The Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers, a blues and soul revivalist band, were founded in 1978 by Dan Aykroyd and the late John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on the American television show Saturday Night Live. The band comprised of well-known and respected musicians, fronted by Belushi and Aykroyd, in character as “Joliet” Jake and Elwood Blues.
Although the Blues Brothers’ musical style is mainly based on blues and soul, their sound also drew heavily on R&B, jazz and rock elements, taking a blues standard and bringing a rock sound and style to it.
The band fall into three sections; the four-man horn section, the traditional rock instruments of the five-man rhythm section, and the two singing brothers. The sound of the band was a synthesis of two different traditions; the horn players came from the clean, precise, jazz-influenced sound of New York City, while the rhythm section came from the grittier soul and blues sound of Chicago and Memphis. The Bath Blues Brothers are one of the country’s few tribute bands to faithfully reproduce the original sound of the Blues Brothers. Our line-up comprises of a three-man horn section, five-man rhythm section, two lead singers and, in addition, three female backing singers.
Away from Saturday Night Live, the Blues Brothers released their first album in 1978 before going on to release a hit Hollywood film, The Blues Brothers, in 1980. Directed by John Landis, the film also featured musical numbers by Aretha Franklin, James Brown and Ray Charles, amongst others.
The film’s storyline follows Jake, a paroled convict and his brother Elwood, who embark on “a mission from God” to save from closure the Catholic orphanage in which they grew up. To do so they must raise $5,000 through reforming and performing with their rhythm and blues band, the Blues Brothers. Throughout the film they are targeted by a destructive “mystery woman”, Neo-Nazis, and a country and western band, all the while being relentlessly chased by the police.
The film was shot on location in and around Chicago, Illinois between July and October 1979. It is credited with putting Chicago on the map as a venue for filmmaking. Since then, nearly 200 movies have also been filmed in Chicago.
Having had a $30 million budget, the film made just under $5 million in box office takings during its opening weekend, ranking second that week behind The Empire Strikes Back. It went on to gross $115.2 million in cinemas worldwide before its release on home video. Director John Landis claimed that The Blues Brothers was the first American film in history to gross more money overseas than it did in the United States.
Following John Belushi’s death in 1982, the Blues Brothers continue to perform with a rotation of guest singers and other band members. The band reformed in 1988 for a world tour and again in 1998 for a sequel to the original film, Blues Brothers 2000.
