Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame - Cleveland Rocks!

Remember that song by Ian Hunter, ‘Cleveland Rocks’? You won’t hear that song playing as you step into the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame & Museum which is located in Cleveland OH but you will hear rock n roll and be immersed in all things rock n roll.  I visited the museum recently on a weekend trip to Cleveland.  It has been many years since I have last visited the hall of fame, so it was fun to go inside and see it again.  I certainly did not have enough time on my hands to visit all the exhibits, so I can only tell you what I did get a chance to see.

After you pay your $22.00 admission fee, you will head downstairs to view the main gallery which is full of music exhibits, videos, rock memorabilia, photos, etc. The key to enjoying the hall of fame is giving yourself the time to go through all the exhibits and not rush. There is a lot to see and read. As you walked through the early years of rock and roll, you will come upon the large Elvis Presley exhibit which featured his custom made 1975 Supertrike motorcycle (designed by Ed Roth).  There is a film about Elvis as well featuring various musicians speaking highly of Elvis and seeing early footage of Elvis is wonderful. My 9 year old son was fascinated by this Elvis film. They did show some later footage of Elvis, those Las Vegas years when Elvis wore that white flashy jumpsuit and he had that bloated look on his face. I didn’t explain what those Vegas years were like for Elvis to my son, he doesn’t need to know that now!

I liked the early punk rock exhibit and all the memorabilia that went with it. Love those British punks. There was a Subpop /Seattle exhibit as well as a Metal exhibit, Otis Redding, Jeff Beck and even the Rapper’s Delight! The Rolling Stones have a featured exhibit on this main floor which showed film clips of their live shows as well as a 1980 Bally pinball machine with Mick Jagger on it. There is another section on this main floor that featured musicians outfits that they wore on stage, like ZZ Top, Stevie Nicks, David Bowie, James Brown and the Supremes.

I was happy to see Ska Exhibit in the rock hall now. It featured the music of the Specials, Madness, and The Selector and showed their hats, clothes, guitars, etc. It was good but I was hoping there would be some film or video attached to it and there wasn’t. Nice to see an exhibit dedicated to 2 of my favorite bands Joy Division and New Order . There is a room off to the side that was called Music of The Midwest and it was full of bands that originated in the Midwest and were successful  like Cheap Trick, Styx, Uncle Tupelo, and Nine Inch Nails (yes, the band originated from Cleveland OH!).

The large creepy looking mannequins from Pink Floyds tour are featured upstairs hanging by the escalators.  Upstairs, there is a history of the audio technology from the early days of the phonograph to today’s digital world.  There are films to see in several theaters including all the inductees in the rock hall. Make time to see them all! There was more to the Rolling Stones exhibit that I didn’t get to see due to time constraints. There is a large gift shop featuring shirts, accessories, good selections of posters and books, music DVD’s, vinyl and cd’s (priced kind of high, it’s run by FYE Music), so bring some extra cash for all of  that. There is a photo exhibit too; the staff will take a picture of you and your crew. You can pick the background you want which includes placing you on the cover of Rolling Stone.  

Go to www.rockhall.org for more information about the museum’s hours and location.

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