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Along with helping bring to (after)life in one of the best horror-comedies of all time via Ghostbusters, Dan Aykroyd also co-created one of Hollywood’s most iconic “fake” bands, so to speak, with fellow SNL vet John Belushi. The duo crafted comedy gold with The Blues Brothers, and seemed destined for many years of shared comedic ribaldry. Sadly, Belushi died of an overdose in 1982, a multi-layered tragedy that Aykroyd was able to address anew in his Audible release Blues Brothers: The Arc of Gratitude.
The audio documentary not only delivers tons of behind-the-scenes details about The Blues Brothers film, but digs into the entire history of Jake and Elwood Blues. Speaking with Rolling Stone about reliving those early years of stardom — the same magazine whose owner experienced one of Aykroyd and Belushi’s wild pranks — the Tommy Boy vet was asked what he hoped John Belushi would always be remembered for, and his response was touching, kind, and a big reminder of the comedic void he left behind. In his words:
Well, what he will be remembered for, we can’t change — and that’s the spectacular work that he did and the ignominious manner of his demise. So that’s all there. But I think what if you have to inform people about who he was privately: He was well read, he was warm, he was funny, he was magnetic. He was a true thousand-watt aviation lamp walking around. He had a lot of very influential friends and intelligent friends and he was one of these just magnetic individuals that you just wanted to be around, on the scale of an Elvis or a Hendrix. A super-mega-wattage personality and very funny and warm and compassionate and kind and smart in business. Just yeah, a great human being. He really was.
Hard to deny anything said there. The reason why comedy fans still hold John Belushi on high is due to the massive amount of talent on display in his relatively limited filmography, with Animal House’s Bluto often viewed as a S-tier character from comedy cinema. But for all the excellence he left behind for audiences to enjoy, the laughs will likely never fully eclipse the devastating details surrounding his death at 33. (He was given a fatal dose of heroin and cocaine.) And Aykroyd is aware it’s a fool’s errand to even assume that either of those can be changed.
So instead, he spoke directly to that middle zone between “superstar comedian” and “gone-too-soon genius,” pointing out everything that made him the kind of person that everyone at SNL and beyond wanted to hang out with and be around. A mixture of legitimate smarts, abundant compassion and bundles of energy, Belushi delivered in ways that few in the genre had before or have since, with the late, great Chris Farley being the rare comedian to draw easy comparisons.
Had John Belushi’s talents been strictly limited to comedy, his death would have been bad enough, but one of the reasons why The Blues Brothers lived on as a musical duo and not just a movie and TV gimmick is because both actors boasted enviable music chops. As witnessed anytime the band took the stage prior to Belushi’s death, he knew just how to vent a lot of that bubbling energy out through his vocals.
When asked at what point he became confident in John Belushi’s abilities to be a reliable frontman, Aykroyd said:
Well, when I saw him doing Joe Cocker. And I saw the musical talent and the moves. Plus he could do anything. John at Second City was legendary. His moves were legendary there. From the first moment I met him, I had no doubts we could pull it off.
In the interview and in the Audible release, Dan Aykroyd doesn’t glorify John Belushi’s addictions, and nor does he cast judgment, saying that he and the late Judith Belushi learned how to use the comedian’s cocaine habits to try and keep him as balanced and productive as possible. Because if things would go too far one way or the other, Belushi had a habit of completely disappearing from the set or whatever location he was supposed to be at.
Sadly, brilliant minds falling prey to drug overdoses is all too common in the world of entertainment, but no matter how many years go by, the classic works those minds accomplished will never stop being great. To paraphrase the great Donald “Duck” Dunn, some people just have an ability to turn goat piss into gasoline, and John Belushi was one of those people.
Fans can check out Blues Brothers: The Arc of Gratitude on Audible, and while the 1980 film isn’t currently available to watch via any streaming service subscriptions, Aykroyd and Belushi’s Saturday Night Live episodes and performances can be streamed now with a Peacock subscription.