# Animal House - why did John Belushi destroy the guitar? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [August 28, 2014, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-house-why-did-john-belushi-destroy-the-guitar/696786 "2014-08-28T19:35:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2014, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-house-why-did-john-belushi-destroy-the-guitar/696786/21 "2014-08-28T21:46:46Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > 1. And, in _ **The Twilight Zone** _, he was the Charming G.I. He’s one of a group of soldiers tramping through a rice paddy in Viet Nam. At one point, in an allusion to the ending of _ **Animal House** _, he whines, “Man, I wish we didn’t kill Lieutenant Niermeyer.” I thought he used the verb “frag”? ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-house-why-did-john-belushi-destroy-the-guitar/696786/22 "2014-08-29T00:34:39Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > 1. And, in _ **The Twilight Zone** _, he was the Charming G.I. He’s one of a group of soldiers tramping through a rice paddy in Viet Nam. At one point, in an allusion to the ending of _ **Animal House** _, he whines, “Man, I wish we didn’t kill Lieutenant Niermeyer.” NIEDERmeyer. DEAD! ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-house-why-did-john-belushi-destroy-the-guitar/696786/23 "2014-08-29T00:45:24Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Geek trivia: On ST-TNG, when Q traps the crew in a medieval simulation, Worf similarly smashes Geordi’s lute and says, “Sorry.” [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKiAhTbpL4Y) Also, [Worf is not a merry man.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1Y5KsEptTY) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-house-why-did-john-belushi-destroy-the-guitar/696786/24 "2014-08-29T20:30:20Z")
It’s a puzzle song. Like a test. Bluto has an alternate approach to tests. (Stealing answers at best. Not taking tests seems to be his thing in order to have no GPA: all courses incomplete.) Somebody’s posing a question. “Solve” by breaking guitar. Simple enough for a future US Senator. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-house-why-did-john-belushi-destroy-the-guitar/696786/25 "2014-08-29T21:58:32Z")
Some men just want to watch the world burn. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-house-why-did-john-belushi-destroy-the-guitar/696786/26 "2014-08-29T23:15:58Z")
Why? Why not? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2014, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-house-why-did-john-belushi-destroy-the-guitar/696786/27 "2014-08-30T00:05:55Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > I had no idea that such an awful song was, like, a real song. I just assumed for the last few decades that a clever National Lampoon writer came up with the most stupid lyric ever, about cherries with no stones and chicken with no bones. [Complete lyrics.](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/carlysimon/igavemyloveacherrytheriddlesong.html) It’s the same sort of concept, more or less, as “Tell her to find me an acre of land / between the salt water and the sea strand,” etc. Or, [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumbalalaika). ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2014, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-house-why-did-john-belushi-destroy-the-guitar/696786/28 "2014-08-30T02:46:37Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Remember the Great Folk Music Scare of the '60s? > [@silenus](#): > > That shit almost caught on! I sometimes think the Dope is the only place on the internet where there are people who remember that. I’m wrong, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2014, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-house-why-did-john-belushi-destroy-the-guitar/696786/29 "2014-08-30T04:32:38Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > Because it’s funny. 'Zactly! ---
**Author:** ![Killing\_Time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/76d3ee/32.png) [@Killing\_Time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Killing_Time)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2014, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-house-why-did-john-belushi-destroy-the-guitar/696786/30 "2014-08-30T07:26:49Z")
Interesting. I always thought it was glaringly obvious why he smashed the guitar. The guitar player is a pompous douchebag. He has a little groomed moustache and perfectly styled hair. He wore a turtleneck sweater to a toga party. He’s hamming up the song like there’s no tomorrow, and seems insufferably pleased with himself and how handsome he believes himself to be. Smashing the guitar is the perfect response. Trivia: I heard that Belushi was just supposed to grab the guitar and smash it, but it didn’t break on the first try, so he had to kind of go on a rampage and keep hitting it, which of course made the scene even more funny. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2014, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-house-why-did-john-belushi-destroy-the-guitar/696786/31 "2014-08-30T13:33:07Z")
