The Blues Brothers

alt.fan.blues-brothers FAQ (http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~pringle/bluesbros/faq.html). This culminated in 'The Weird Revolution' (a reworking of an aborted album recorded for Capital called 'After the Astronaut') their most electronic album to date. John, Lou Rawls, Travis Tritt, Jimmie Vaughan, Wilson Pickett and many others, many of whom featured as members of the fictional band The Louisiana Gator Boys. As the 'nineties went on, the band became increasingly influenced by electronica, with Gibby namechecking Massive Attack, Tricky, and The Chemical Brothers as influences. King, Erykah Badu, Junior Wells, Taj Mahal, Lonnie Brooks, James Brown, Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Paul Shaffer, Koko Taylor, Bo Diddley, Isaac Hayes, Dr. In the early 'nineties Gibby Haynes and Jeff Pinkus released a side project (The Jackofficers) which produced a highly psychedelic take on House music. It featured John Goodman singing with Aykroyd and cameos by Blues Traveler, B.B. At the same time a huge legal battle with Capital records began which ended up with the band being kicked off the label and signing to Hollywood Records (a subsidiary of Disney).

In 1998, Blues Brothers 2000 was released to theaters but had none of the spirit and charm of the first film and failed miserably. Those records are now in print on their own Latino Buggerveil record label. Aykroyd continued to be an active proponent of blues music and parlayed this avocation into foundation and partial ownership of the House of Blues franchise, an international chain of nightclubs. In character as Elwood, he also hosts the syndicated House of Blues Radio Hour.. In 1996 the band brought a legal action to recover rights from Touch and Go to their back catalogue, a case they eventually won in 1999. They released an album of new material in 1992 entitled Red White and Blues, which included a guest appearance from Elwood Blues. The story of the creation of this album is told in Our Band Could Be Your Life by Michael Azerrad (Little, Brown) amidst other tales from the American underground in the 1980s. In 1988 Cropper, Dunn, Murphy and others re-formed The Blues Brothers Band for a world tour. However, probably their best album is the critically lauded Locust Abortion Technician (Touch & Go - US/ Blast First - UK).

On March 5, 1982, Belushi died in Hollywood of an accidental drug overdose. The band's most famous song is "Pepper" from the album Electriclarryland in 1996, which recounted the somewhat sordid stories of several high school students in Texas. In 1981, The Best of the Blues Brothers was released; this disc would be the first of several compliations and hits collections issued over the years. They also contributed songs to the soundtracks of Baz Luhrman's Romeo + Juliet and Mission Impossible around about this time. The Blues Brothers is often regarded as the best of many films adapted from Saturday Night Live sketches. Soon afterwards they signed to Capitol Records and this one time underground band eventually became a mainstream commodity with songs on modern rock radio and Beavis and Butt-head. The film effectively combines the deadpan humor of Belushi and Ackryod as the title characters with over-the-top action and slapstick sequences, interspersed with highly-stylized musical numbers from the soul music legends in the supporting cast. In 1991 they were part of the first Lollapalooza tour.

Several car chases with an extremely large number of crashes result (possibly in parody of the car chases in earlier movies such as The French Connection); the film held the record for the most cars destroyed in one film, until surpassed by its sequel. They recorded two more albums and numerous EPs for Touch and Go before leaving to record an album (Pioughd) for Rough Trade Records. The duo also make numerous enemies along the way, notably a neo-Nazi group, the Chicago Police, Illinois state troopers, a Country and Western band, and Jake's former fiancée who continually tries (and fails) to kill them using various methods (including a bazooka). bands such as Throbbing Gristle and Einsturzende Neubauten) as well as American eccentrics like Frank Zappa and The Residents. Staged and spontaneous musical numbers commence during their journey. Their second album Rembrandt Pussyhorse showed the increased influence of the European avant-garde (e.g. The Blues Brothers spend much of the rest of the film tracking down members of the Band and convincing them to rejoin, as well as playing venues to raise the requisite $5,000. It also showed the influence of heavy metal (especially Black Sabbath), again, many years before this sound became fashionable: in marrying punk and heavy metal it might be seen as one of the first precursors of grunge.

