The colorful blog Trailers from Hell writes:

Most of the voluminous cameo roles in TFH Guru John Landis's landmark rock comedy were performed on studio sound stages, but the death defying car crash stunts were shot right on the streets of Chicago. This is the premier movie of those generated by Saturday Night Live.

The preview version was shorn from 148 minutes to 133, but the excised footage has been reinstated on DVD. In 1998 Landis mounted a sequel, Blues Brothers 2000, with John Goodman, Joe Morton and a ten year old kid combining forces to stand in for the late John Belushi.

Don't watch Blues Brothers 2000. Stick to the original Blues Brothers.

I found this on Adam Rifkin's Facebook page.

We're on a mission from God.

Holy crap, the Blues Brothers basically single-handedly brought back Ray-ban Wayfarers sunglasses! They were not being manufactured any more at the time.

Sales of Ray Ban Wayfarers were merely 18,000 in 1980, B.B.B. (Before Blues Brothers):

According to the History of Ray Bans:

In 1982, Ray-Ban appeared to be on the cusp of a revival. Their sunglasses made a not-so-subtle appearance on John Belushi and Dan Akroyd in the Blues Brothers movie. Despite wearing Ray Bans for nearly all of the movie (Belushi actually only removes them once -- when Carrie Fisher has a rocket launcher aimed at him), sales were still a paltry 18,000 pairs in 1980.

That all changed in 1982 when Ray-Ban signed a $50,000 a year contract to place Ray-Bans in movies and TV shows. Between 1982 and 1987, Ray-Ban had placed their sunglasses in more than 60 movies and television shows.

The investment paid off when Ray-Ban received their first big return thanks to Tom Cruise donning the classic Wayfarer in the 1983 coming-of-age movie Risky Business.

Suddenly, Ray-Bans were cool again and the company could hardly keep its Wayfarers in stock.

In 1983, the company sold an amazing 360,000 pairs of the sunglasses. In the coming years, Ray-Bans would appear in a series of 80s hits, including Miami Vice, Moonlighting, and The Breakfast Club. Sales reached 1.5 million.

Thus began bigtime product placement in movies and television.

I still liked Blues Brothers 2000. IMO, what made it crap was the cinematography. Very cheap, too fast transitions, and little chance for blocking to develop the scenes.

That's a good point. They should have exercised more care.