If Classic Rockers had McDonalds Meals

Celebrities collaborating with brands is nothing new, but we definitely see more of it now thanks to the ubiquity of the influencer and how the role of celebrity and influencer has merged. When I was growing up, celebrities were a lot more mysterious and they liked their privacy. They were hard to find on social media and if they had social media pages, they would be run by managers or assistants. Nowadays, that just isn’t the case anymore. Social media is a powerful tool for marketing and reaching out to your fans, informing them of new releases and things that are going on: TV appearances, radio appearances, tours, events, Q&As, and collaborations.

I’m no fan of consumerism and constantly feeling sold to (thanks capitalism!), but I’m fascinated with marketing and collaborations. It’s incredible what having a big name attached to something does to change the perception of a product. You may not have had much interest in a thing, but wait a minute, you see your favourite celebrity promoting it, maybe it is something you need in your life. Parasocial relationships are wild! Crazy how we nearly take a celebrity or influencer’s opinion nearly as seriously as we take a family member or friend’s opinion.

If you’ve been keeping up to date with fast food news, you may have noticed that McDonald’s started releasing meals in collaboration with various musicians such as Travis Scott, J Balvin, BTS, and Saweetie. These meals aren’t necessarily a better deal, but they’re supposed to be special because they’re items hand selected by the musicians. They’re not always unique or special. The Saweetie meal just has regular items already on the menu like the Big Mac, Chicken McNuggets with BBQ and sweet and sour sauces, chips, and a Sprite. However, Travis Scott’s meal is special because it’s only $6 for a quarter pounder with bacon, cheese, lettuce along with a Sprite (with extra ice) and medium chips. The BTS meal’s main appeal is two special edition sweet chilli and cajun dipping sauces that were previously only available in Korea.

Now I had this thought… What if classic rockers had their own McDonald’s meals? How would I make them even more creative? Well, I’ve spent a good portion of my life absorbing heaps of classic rock knowledge like a sponge and memorising it by heart and I have some (read: minimal) photoshop skills so I came up with 12 classic rock McDonald’s meals.

Here are the rules: each meal must have at least 3 items and each item needs to be a wordplay or reference to the band or one of their songs. These items don’t have to be items available at McDonalds. Each meal will also have a slogan with a reference to the band, but it has to make sense. Not easy for every single one and frankly some of these meals are nasty, but this was still too much fun to make.

Obligatory disclaimer: No, I am not affiliated with McDonalds, nor is this a sponsored post. This is purely for fun. I am also obviously not affiliated with any classic rockers and I have no idea what they’d think of this post or the idea of collaborating with McDonalds or what they’d even think of these foods.

Without further ado, the meals!

The Beatles Meal: Got to get this meal into my life!

Items: Yellow Submarine Sandwich, Savoy Truffle, Wild Honey Pie, Ringo Apple Juice.

Many of these items are references to their later work. And of course Ringo is Japanese for apple!

The Brian Wilson Meal: Wouldn’t It Be Nice if you ordered this meal?

A little wordplay with this one! Items: (I wish they all could be) California Rolls, Tea with Wild Honey, and Vegetables. All references to their mid-late 60s work.

The Jimi Hendrix Meal: Best enjoyed with a Foxy Lady

Items: Fire Wings, Third Stone From The Sunflower Seeds, Hey Joe! Cup of Coffee.

The King Crimson Meal: This might be One More Red Nightmare!

Definitely one of the most disgusting meals! But those are the rules! Perhaps your cat will enjoy this one! Hope you like Red Bull!

Items: Aspic (sorry no larks’ tongues), Cat Food, and special edition Red Bull.

The Mick Jagger Meal: Actually… You Can Always Get What You Want!

Can’t say this meal is one where you’ll get what you want… or need, but hey I had to follow the rules!

Items Goats Head Soup, Candy and Taffy, and Coffee with Brown Sugar

The Neil Young Meal: A Harvest of a meal!

This might be one of my favourites and I would totally order this if it were real (and veganised), even if I don’t drink anymore. I’m craving some wings and churros! Love finger foods!

Items: Buffalo Springfield Wings, Cinnamon Girl Churros, and Whiskey Boot Hill

The Phil Lynott Meal: Ye’ll be Running Back for more!

You know I had to make a Phil Lynott meal! And this one is really good! I’d totally order this, but I’ll skip the whiskey. I can eat a whole platter of spring rolls, no joke! And pancakes are the best with peanut butter and maple syrup.

Items: Silver Dollar pancakes, Chinatown spring rolls, Whiskey In The Jar

The Pink Floyd Meal: For a Psychedelic Breakfast

I’m not sure how psychedelic this would be, but a nice mix of Pink Floyd references from the Syd Barrett era to Animals and The Wall. Made sure to have my bases covered!

Items: Pigs (Three Different Ones) in a Blanket, Apples and Oranges, Candy and a Currant Bun, Pudding (gotta eat your meat first!)

The Ray Davies Meal: Feel good from Morning Till the End of the Day

More like a meal for a Low Budget, am I right? But that wouldn’t be marketable! Familiar to every vegetarian, this is basically what you get when you go to a restaurant with no good veggie options. Chips? Salad? That’s it? I knew I should have brought my hot sauce!

Items: Village Green salad, Hot Potatoes (French Fried), Have a Cuppa Tea, and Champagne that tastes just like Coca Cola.

The Robert Plant Meal: Your Time to try this meal is Gonna Come

This was a really fun one to make and references a mix of songs from different albums. I think my favourite bit was the lemonade! This reminds me a lot of the old Tumblr memes about “The Lemon Song”. Also I love how “Hot Dog” is a big meme.

Items: Hot Dog, Tangerine, Custard Pie, and Squeeze My Lemon Lemonade

The Steve Marriott Meal: You’ll wanna Eat It!

items: Humble Pie, Chicken (If The Hat Fits), Nut Gone Flake Ice Cream, and Black Coffee

The Who Meal: I call that a Bargain! The best I ever had!

Would this really be a post from me without a reference to The Who? I wouldn’t order this because I don’t like baked beans, or rock (the sweets of course!). Would The Who have sold out to a fast food restaurant and made their own meal? Who knows?

Items: Bucket (T) of fried chicken, Heinz Baked Beans, and The (Brighton) Rock.

Now it’s your turn! Let me know which meals look the best or what your ideas for classic rock McDonald’s meals are! 🙂

Shoutout to Patrick and Jeffrey from Maryland for supporting the blog!

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