Way To Go Miller

How do you alienate a whole bunch of people in a hurry? CNN has a way...

Miller Brewing is celebrating the "50th Anniversary of Rock 'n' Roll" with eight commemorative beer cans that feature Rolling Stone cover shots of Elvis Presley, Blondie and others.

What's missing, some say, is a black artist.

Robert Thompson, a professor of pop culture at Syracuse University, called the absence "beyond conspicuous," because black artists often are credited with inventing rock 'n' roll.

"It would be like doing a set of cans of six great Impressionist painters and not including any French people on it," he said. "It leaves out an enormous amount."

The promotion, which ties rock's anniversary to Presley's debut at Sun Studios, also depicts Alice Cooper, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard and Willie Nelson, as well as the guitars of Eric Clapton and Joe Walsh, on cans being issued this summer by the brewer and the magazine.

Quick! How many black artists can you name in thirty seconds that are better than Alice Cooper, Bon Jovi, or Def Leppard? After Little Richard, Michael Jackson, Otis Redding, Fats Domino, Chubby Checker, Arethea Franklin, James Brown, Ray Charles, and Chuck Berry I ran out of time...Maybe you can do better.

In short, a dumb move by a bad beer.

Comments

[Tim Worstall]

Well, ummm, looks like they had a lucky escape to me. Wouldn't you find it offensive to have your name associated with Miller? Might be different if it wsa a decent beer.

[Denise]

What do Def Leppard, Bon Jovi and Alice Cooper have to do with rock and roll? Rock and roll was almost gone before they came on the scene. How about Big Bopper, the Supremes, Smokey Robinson, to name a few black rock 'n rollers? Sounds like Miller needs to do more research.