Saturday, March 7, 2015

Celebrity Rock: Soul Man (1978)

I think we're all in agreement that John Belushi left us too soon.

The mutual interest he shared with Saturday Night Live castmate Dan Aykroyd in music, particularly the blues and 60's soul, led to the creation of the Blues Brothers in the late 70s. Belushi had sat in with Joe Cocker when the latter had appeared on SNL to perform "Feelin' Alright" after impersonating Cocker in some skits, but the alter-ego of Joliet Jake Blues brought out the closet soul singer.

Aykroyd has revived the act in the intervening years since Belushi's passing, with John's brother Jim and John Goodman joining the act. In fact, Goodman & Aykroyd appeared as the Blues Brothers on SNL's 40th anniversary special last month. Anyway, here's the original Blues Brothers, Elwood (Aykroyd) & Jake, performing the Sam & Dave hit, "Soul Man", co-written by another soul legend, Isaac Hayes.



The longer video we've seen on VH1 and/or MTV paid tribute to Belushi by using footage of various skits he'd performed on the show. However, this is the original clip of "Soul Man". Like, can you dig it?

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