In the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s, black entertainers made considerable sums of money selling ghetto wine and malt liquor to their less fortunate brothers and sisters. “Liquid crack” was dirt cheap and fortified with alcohol and shitloads of sugar to get you higher faster. As Billy Dee Williams said in his TV pitch for Colt 45, “It works every time.”

40-ounce warriors were macho, sexy and hip…at least that’s what the commercials wanted the black community to think. The reality was much more grim. Malt liquors like Schlitz, Colt 45, Olde English 800, St. Ides, King Cobra and bum wines like Thunderbird and Wild Irish Rose were responsible for an increase in alcoholism, violence and crime in black neighborhoods. High alcohol content and the cost of a bottle being under two bucks was a deadly combination. Add to that the veneer of coolness that Kool and the Gang, Fred Williamson, Biggie Smalls and Snoop Dog brought to the mix and you got a problem that went viral. 

Nowadays, low-rent white hipsters drink the poisonous piss in order to give them some kind of street cred while hip-hop artists have moved on to Cristal and Dom. But the high-end shit hasn’t trickled down to Skid Row yet.

While the product sold was crap for sure, the ads themselves are fascinating time capsules, some sending signals that are incredibly politically incorrect: making light of drunk driving, intimating that women will give it up after a few drinks, and using racial stereotypes that border on Stepin Fetchit caricature. And Blacks weren’t the only ones denigrated—check out the East Indian guy in the “Gunga Din” Colt 45 commercial below.

There’s also an interesting clip of Johnny Cannon wielding a Colt 45 pistol and a can of Colt 45 beer. A wise combination, don’t you think? Johnny’s expression of disgust as he guzzles the malt liquor is priceless.

Then I ask a question you brother
What the fuck is you drinkin’
He don’t know but it flow
Out the bottle in a cup
He call it gettin’ fucked up
Like we ain’t fucked up already
See the man they call Crazy Eddie
Liquor man with the bottle in his hand
He give the liquor man ten to begin
Wit’ no change and he run
To get his brains rearranged
Serve it to the home they’re able
To do without a table
Beside what’s inside ain’t on the label
They drink it thinkin’ it’s good
But they don’t sell the shit in the white neighborhood

—Public Enemy, “1 Million Bottlebags”
 

For reference, that is Evelyn King in the first King Cobra ad in this compilation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KHyELrP3v8

Wasn’t that rerun from What’s Happening in the very first commercial? I recognize those moves anywhere.

Yeah, Rerun started in the Lockers, the dance team from that first commercial.

“What’s the fuss, Gus?”

WIN!

In all fairness, the Commodores’ commercial seems to be for a regular beer, not a malt liquor.

I love how Johnny Cannon seems to wince when he takes a sip at one point. I realize that this was a series of outtakes, but were they working without a script on that? He seemed to be just be making it up as he went along.

I feel so deprived: we missed out on the whole bum wine and malt liquor thing up here in Canada. Damn government regulations.

Mark,

you’re right about The Commodores. I included it because it was a Schlitz ad and still part of their Black marketing campaign which included ‘The Bull”.
Plus, it’s so smooth.

Marc,
  I have to show some shorts before a film next week and I’d love to show these malt liquor ads.  They would work pretty well with the main feature.  Are these cobbled together from youtube clips, or do you have a better resolution copy?

brett,

They are cobbled together from Youtube clips. I did improve the audio/visual quality as best I could. Unfortunately,this is probably the highest quality you’ll find.

Of course, you can use my mix. Just download it from Vimeo or I could send you a file.

Marc

Hey Marc,
Great piece…
We weren’t low rent white hipsters just white punks from the Jersey burbs but we drank this shit back in ‘77-‘78. i remember many cold nights at age 13-14 standing outside liquor stores waiting to ask some local drunk to pick us up a couple of bottles of Colt 45. also: Thunderbird, Boones Farm Strawberry Hill, etc. Chuck D is wrong when he say’s they didn’t sell the shit in the white neighborhoods. i grew up in a working class shit hole that was probably 99.9% white. there was a bar on every corner…thanks for sharing this…best, E

“Nowadays, low-rent white hipsters drink the poisonous piss in order to give them some kind of street cred” ... or, because it’s the cheapest thing in the liquor store.

As a 20-something white girl living in Detroit (as I have the majority of my life), malt liquor has always just been part of city culture. At stores within the city, it’s the only thing that gets bought and stocked regularly every few days- I’ve learned to never buy anything remotely high-end at risk of it being months old and skunky (or completely spoiled in one case- blech!). So, as disgusting as it may be, when broke and in search of relief, malt liquor will always be the best option.