Why was John Lee Hooker too black for the Blues Brothers soundtrack?

[taterguy]

I remember a John Belushi biography that said John Lee Hooker was left off the Blues Brother soundtrack because the record company folks thought he was "too black", even though he was in the movie.

What does the Lounge think of this.

Discuss

[Az]

1. Just reminds me why I hate Corporate commitees

They bleed all the life out of things until it is a prechewed paste fed to us through cables and tubes.

[taterguy]

2. I'm grotesquely amused by the fact that he was too black for the album but not the movie

In the movie you could actually see him. WTF is "too black" musically?

[Az]

4. Perhaps its the blues thing singing about the black experience

Dunno.

[taterguy]

6. Almost all the guest stars were black musicians singing about the black experience

Ray Charles
James Brown
Aretha Franklin
Cab Calloway
et al

Why was Hooker "too black" and what does "too black" mean?

[HuskerDU]

3. I don't think that a record company could get away with that

today.

Belushi had great taste in music- the Blues Bros speak for themselves and he was punk rocks #1 celebrity fan right up until his death.

[taterguy]

5. A record company today would never have to confront that issue

I hate to sound like an old fart yearning for better days but are there any performers today that have Belushi's clout and great taste. Maybe they're out there and I'm just unaware of them.

I just can't imagine someone today making one of the biggest movies of the year and giving a prominent role to someone who scares the hell out of middle America.

And what I'd like to know is why was John Lee Hooker so scarey. Maybe in this somewhat anonymous forum we could explore that subject

[HuskerDU]

8. I'd be much more afraid of Belushi himself than any of the

other performers in Blues Bros. Belushi was OOC- out of control!

[Nickster]

7. That really doesn't sound right at all. I wonder if the biography wasn't off about that.

There were a lot of other black artists on that album, and I don't think John Lee Hooker was any "blacker" than the rest of them. I've personally never heard that claim before.

[taterguy]

9. I just posted it on an Internet message board

Therefore it must be true :sarcasm:

I'd cite sources but, well I've been following John Lee Hooker's advice and drinking One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer. Actually just several beers.

It was in the book that came out a couple years ago, an oral history compiled by Belushi's widow. (I think)

[taterguy]

10. Google's first result for: Hooker too black Blues Brothers

An interview with director John Landis

http://movies.about.com/od/directorinterviews/a/bluesbro082305.htm

Are the questions you’re being asked now about “The Blues Brothers” much different from what you were asked when you directed the film all those years ago?

“Not really. The questions remain the same. How did you get these people to be in the movie and stuff. What has changed, and really largely due to the movie, is the appreciation of rhythm and blues and blues music. I mean, when we made the picture, this stuff was in eclipse. It was sort of a unique situation where John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd exploited their own celebrity at that moment to focus attention on these great performers and great acts. And that was very successful. Now it’s hard to think Universal Studios company – the company that made the picture – they wouldn’t even put out the album for ‘The Blues Brothers.’ They thought, ‘Who would buy this music? This stuff’s dead.’ And Atlantic who did put out the album – a so-called black label – they wouldn’t put John Lee Hooker on the album.”

That’s unbelievable. Did you campaign for him to be included on the soundtrack?

“Sure we did! You know, that’s John recorded live and they just didn’t appreciate it. They just said… I mean, they literally said, ‘He’s too black and too old. Nobody listens to this blues stuff.’ So the movie, that whole ‘mission from God’ thing was me making fun of Danny because he was so evangelistic about his passion.

You know, John and Danny’s passion for this music really shows and 25 years later it’s certainly appreciated and applauded for what it is, which is this great American gift to world culture.”

[Nickster]

13. Wow, thanks for the info. All these years of loving the Blues Brothers, I had no idea that

Atlantic Records thought John Lee Hooker was too black for them. In the context of the story, I think they meant that he wasn't recognizable enough commercially. How many people could pick out a picture of John Lee versus people like Ray Charles and Aretha etc? I also don't think they thought the Blues Brothers would revive the love of the Blues like it did.

Then again, maybe they're just idiots!:-)

[hellbound-liberal]

14. I think you're exactly right Nickster. "Too black" means that the intended audience for the movie

wouldn't know who he was. Aretha, James Brown and Ray Charles were all far more commercially viable than John Lee Hooker. I'll bet there are still many people nowadays who know his songs but don't know who he was.

[Nickster]

16. I was soooo lucky to see John Lee Hooker in Chicago before he died. Plenty of fans there that day!

[MnFats]

18. saw him in a little place called the Union Bar in N.E. Mpls.

stunning. just stunning.

the Union is now a Christian coffee house that would never dream of having the hook there now....to our everlasting dismay.
Muddy Waters once played the Union, too.
that one was damn good, too.

[madrchsod]

19. no shit!

one guy i wish i could have seen and i also missed muddy waters but i saw howl`n wolf in 67 at a northside bar.

[Nickster]

20. Yep, no shit. I was still in high school. My buddy and I went downtown to see the Blues Fest.

John Lee Hooker was on the main stage and it was free access to see him on the main stage. Of course there were tons of people waiting in line. My buddy and I were trying to figure out a way to get in since if we were at the end of that line, there'd be no more seats in the main area. As we were standing near the front of the line area thinking about it, the gates opened up and my buddy without missing a beat grabbed the front of my shirt and dragged me into the mass of people pouring in through the gates. There were so many people that no one noticed us, and we got to sit fairly near the front of the stage. Awesome times!

[MnFats]

11. I agree. that scene of The Hook playing at the Chicago street festival..

...was just too good to be true. it was damn near perfect.
...if someone decided it was 'too black' i gotta figure it was one of the corporate suits and not Belushi, who spoke highly of the old masters.

[taterguy]

12. So the philosophical question is why did the corporate suits freak out?

Besides, Hooker looked really good in a suit

[SPKrazy]

17. He was just too cool for them

and they were too much of racist bastids and apparently could get away with it

:shrug:

[Elidor]

15. John Lee Hooker was the MAN!

Dang, I wish I could find my copy of Mr. Lucky. I'd love to listen to him right now.