John Belushi has been dead for decades, but similar to Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, and Michael Jackson, his work has taken on a mythical status. He stands as one of the great comics to come out of the '70s. There's still more to learn about him as well it appears. In a recently unearthed interview, Belushi fired back at critics of his comedy work and of his music group The Blues Brothers.
The latter became a beloved classic movie. The interview appeared a part of an Audible documentary on Belushi called Blues Brothers: The Arc of Gratitude. In the interview, Belushi sat down with Soho Weekly News music critic Steve Bloom. Bloom shared some 1979 headlines with Belushi such as "Can Belushi sing the whites?" and "Why the Brothers ain't got no blues."
"It's just weird, you know?" Belushi said. "Why would I do these things? The people watching me understand why I do it, and the band members do. The other people - there's a certain amount of jealousy, I think, involved. ... Why do I do what I do? First of all, it has nothing to do with ego, it has nothing to do with money, you know, or the need to be loved by an audience. I don't have any of those feelings."
He continued, "What the f--- do these people think I am, anyway? I can't f---ing understand why they would attack - see, when they attack me, they attack the band, and I hate when they attack the band, because then it makes them look like schmucks for doing what they did for me."
John Belushi Appeared In Unearthed Interview
Bloom questioned if the critics were attacking Belushi. "You see, there's a long line of cases where White musicians play Black music and make money while the Black musicians don't make the money, supposedly," Bloom said.
"That's not the purpose of the Blues Brothers," Belushi said. "'Buy as many blues records as you can.' [I] introduce my band, which is never done. I share the stage with each member of the group. Which is never done. I have Danny Aykroyd, you know; we all split everything right down the middle. I give the people, artists parts of the album. I'm putting them in a movie, you know? Nobody believes me."
He added, "I'm not f---ing fantastic, but that's not the point."
Just three years later, Belushi would be dead. He passed away from a drug overdose.
"After a night of drinking brandy, smoking cigarettes and consuming cocaine, John succumbed in Bungalow 3 of the Chateau Marmont in L.A. to a non-self-administered injection of mixed cocaine and heroin, commonly known as a speedball," Aykroyd says in the Audible sound clip. "He was 33 years of age. I was 29."