Early in the film, they learn that the orphanage they were raised in is to be torn down unless the back property taxes on the building can be paid within a short time. Along with The Teardrop Explodes in the UK this album might be said to have begun the psychedelic revival (psychedelia having been extremely unfashionable in the five years since punk). The two almost immediately attract the attention of the police with their reckless driving habits (in an old Dodge Monaco police car, affectionately known as the Bluesmobile). They recorded their debut EP on Alternative Tentacles, before moving to Touch & Go to release their debut album Psychic...Powerless...Another Man's Sac. The movie revolves around the title characters, who are reunited at the beginning of the film as "Joliet" Jake is released from Joliet Prison into his brother's custody (he was imprisoned for armed robbery). Mark Kramer (of Bongwater and Shimmy Disc) also briefly played bass. Jake and Elwood released their second LP, Made in America, which included the Top 40 hits "Gimme Some Lovin'" and "Who's Making Love". While their line-up changed frequently through the years, they had a core membership of Jeff Pinkus on bass, with King Coffey and Teresa Taylor on drums in addition to Haynes (vocals) and Leary (guitar).

The Blues Brothers also toured that year to promote the movie. Incorporating elements of hardcore, psychedelia, and performance art, their live shows also made heavy use of strobe lights, background films and naked dancers. The motion picture is set in Chicago, Illinois and the surrounding area. The band was founded by Gibby Haynes and Paul Leary in San Antonio, Texas in 1982; the pair met while students at Trinity University. In 1980, The Blues Brothers motion picture, directed by John Landis, was released, featuring cameos by Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, John Lee Hooker, Carrie Fisher, Frank Oz, Steven Spielberg, Joe Walsh, John Candy, and Paul Reubens. The Butthole Surfers is an American indie and punk band. The album went platinum, and featured Top 40 hit covers of Sam and Dave's "Soul Man" and The Chips' "Rubber Biscuit." Despite the name of the act, most of the songs performed by The Blues Brothers throughout their existence were soul music or R&B classics rather than blues music. Humpty Dumpty LSD (2002).

The Blues Brothers recorded their first album, Briefcase Full of Blues, in 1978 while opening for comedian Steve Martin at Los Angeles' Universal Amphitheater. Weird Revolution (2001). and the M.G.s; and Matt "Guitar" Murphy. After the Astronaut (unreleased) (1998). Backing Jake and Elwood were top session men like guitarist Steve Cropper, bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn, formerly of the Stax Records house band Booker T. Electric Larryland (1996). Part of the humour is the image of two men who are dressed in black suits looking like mob hitmen suddenly exploding into energetic song and dance. Independent Worm Saloon (1993).

The Blues Brothers made their first appearance on air at SNL, with Belushi and Aykroyd dressed in the bee costumes they normally wore for the "Killer Bees" sketch, performing Slim Harpo's "I'm a King Bee." In the weeks following that performance, The Blues Brothers became a popular addition to the show and began to appear on a semi-regular basis. Pioughd (1990). Belushi (as vocalist Jake Blues) and Aykroyd (as harpist Elwood Blues), both members of the original cast of NBC's Saturday Night Live television program, created The Blues Brothers and their alternate identities in early 1976 to warm up SNL audiences. Double Live (1989). The Blues Brothers is the name of a rhythm and blues band fronted, incognito, by comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. Widowermaker EP (1989). Hairway to Steven (1988).

Locust Abortion Technician (1987). Rembrandt Pussyhorse (1986). Cream Corn from the Socket of Davis EP (1985). Another Man's Sac (1984).

Powerless.. Psychic.. Live PCPPEP (1984). Butthole Surfers EP (1983) (alternate title: "A Brown Reason To Live").

Download sample of "Pepper" from Electriclarryland.