Eric Clapton: the artist who helped Dan Aykroyd justify The Blues Brothers
It wasn’t lost on Dan Aykroyd that not everyone would be open to the idea of The Blues Brothers. The classic R&B revue was born when Aykroyd was still working at Saturday Night Live. Post-show hangouts often went over to Aykroyd’s unincorporated bar in Manhattan, where various instruments and a jukebox full of blues classics were held. As Aykroyd’s relationship with John Belushi blossomed, the comedian shared his childhood love of the blues with Belushi, who immediately took to the genre.
Due to the mix of comedy and real blues, it was understandable that some would view The Blues Brothers as being something of a joke. Although the pair pulled in some of the most talented musicians of the time with real ties to the genre, including Steve Cropper, Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn, Matt ‘Guitar’ Murphy, and Steve Jordan, there were still calls that The Blues Brothers lacked authenticity. To Aykroyd, his counter was to cite another famous white blues lover.
“I have two words to say: Eric Clapton,” Aykroyd said on The Big Interview with Dan Rather. “If Eric Clapton can do it and come off and revere the music and pay tribute to the music and make it successful, I think it’s okay for us to step in there. I don’t think it’s a valid point: the blues is for everyone. There are so many great blues artists who aren’t African-American, but fair enough for people to protect the culture against cultural appropriation, but see, we did it in such a spirit of reverence and love of those performers.”
While the initial conception of The Blues Brothers was for Saturday Night Live, Aykroyd and Belushi eventually took the band on the road and played full concerts. The group’s debut album, Briefcase Full of Blues, featured their most famous song, a cover of Sam and Dave’s ‘Soul Man’, plus a full repertoire of blues classics from the likes of Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, and Big Joe Turner. Aykroyd made it a point that all of those artists were properly compensated.
“The other thing we did – Atlantic Records said, ‘Well, you’re doing all these cover songs. Just offer the writers a percentage. You can own all these songs yourself, just give them 10 grand.’ We didn’t,” Aykroyd explained. “All the people that wrote songs for us, we said, ‘No, we’re gonna keep mechanical royalties only.’ That is performance royalties only.”
“The original songwriters, they keep their royalties. We ain’t making no special deal. Eddie Floyd gets his money. Donnie Walsh gets his money. All the people who wrote the songs in the show, all of them got their full publishing, because we loved these artists. We loved and respected them,” Aykroyd said. “We weren’t going to do wrong by them.”
Watch Aykroyd discuss the principles behind The Blues Brothers down below.
