Jake and Elwood Blues' "mission from God" was to find $5,000 to rescue a Catholic orphanage from closure. Instead, they set a new standard for movie excess and reinvented the careers of many Blues and Soul Music stars, including Aretha Franklin, Cab Calloway, and Ray Charles. In light of the roots of the Blues Brothers Band, this was the true mission of a movie that critics reviled as excessive but has since become a bona fide cult classic.

The Blues Brothers Band was born during a road trip from New York to Los Angeles. Saturday Night Live stars Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi discovered a common love for Blues music. They were already cooperating on writing sketches for Saturday Night Live, and they took this love of Blues music and developed a warm-up act for the television show. The popularity of The Blues Brothers in...