brothers in person, they got to discover a star from another generation, Cab Calloway. They responded to his "Hi De Ho's" with the same delight as the hepcats used to do and gave Calloway a spontaneous standing ovation. In addition while many of the band’s cover versions were of songs that were already well-known and had been hits for the original artists, there were many others which would have remained very obscure had The Blues Brothers Band not successfully revived them: for example, Sam and Dave’s ‘Soul Man’ had been a hit all over the world for the original artists, but the Chips’ ‘Rubber Biscuit’ was known only to aficionados before The Blues Brothers Band recorded it and brought it to a wider audience. Belushi called the film "a tribute to black American music.". (Blues Brothers official website) The score, featuring no original songs, showcases music of decades past and some of its greatest performers. They all play characters which are integral to the story.
Therefore, one can see that in addition to reviving the careers of individual artists The Blue Brothers film also contributed immeasurably to renewed interest in the blues and in Stax soul records all over the world. It is striking that the film is still the only Hollywood musical to gross more overseas than in the U.S.A. itself, a tribute to its universal appeal. John Lee Hooker has credited the film with a resurgence in his career and an increase in tour offers. In an interview with Pavlichenko (p 334, 2005) he said:
Before the Blurs Brothers film, man, I was going nowhere fast…. Those boys [Ackroyd and Belushi] sure loved the blues, man, and I sold more records after the film than I had done for twenty years. Hell, it might have been exploitation, but I reckon I was doing the exploiting.
Aretha Franklin too asserts in the same book that “that film was good for my career. Suddenly a whole new generation knew who Aretha Franklin was.” (Pavlichenko, 339). Exactly the same might be said for Cab Calloway (Pavlichenko, 345), whose participation in the film and subsequent appearances with the live band have lead to vastly improved album sales, a second career as an actor and several European tours (Pavlichenko, 248).
Undoubtedly, the Blues Brothers Band’s music was influenced by the passion for the blues of both Ackroyd and Belushi, but its roots in Booker T and the MGs should not be ignored. Many of the band’s covers of original blues songs added elements of rock and jazz, playing the blues in a style more suited, in itself, to rock music. The horn section came from the New York tradition of clean, sharp jazz and big band sounds, while the rhythm section were from Memphis and the South, by way of the great Chicago blues recording studios and produced a grittier, more harsh and driven sound. However, another aspect of the film which is often overlooked is that is contains many genres of music, not only the blues: the score contains blues, rock and roll, soul and rhythm and blues, as well as some country-western, pop, Latin and classical. This may account for the continuing appeal of the band’s music: the band continues to tour, al-be-it with a constantly changing line up of musicians and has itself spawned many tribute bands all over the world. The film’s choreography, like its music, is also a fusion of different styles:
Pre-recording of the musical numbers was done in Chicago by Belushi, Aykroyd, the band, Calloway, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin. The film's choreography blends theatrical Broadway style, traditional Hollywood numbers, totally cinematic constructions and concert staging. In connection with this, it might be argued that the fusion of musical styles, drawing on traditions of both black soul and blues music and on white rock and roll, has had an important role in breaking down racial barriers – which the film also encouraged – through allowing black singers and musicians to participate equally with their white colleagues amd with the film’s stars – Ackroyd and Belushi. Indeed, the plots of both movies present the fascist and racist militias of the U.S.A. in a very negative light and critically it is hard to see the film as exploitative – in both films the police and the penal system are portrayed as authoritarian and cruel, and the Blues Brothers are as much victims as the black musicians whose culture they champion and celebrate. In the first film black singers James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles and John Lee Hooker are all given key and pivotal songs to sing. In the second film, Aretha Franklin and James Brown reprise their roles form the first film and there are a galaxy of famous musicians – Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Junior Wells, Lonnie Brooks, Eddie Floyd, Wilson Pickett, Isaac Hayes, Sam Moore, Taj Mahal and Jonny Lang, as well as an entirely separate band lead by B.B. King. Prior to release the director was very optimistic about the film:
Blues Brothers 2000 is a sequel in the truest sense of the word and I find that really exciting…. Not only does it pick up 18 years after the old one left off end genuinely continues the story of Elwood Blues, but I think it's one of the few pictures in history to actually have most of the original cast members - Aretha Franklin, Kathleen Freeman, Frank Oz, Steve Lawrence, the Band, James Brown - return to play the same characters. And they're all literally 18 years older. (Official Blues Brothers website).
