Afterer Midnight
1988
Rolling Stone: The one jarring thing about 'Crossroads' is that it ends with the remake of "After Midnight," which you did for a Michelob beer commercial. Didn't you see anything contradictory in a former alcoholic doing a beer ad?
Eric Clapton: You can say that again. Listen, man, I was a practicing alcoholic when I made that commercial. By the time it came out, I was in treatment. This was December of '87. I was actually in treatment in Minnesota when that came on the T.V. I was in a room full of recovering alcoholics, myself being one of them, and everybody went, "is that you?" I said, "Yep." What was I going to say? It was me when I was drinking. I don't know if it was offered to me now whether I would do it.
2004
Miller Brewing is catching some heat for celebrating the 50th anniversary of rock-and-roll with commemorative cans but not including any black artists...
The cans feature Rolling Stone covers picturing Blondie, Elvis Presley, Alice Cooper, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Willie Nelson and the guitars of Eric Clapton and Joe Walsh....
Miller spokesman Scott Bussen said they had a long wish list, but they were limited to people who had appeared on Rolling Stone covers and did not object to being associated with alcohol.
And on a serious note...
"Gary Armstrong, chief marketing officer for Rolling Stone publisher Wenner Media, said race wasn't a consideration. 'We didn't even consciously think pro or con, the same way that the only woman on there is Blondie,' he said."
Well, somebody didn't go to Oberlin. The whole fucking point, Armstrong, is that when white people don't "consciously" think about race, the default neutral race just always happens to be white (the same way the default gender is male).
Also, Blondie is a band, not a woman. Are you sure you work for a music magazine?