I’ve really dropped the ball with these video entries, and for that I apologize. But just lately I seem to be dropping all kinds of balls, so why should this feature be any different?

Anyhow, what I’m posting this week isn’t a video exactly; it’s a TV spot for Michelob beer that aired in the late ’80s, but it looks like a music video, and it features the guitar god Eric Clapton and a (then) updated version of his classic “After Midnight.” Michelob had a number of similar ads around this same time featuring popular music and an MTV visual style. I have the impression (but no actual knowledge) that it was a successful campaign for them. Certainly, I liked these ads, all of them that as I can recall seeing, anyway, but this was my favorite… it sounded and looked cool, and I just knew that the atmospheric mood of the clip was a prediction of what weekend nights were going to be like when I came of age. Yet another adolescent fantasy that didn’t quite work out, considering I’m currently sitting at home by myself on a Friday night/Saturday morning writing about a 20-year-old beer ad instead of out listening to blues music in a smokey dive somewhere. Sigh… anyway, here’s the ad. Enjoy:

For the record, I know there was also a one-minute version of this ad, but it’s the 30-second spot that I remember seeing the most. There were also Michelob ads featuring Genesis, Phil Collins, and Steve Winwood (I wasn’t able to find a link to that one).

And now, considering that it’s well after midnight, I think I’m going to call it a week…