I’m curious about Carlin’s thoughts here.

Jake & Elwood had their own songs, sure, but at no point in the movie were Charles, Franklin, Cab Calloway, James Brown or John Lee Hooker ever “singing backup”. In fact, all their on-screen time and songs appeared to be explicit showcases of the real musicians, with Jake & Elwood only dancing in the background.

I grew up with the tv edit of the movie and saw it a ton. It did a lot more to help expose my young suburban-white-kid ears to those musicians rather than disgrace them IMO.

I believe it was Cab Calloway who told John to not be a cover artist, and to be himself on stage, that he "had the blues".

It's nothing like you describe. John and Dan both lamented the deprecation of the Blues and these fabulous artists, and wanted to showcase the Blues (and Motown).

If it weren't for them, and that movie, I wouldn't know of half the artists whose music they used in the movie, and a bunch of others that weren't well-known (or largely forgotten) by the 80's.

That movie, and John and Dan, are credited with re-invigorating Blues and Motown in the 80's and later.