Word: belushi
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, of NBC's Saturday Night and other fame, have released a gem of an album under the guise of the Blues Brothers, an act first spawned to warm up Saturday Night studio audiences a year or so back. Perhaps you have caught a couple of their subsequent appearances on the show, decked out in black suits, fedoras, and shades that would have done a G-man proud (circa 1962). Steve Martin, who guest hosted one show on which the Brothers performed, was sufficiently impressed to ask them to open eight shows...
...that, despite its comic appearances (for instance, the gloriously cheesy cover photos), it does not come across like Saturday Night, or Animal House, or even the National Lampoon's Lemmings. The music itself is, for the most part, surprisingly straightforward. With the immediate intention of recording the September concerts, Belushi and Aykroyd took the opportunity to assemble a band of stellar musicians who would back them up in thoroughly professional style. Their collective sound virtually overshadows the few attempts at genuine comedy, although this remains strictly a good-time album if there ever...
...songs themselves are fantastic. The first high spot is an absolutely perfect version of Floyd Dixon's "Hey Bartender." Belushi snarls, "Hey bartender, hey man, lookie here/Draw one, draw two, draw three, four glasses of beer," as the horn section, arranged by James Brown alum Tom Malone, blasts away behind him. Aykroyd has one of his better harmonica solos, followed by some ringing guitar by veteran bluesman Matt "Guitar" Murphy...
Prizes to be awarded include the John Belushi Award for the top player in high black Converse sneakers, the Derek Bok Interstellar Cerebellum Award for the player who uses his talent to the fullest, and the Larry Flint Hustler Award...
...major result of the film's success is the "toga party" craze that is sweeping campuses. House Star John Belushi's outrageous cries of "toga, toga" have struck a nerve in the fad-starved youth of contemporary Fraternity Row. For many, dressing up in a bed sheet is simply a means of venting the pressures of academia; for others, toga parties represent a search for something to be remembered by, even if that to ken of remembrance is borrowed from the '50s generation...