Audible has just dropped Blues Brothers: The Arc of Gratitude, a star-studded Audible Original oral history in which Dan Aykroyd tells the full story of how he and John Belushi joined musical forces in the mid-1970s.
They turned their love of the genre into the double-Platinum 1978 album Briefcase Full of Blues, which spawned the blockbuster The Blues Brothers, starring their alter egos “Joliet” Jake and Elwood Blues.
Aykroyd tells ABC Audio Belushi initially was more of a fan of heavy metal and punk, but eventually “really committed to it.”
Though Belushi and Aykroyd first performed Slim Harpo‘s “I’m a King Bee” on SNL in 1976, the Blues Brothers — complete with their signature look — made their SNL debut on April 22, 1978, backed by a band that included legendary musicians Steve Cropper, Donald “Duck” Dunn, Thomas “Bones” Malone and Matt “Guitar” Murphy.
Aykroyd recalls some early resistance from producer Lorne Michaels. “Lorne loved the bees. I think that that was what really started us was singing ‘King Bee’ with the hats and glasses and the bee costume.”
Michaels was skeptical “when we proposed the idea of expanding it out,” Aykroyd says. “And I think Lorne was convinced by some of the members of the band that this is a real thing. … And I think Lorne saw the heat of it eventually and of course fully got behind it.”
The Blues Brothers film in 1980 starred the band, and featured performances from icons like Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, John Lee Hooker and James Brown.
“The Blues Brothers aren’t really the star of The Blues Brothers,” Aykroyd admits. “It’s Aretha, it’s Ray, it’s John Lee Hooker. It’s those venerable artists, and it’s in our band today. And yesterday.”
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