I hope it was a prop guitar he busted up. I’ve always thought there was something inherently wrong with destroying musical instruments. That’s why Pete Townsend and I weren’t on speaking terms for decades. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2014, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-house-why-did-john-belushi-destroy-the-guitar/696786/32 "2014-08-30T13:39:21Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > I sometimes think the Dope is the only place on the internet where there are people who remember that. I’m wrong, of course. In guitar geek circles, it is referred to that way, even though most vintage acoustic dealers love the music of the day. It was a time when a lot of old acoustics were getting modded - pickups added, refinished, archtops replaced with flattops, psychedelic additions, etc. Not unlike the Eddie Van Halen-ification of electrics in the 80’s, when wonderful old Strats and Les Pauls were routed for locking tremolos. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2014, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-house-why-did-john-belushi-destroy-the-guitar/696786/33 "2014-08-30T15:07:49Z")
And, of course, the two quotes together are a set from Martin Mull’s _Sex and Violins_. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-house-why-did-john-belushi-destroy-the-guitar/696786/34 "2014-08-31T02:44:51Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > Because the guy was the typical college dick who brings a guitar to a party to try to pick up girls. > > And the song sucked. And the guy was WAAAAY off-key. It’s as if Belushi was putting the guitar out of its misery. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-house-why-did-john-belushi-destroy-the-guitar/696786/35 "2014-08-31T03:54:03Z")
The more I see this movie, the more I wonder why we are supposed to identify with the Deltas. Not that anyone else in the movie is much better than them, but they’re pretty damn vile. Why shouldn’t they all be expelled? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-house-why-did-john-belushi-destroy-the-guitar/696786/36 "2014-08-31T11:40:15Z")
Dude, sometimes a funny movie is funny. I wouldn’t overthink a movie like Animal House. Bugs Bunny tortures Daffy Duck throughout _Duck Amuck_, hilariously, and at the end says “Ain’t I a little stinker?” Just think of it like that… ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-house-why-did-john-belushi-destroy-the-guitar/696786/37 "2014-08-31T11:43:00Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > The more I see this movie, the more I wonder why we are supposed to identify with the Deltas. Because some people like to draw outside the lines. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-house-why-did-john-belushi-destroy-the-guitar/696786/38 "2014-08-31T12:05:19Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > I wouldn’t overthink a movie like Animal House. Just coming back to say: I posted this and then realized I was on the SDMB. Overthinking is what we _do_ ;). Heck, we’re in a thread overthinking the guitar smashing scene…😉 😉 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-house-why-did-john-belushi-destroy-the-guitar/696786/39 "2014-08-31T13:03:14Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Just coming back to say: I posted this and then realized I was on the SDMB. Overthinking is what we _do_ ;). Heck, we’re in a thread overthinking the guitar smashing scene…😉 😉 😉 Up next… why did D-Day choose to play the William Tell Overture on his throat after riding his motorcycle up the stairs? Was he intending to make people think of William Tell, or the Lone Ranger? Was he identifying with one or the other? Expect a brief hijack on if the carb on his bike was correct for that model. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-house-why-did-john-belushi-destroy-the-guitar/696786/40 "2014-08-31T13:18:25Z")
The interior shots of the delta house were made in an actual fraternity house at the University of Oregon. The [IMDB](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077975/trivia?ref_=tt_trv_trv) trivia section of the movie listing says: > [@](#): > > The hole John Belushi makes in the wall with the guitar is the only physical damage to the house the movie-makers made during the entire shoot. Instead of repairing it, the fraternity placed a frame around the hole with an engraved brass tag around the hole commemorating it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-house-why-did-john-belushi-destroy-the-guitar/696786.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-house-why-did-john-belushi-destroy-the-guitar/696786.md?page=3)