As for the musical legends in the movie, yeah, they are all (rightly) regarded as legends now, but what you have to realize is that at the time the film was made most of them were at low ebbs in their careers and largely forgotten by the record-buying public. John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd, on the other hand, were huge in 1980 – at the absolute peak of their popularity. Even before the movie came out, Belushi and Ackroyd had already parlayed the popularity of their “Blues Brothers” skit on Saturday Night Live into a double platinum album, Briefcase Full of Blues (1978).
By including these beloved (but frankly washed-up) older musicians in their movie, Belushi and Ackroyd really dragged them back into the limelight, and caused a generation of kids who had been unaware of them to go dig up their old records…thus securing their legendary status.
A modern analog wouldn’t be a movie featuring American Idol winners, but rather a movie peppered with great-but-forgotten acts of the 70s to 90s.
I just rewatched both. Check out John Lee Hooker first because when that scene ends Jake and Elwood go into the Soul Food Diner, thus transitioning to Arethra. Yes, it does look like she’s lip synching.
JLH on the other hand actually looks a bit restrained and/or understated for his ownself. I’m actually only being half facetious as the Hook usually had on get ups that were a bit more in your face. I think **silenus **has borrow more than a few dress tips from the Hook.
I grew up in Harvey (spitting distance from Calumet City) and did most of my shopping at the Dixie Square mall before it closed down. The city later sued the producers, claiming they had agreed to repair any damage, but just left wreckage behind and ran once they finished shooting the chase scene. I never did hear if that got resolved.
Faded, maybe, but I think washed up is a bit harsh. They were all working musicians then, and some of those guy’s are still working today. Oh and BTW, RIP **Alan Mr. Fabulous Rubin, d. June 08/11.
One likes to think they had as much fun making that movie as it seems.
I was in high school when the movie came out. As a child of the lily white suburbs I didn’t really appreciate the talents of Ray Charles or Aretha Franklin, although I recognized both of them at the time. What my friends and I couldn’t believe about the movie was that THEY TRASHED A SHOPPING MALL. Man, that was hilarious.
Harsh but accurate, I think. When was the last time any of them had recorded a hit?
They had faded from the public consciousness, and were largely unknown to the teenagers who would discover them via the Blues Brothers movie.
Witness the lyrics of Hey Nineteen, released by Steely Dan that same year (and about the singer trying to relate to a 19-year-old):
*
Hey nineteen
that’s 'Retha Franklin
She don’t remember
the Queen of Soul
*
Well, I disagree, the genre they played in had faded from the spotlight, and they were mostly unknown to me when I saw it at about 20 y/o, but that’s not the same as washed up, at least not how I would use the term.
Never heard about a lawsuit, but one of the Urban Explorers at youtube has a whole bunch of footage from the mall, he does mention in one of them that some of the wreckage from the film was still visible when he visited in 09/10.
I remember seeing a magazine ad with a picture of Elwood and Jake looking straight ahead with the caption “They are on a mission from God”. But I don’t remember movie reviews being all that positive. Too excessive, too many car crashes, too long.
There were a lot of music critics who didn’t much care for the fact that two white boys made a record of a bunch of classic black songs, didn’t do them very well and were excessively popular. When the “Made in America” album came out in 1980, the reviewer for “Circus” magazine (which covered a lot of areas in rock and not just heavy metal like it later became) said that anyone who bought this album instead of the originals should be covered in honey and buried in an anthill. I was so inspired I went out and bought it.
Cool footage. Thanks. I haven’t seen the place in probably 30 years.
The city fathers in Harvey at the time imagined that they would be able to attract new businesses and reopen the mall some day. But it was all a dream. Much if the whole city looks like that now – even a lot of the homes. I lot of people torched their own homes for the insurance money and split.
The movie did pretty good box office at the time, but it wasn’t a massive blockbuster or anything.
What I remember most is all the music critics coming down on The Blues Brothers as a ‘joke’ band, and somehow disrespectful to the blues. But the fact of the matter is, Ayckroyd was a a big blues supporter (and still is), and could play a mean harp. He’s been a huge benefactor to the blues and R&B scene. And Belushi took his singing very seriously and worked hard at it, and by the time they made Briefcase Full of Blues he had become a more than adequate blues singer.
But that album (and the movie soundtrack) just crackles with energy. As a pure musical experience, it deserves a lot more credibility than it got. That has been changing over the years, and I think most reviewers now would agree that the Blues Brothers Band put out some great music. I’m a big blues and R&B fan, and the Blues Brothers music has been a staple of my music rotation for 30 years, right alongside Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf and Robert Johnson.
The movie is a classic not because of the plot, or even necessarily about the music. There’s just something about it - a certain charm, a lighthearted, campy vibe, that coupled with the great music makes it a joy to watch over and over again.
The Blues Brothers 2000 tried to recapture that, and it’s chock full of great music as well, and it has a similar over-the-top zany plot, but the intangibles just aren’t there, and it never really worked. I think the hole left by John Belushi’s death was hard to fill, and the cute blues kid was too annoying (not Jonny Lang - Ayckroyd has some little urchin along for the ride with him). Whatever it was, it didn’t work. Maybe that shows what a fine line there is between a true cult classic and a garden-variety lightweight comedy.
Mine goodwife claims to have known all those dances Back in the Day, but I remember the local hit having been by James and Bobby Purify. Then again, there were times when I was out of 9V batteries and couldn’t keep up.
I would launch into some even-less incoherent Grandpa Simpsons routine, but pop culture has changed so much since I joined that I’d be asking people younger than I to remember stuff their parents knew.
I had no idea he was gone.