The Blues Brothers: Music From the Soundtrack
Contents
A look at the music from the iconic movie, The Blues Brothers. Featuring classics like “Rawhide” and “Everybody Needs Somebody To Love”.
The Movie
The Blues Brothers is a 1980 American musical crime comedy film directed by John Landis. It stars John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as “Joliet” Jake and Elwood Blues, characters they originated on Saturday Night Live. The film’s soundtrack features several songs by blues and soul artists.
The Plot
The Blues Brothers is a 1980 American musical comedy film directed by John Landis. The film stars John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as “Joliet” Jake and Elwood Blues, characters they originated on Saturday Night Live. It features R&B, soul, and pop music acts as well as a sequence of blues songs. The screenplay is written by Aykroyd and Landis.
The film is set in and around Chicago, Illinois, on a Saturday in May 1981. Jake and Elwood Blues seek to reunite their band to raise funds to save the Catholic orphanage where they were raised. Over the course of the day and night, the various adventures faced by the duo include escaping from police custody, eluding a country-western band out for revenge, confronting neo-Nazis, and winning back the love of Elwood’s ex-fiancée.
filming took place mostly in Los Angeles; however, one sequence was filmed on location in Chicago’s Daley Plaza. The structure appears in several shots featuringElwood wandering through the city; at one point he is evenentity convicted of contempt of court for disorderly conduct for Urinating on it. The Daley Center appears in the establishing shot of the film’s finale featuring a large scale fight scene where hundreds of extras were used.
The Characters
The film tells the story of Jake Blues, who is just out of prison and put together a band with his brother Elwood to save the Catholic orphanage where they were raised. The film features Blues Brothers performances of both classic R&B songs and more contemporary pop-rock hits. The soundtrack album, released on Atlantic Records, became the bestselling blues album ever.
The characters in the film are:
-Jake Blues (John Belushi)
-Elwood Blues (Dan Aykroyd)
-Murphy (Don Chetcuti)
-Willie Hall (Tom Malone)
-‘Rawhide’ (Matt Murphy)
-Alan Rubin (Carrie Fisher)
-Steve Cropper (Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn)
-Ruben Studdard (Levon Helm)
The Music
The Blues Brothers: Music from the Soundtrack is the album released in conjunction with the 1980 film, The Blues Brothers. The double-LP album was released on June 20, 1980, by Atlantic Records and features twenty-seven tracks recorded by Curtis Mayfield, Isaac Hayes, James Brown, Ray Charles, and John Lee Hooker.
The Soundtrack
The soundtrack to The Blues Brothers was released on June 20, 1980, by Atlantic Records. It features songs written and performed by the Blues Brothers band—John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, James Brown, and Aretha Franklin—and several other musicians.
The Blues Brothers is the first musical film to be based on pre-existing music. The majority of the songs featured in the film are cover versions of classic blues and soul songs. Some of the tracks feature new compositions written specifically for the film by Aykroyd and John Pizzarelli. The soundtrack was released in both LP and cassette formats and was a commercial success, reaching number one on the Billboard 200 chart in July 1980.
The soundtrack has been reissued several times since its initial release and has been certified double Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In 2001, it was ranked number 209 on Rolling Stone’s list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
The Songs
The soundtrack album for The Blues Brothers was released on May 4, 1980, by Atlantic Records. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart, and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album featured two hit singles: “Rubber Biscuit” by The Chips, which peaked at No. 37 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart; and “Gimme Some Lovin'” by Spencer Davis Group, which peaked at No. 7.
“Rubber Biscuit” is a 1952 rhythm and blues song written by Bobby Robinson and recorded by The Chips. It was released as a single in 1952 and reached #5 on the Billboard R&B chart.
“Gimme Some Lovin'” is a 1966 song written and recorded by British rock band Spencer Davis Group. The song reached #1 in the UK Singles Chart, #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States, and #8 on the RPM Canadian chart in 1967.
The Legacy
The release of The Blues Brothers in 1980 was a major event in both the world of music and film. The movie was a massive hit, and the soundtrack was an instant classic. The Blues Brothers featured some of the biggest names in music, and the soundtrack became one of the most popular albums of all time. The Blues Brothers: Music From the Soundtrack is a must-have for any music fan.
The Impact
The Blues Brothers was released on June 20, 1980, to mixed reviews but reasonable box-office returns. However, its soundtrack album, released on Atlantic Records, was an enormous success, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and selling over three million copies in the United States alone. The double album featured renditions of soul and R&B classics by such artists as Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, John Lee Hooker and Cab Calloway; it also included several original songs written for the film by Landis, Aykroyd and Belushi’s bandleader Paul Shaffer.
The success of the soundtrack helped to revive interest in both the blues and rhythm and blues genres; many of the artists who performed on it saw their careers revitalized as a result. It also helped to increase the popularity of soul food cuisine, as several restaurant scenes in the film featured such dishes prominently. The movie’s popularity also led to increased tourism in Chicago; Landis estimated that it brought an additional $100 million into the city’s economy.
The Influence
The Blues Brothers phenomenon started as a sketch on Saturday Night Live, but quickly morphed into one of the most popular comedy films of all time. The movie sector- catapulted the careers of stars Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, and put the name of legendary director John Landis on the map.
While the movie is considered a classic, the real reason it has endured is the music. The Blues Brothers: Music From The Soundtrack features some of the greatest blues, R&B and soul performers of all time including Aretha Franklin, James Brown, cab Calloway, Ray Charles and John Lee Hooker. It also marked the return to form for several legends who had been out of the spotlight for years including Willie Dixon,sworth Snipes Matt “Guitar” Murphy and Steve Cropper.
The album was a commercial success, reaching #1 on the Billboard 200 and selling over three million copies in the United States. It was also nominated for Album of The Year at the Grammys. In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked it #87 on their list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
