Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - Cleveland

This Labor Day weekend, I was in Cleveland, OH, excited to finally set foot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and maybe check out some live music in the area as well.  I think I built it up a little too much, or perhaps just visiting a place like this doesn't really do justice to all the behind the scenes action that occurs there and of course actually hearing the music!  Even so, it was well worth finally seeing the outfits, instruments, and various artifacts of so many legends.  

The location is excellent and befitting to such a monument of Rock music and its ancestors - right on Lake Erie, next to the Browns stadium.  There is a large courtyard out front, plenty of grass and walking room by the water, and behind you is the skyline of Cleveland.  It would be a great place to enjoy lunch or dinner and walk around for an hour or two, that is if it isn't pouring like it was for us!  (On a side note, I would recommend planning your meals elsewhere or bringing one to enjoy, the cafe in the museum had awful, barely recognizable food)

The banner on the front of the building  was advertising the Bruce Springsteen exhibit, located on the fifth and sixth floors.  The very top of this pyramid had a large screen playing live concerts and many of his instruments and notes on song lyrics.  This exhibit changes every so often and usually hosts bigger acts, the most pervading in popular culture ie. Michael Jackson recently (who eerily started playing on the radio as I was typing his name!).  The following picture shows a large replica of his glittery glove holding a purple guitar featuring various likeness of the King of Pop.

Its currently located in the lobby as are the following two guitars, including one commemorating George Harrison.  This is, sadly, the only place in the building you can snap photos, but it keeps the artifacts in better condition and doesn't ruin the surprises for your visit.

  

Also located in the lobby was a stage.  There was about to be a man and his guitar performance as we were leaving, but it wasn't compelling enough for us to stay.  I'm also disappointed that we were there during the 15th anniversary weekend, but there were no major acts playing as I would have expected.  I would like to go back if they ever have a big party and a decent concert. 

The basement is where the majority of the collection is.  One gem here was interactive consoles that allowed you to click through major artists and listen to their direct influences.  Some influences were career wide while others demonstrated the inspiration for a particular song.  Some relations I had no idea existed.  This exhibit could be improved if the influences flowed more like a timeline.  They were very abrupt featuring only one artist and two influences, not who the featured artist influenced or any elaboration.

This was next to an exhibit where visitors could listen to The Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.  I thought it was these interactive and listening venues that were the most interesting and brought back the most memories of when certain songs came into my life.

I also enjoyed the panorama of the history of rock (see here and here) with encased exhibits of each decade featured outfits, the front heads of the bass drums with various band logos on them, articles, posters, and instruments.  It was a great visual as to how music evolved and the major players in the game.

Other than that, if you go, you need to see all of Jimi Hendricks guitars and Michael Jackson's and Stevie Nicks outfits.

One of my favorite installations on the second floor was a video collage of ground-breaking and widely loved MTV videos designed to illustrate the history of the music video, MTV's major role in propagating them, and those artists who contributed to their artistic development.  I sat here watching this one for awhile.  There were plenty of other videos and theaters in the museum to visit, but some of these cost extra cash on top of the pricey entrance ticket and others were only playing infrequently.  I suppose we could have spent more than the afternoon there, but I think I'd rather read more about the history of my favorite performers than gawk at their stuff, and of course I had some cravings to listen to the music which had to be taken care of right away.