The second film demonstrated its commitment to a variety of musical acts,as Jon Landis the film director’s asserted before its release:
We've assembled a fantastic group of performers…. Well-known, traditional rhythm and blues artists such as James Brown, Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, Wilson Pickett, Eddie Floyd, Junior Wells, Lonnie Brooks, Taj Mahal, Sam Moore and new and upcoming artists such as Jonny Lang, Erykah Badu and Blues Traveler. It's a really amazing group of players.
The tradition of musical fusion is shown by the range of artist included and by the different styles of staging the songs: as with most musicals, the element of dance also figures prominently. The film's 14 musical numbers incorporate a blend of theatrical Broadway styles and Busby Berkeley and burlesque-type numbers with traditional concert staging. However, despite the careful preparations, the second film was a critical and commercial failure, as Zwinkler makes clear: “The second film demonstrates the artistic emptiness into which Dan Ackroyd has descended: it was a cultural desert filled with the artistic successes of other people.” (211).
The roles of Ackroyd and Belsuhi in The Blues Brothers’ phenomenon should not be underestimated. The added appeal of two comparatively well-known television and Hollywood actors fronting the band must also have aided the success of the band and the film by giving both a much higher public profile and the oxygen of publicity. Even the the use of Chicago as a backdrop to the story of Jake and Elwood has helped establish Chicago as a city which could serve as a setting for films and since 1980 many films have been shot in Chicago. To bring The Blues Brothers to the screen, the filmmakers spent three-and-a-half months on location in Chicago, where the story is set. Producer Robert K. Weiss said, "We received unprecedented cooperation from the city of Chicago, the state of Illinois, and local talent and crews. Rarely have I seen or heard of a city making so many locations available to one film production. As a result, we feel that our movie highlights the rich atmosphere of this unique metropolis better than it has ever been seen on the screen before.” (Blues Brothers official website). The trademark look of Jake and Elwood Blues – shades, hats and black suits has been acknowledged by Ackroyd as being a homage to John Lee Hooker and to the jazz and blues musicians of the 1940s and 1950s who dressed ‘straight’ in order to fit in with conventional society. The black suits and hats worn by Jake and Elwood were derived from Jazz album covers of the '50s and were originally worn by John Lee Hooker. This get-up was intended to make musicians look like businessmen and thus avoid the attention of the police. It is possible to see the influence of costume even in an unrelated film such as Men in Black.
The cultural importance of The Blues Brothers film has even been recognized by the Roman Catholic Church itself: in 2010 L’Osservatore Romano, a newspaper considered the voice of the Catholic Church, hailed the film as essentially Catholic in its ideology, symbolism and moral references. From Saturday Night Live to the Vatican City – quite an astonishing journey!
Again it could be argued that the film’s story appeals because it is a story of attempted redemption on the part of two men who have become outsiders in their society, so that their story appeals to the part of us that likes to see the underdog succeed. Ackroyd himself has been clear about this redemptive aspect of the two brothers: “It's the story of two hoodlums who want to go straight and get redeemed. But they just don't have it together and they keep getting into bigger and bigger trouble." (Blues Brothers official website). The director of the film also stresses another religious aspect of the story:
Jake and Elwood are on a genuine crusade…. It's not the Holy Grail they're after, its 5,000 bucks. But their quest is for equally good reasons. They're good and sympathetic people. To me, that's the strength of the movie. The audience must like the characters. (Blues Brothers official website).
It is simple: Jake and Elwood are appealing characters, and the performances of Ackroyd and Belushi are charismatic and powerful. These two aspects of the story explain both the plot’s wide appeal to audiences all over the world and its endorsement by the Vatican. Even the recent stage production is at pains to stress the religious nature of the story of the two orphaned brothers:
The theme of Revival is the dream of salvation. Jake has spent most of the last several years stuck in Purgatory and the Blues Brothers are on a mission: to get Jake into the "Kingdom of Heaven." With the help of Sister Callie, Preacher Man, three intriguing choir singers and the band, Jake seeks redemption through melody, rhythm and verse. After some reminiscing with the band, some impassioned preaching and inspired music, the audience is enticed, ready and willing to join the mission by joining the choir. Which gets to the heart of the show -- it’s about the music. (Blues Brothers official website).
