April 22, 1978
Back
in New York for the third season of SNL,
Belushi and Aykroyd honed their concept for the Blues Brothers Band and
recruited an incredible roster of backing instrumentalists drawn from among the
finest blues and R&B session musicians in the country. Even if their debut
performance on this night in 1978 hadn't been a huge hit, the band was far too
good to break up after a single gig. Indeed, the closing portion of Paul
Shaffer's introduction that night—"Today they are no longer an authentic
blues act, but have managed to become a viable commercial product"—ended
up being borne out in real life, with the Blues Brothers earning three top-40
hits ("Soul Man," "Rubber Biscuit" and "Gimme Some
Lovin'"), a #1 pop album (Briefcase Full of Blues) and a piece of
screen immortality via their 1980 film, The Blues Brothers.
"King Tut" paid homage to Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun and presents a caricature
of the sensational Treasures of Tutankhamun traveling exhibit that
toured seven United States cities from 1976 to 1979. The exhibit attracted
approximately eight million visitors. In the Saturday Night Live
performance of "King Tut," loyal subjects appease a joyful King Tut
with kitchen appliances. An instrumental solo is delivered by saxophone player Lou
Marini, who steps out of a sarcophagus to great laughter.
In the book Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live,
authors Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad write that the sketch was one of the most
expensive productions the show had attempted up to that point. Steve Martin had
brought the song to the show and asked if he could perform it, not expecting
the production that occurred—producer Lorne Michaels put everything behind it.
Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers recorded the song in a bluegrass version for their 2011 album, Rare Bird Alert.
The song is the subject of in-depth analysis in Melani McAlister's Epic
Encounters: Culture, Media, and U.S. Interests in the Middle East, 1945–2000.
It is also referenced in a dialogue in the video game The Lost Vikings (1992) at the end of one of the Egyptian themed
levels of the game.
April 22, 1978
The Blues Brothers make
their world premiere on Saturday Night Live.
The characters and the band that Belushi
and Aykroyd unveiled that night took more than two years to evolve. The first
incarnation came during SNL's first season, in a January 17, 1976,
appearance singing "I'm a King Bee" as "Howard Shore and his
All-Bee Band." There were no dark suits, skinny ties or Ray-Bans at that
point, but the appearance did feature Aykroyd on the harmonica and Belushi on
vocals belting out a blues classic very much in the style of the future Elwood
and "Joliet" Jake Blues, albeit while wearing bee costumes. The Blues
Brothers' look—and much of their repertoire—would come together after Belushi's
trip to Eugene, Oregon, during the hiatus between SNL
seasons two and three to film Animal House. It was there that
Belushi, a committed rock-and-roll fan, met a 25-year-old bluesman named Curtis
Salgado, future harmonica player for Robert Cray, frontman for Roomful of Blues
and a major figure on the burgeoning Pacific Northwest blues scene of the 1970s. Belushi became a regular visitor to the Eugene
Hotel to catch Salgado's act during the filming of Animal House, and it
was from that act and from Salgado himself that he picked up a passion for the
blues as well as the inspiration for the Blues Brothers' sound and look .
Back
in New York for the third season of SNL,
Belushi and Aykroyd honed their concept for the Blues Brothers Band and
recruited an incredible roster of backing instrumentalists drawn from among the
finest blues and R&B session musicians in the country. Even if their debut
performance on this night in 1978 hadn't been a huge hit, the band was far too
good to break up after a single gig. Indeed, the closing portion of Paul
Shaffer's introduction that night—"Today they are no longer an authentic
blues act, but have managed to become a viable commercial product"—ended
up being borne out in real life, with the Blues Brothers earning three top-40
hits ("Soul Man," "Rubber Biscuit" and "Gimme Some
Lovin'"), a #1 pop album (Briefcase Full of Blues) and a piece of
screen immortality via their 1980 film, The Blues Brothers.
"King Tut" paid homage to Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun and presents a caricature of the sensational Treasures of Tutankhamun traveling exhibit that toured seven United States cities from 1976 to 1979. The exhibit attracted approximately eight million visitors. In the Saturday Night Live performance of "King Tut," loyal subjects appease a joyful King Tut with kitchen appliances. An instrumental solo is delivered by saxophone player Lou Marini, who steps out of a sarcophagus to great laughter.
In the book Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live, authors Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad write that the sketch was one of the most expensive productions the show had attempted up to that point. Steve Martin had brought the song to the show and asked if he could perform it, not expecting the production that occurred—producer Lorne Michaels put everything behind it.
Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers recorded the song in a bluegrass version for their 2011 album, Rare Bird Alert.
The song is the subject of in-depth analysis in Melani McAlister's Epic Encounters: Culture, Media, and U.S. Interests in the Middle East, 1945–2000.
It is also referenced in a dialogue in the video game The Lost Vikings (1992) at the end of one of the Egyptian themed levels of the game.
To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was".
To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was".
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
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