Keyboardist and musical director Paul Shaffer, sax player Tom Scott and drummer Steve Jordan, who were absent in the film and the soundtrack due to scheduling conflicts, reprised their roles as full-fledged band members.

Drummer Willie Hall was let go but the band decided to retain Murphy Dunne, who had replaced Shaffer in the film, as additional keyboards player.

"Joliet" Jake Blues (John Belushi) was particularly keen on singing Randy Newman’s "Guilty", a song which had a deep biographical meaning to him.

In the album "Guilty" leads into a rendition of the theme from the TV series Perry Mason and Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller's "Riot in Cell Block No.

"Green Onions" marked the first occasion two of the band members (Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn) performed their own material, the song being a standard by Booker T. & the M.G.'s.