Towards the end of the twentieth century The Blues Brothers’ phenomenon continued to show its appeal, spawning video games, further albums, an animated series in 1997, a second film (The Blues Brothers 2000, released in 1998), and, at the time of writing, a proposed prime time television series. In 2004 a stage musical – The Blues Brothers Revival - was produced in Chicago to great critical and popular acclaim. There is even a novel available for those who want access to the story in conventional prose.The Band’s approved website has arrange of memorabilia and the earlier accusations of commercial exploitation might ring true, were it not for the obvious enthusiasm for the blues that motivates all this, and, lest we forget, the association of blues music with the oppressed and downtrodden, the forsaken and the forgotten. The website home page makes clear how influential the Band’s music and films have been, claiming: “The Blues Brothers are what can only be described as a musical, comedic, and cinematic legend. They have become part of our culture, and have spawned countless tribute acts all across the world.” Zwinkler (225) cuts through the essentially hagiographic tone of the website:
The Blues Brothers phenomenon encapsulates the late 20th century crisis of capitalism. It has succeeded in emasculating the blues – the proud musical invention of the oppressed American black people and the only cultural genre that American has given the world – by transforming it into a franchise. It is a musical MacDonalds.
For fans and registered users the websites offer links to everything connected with The Blues Brothers Band – DVDs, CDs, clothing, musical instruments, tour schedules, written copies of the most famous speeches, models of Jake and Elwood – even the relatively unsuccessful animated series has a link and its own dedicated page. As the new century rolls on Dan Ackroyd continues to present a radio show (available all over the world in 180 outlets) which is a weekly tribute to the blues music that has inspired him throughout his working life. Ackroyd himself says of the radio show:
Now in its 13th season, The House of Blues Radio Hour is also intended to be a haven for blues performers and lovers of this purely American contribution to world culture. Ackroyd is clearly enthusiastic about the show:
Since the program first aired back in 1993, we have showcased hundreds of records, many of them world premieres. We have interviewed hundreds of musicians, label owners, producers, writers, and knowledgeable fans and promoters. We have done shows highlighting the tenacious blues record labels of today, without whom the blues would wither on the vine. We have featured a multitude of performers. Some of them our listeners already knew, some of them were heard nationally for the first time on our program. (Blues Brothers official website).
In addition to his radio show, Ackroyd also co-owns an American chain of restaurants. House of Blues (HOB) is a chain of music halls and restaurants founded in 1992 by Hard Rock Cafe founder Isaac Tigrett and his friend and investor Dan Aykroyd. It is a home for live music and southern-inspired cuisine, whose clubs celebrate African-American culture, specifically blues music and folk art. The charter HOB in Harvard Square which opened its doors on Thanksgiving Day 1992 has since closed (although the original hands-in-concrete driveway still remains on the property), but plans are in the works to reopen in Boston in a larger venue. Jim Belushi is also closely associated with the enterprise and is present at most openings.
The official Blues Brothers Revival makes completely clear the reverence with which the blues and its black American creators are seen, or at least that is the impression conveyed by the official website:
The Official Blues Brothers Revival is not a presentation of The Blues Brothers movie brought to stage, nor simply a revival of the characters Jake and Elwood Blues. Blues Brothers Revival is foremost an homage to Chicago's rich history of Blues, Gospel and traditional Soul music as presented by our talented music director Ron Walters Jr. and his sizzlin', jump-for-joy, powerhouse band. Blues Brothers official website).
However, not all commentators share the tone of uncritical adoration of the official Blues Brothers website. Zwinkler writes: “Surely there can be no clearer indication of the insidious influence of Hollywood capitalism than the enduring franchise of the Blues Brothers. Dan Ackroyd has based an entire career around the musical efforts of black Americans and his entire oeuvre can be seen as an act of imperialist exploitation.” (220).
Works Cited
http://www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/
Pavlichenko, Samantha. Hard Travellin’: A New History of the Blues. 2005. London: Routledge.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blues_Brothers_Band
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blues_Brothers_(film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues_Brothers:_Private
Zwinkler, Martin. Commissars and Cabaret: A Marxist Approach to the Hollywood Musical. 2008. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
