A visit the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland

One of the things that was on our list of must dos when we were in Cleveland was to visit the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame. It's a combination of things I like music and a museum, I love going to museums and just looking at artifacts and soaking in all the history and the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame is just that a museum rich with history. Just looking at the museum from the outside you're immediately drawn to it because it is so uniquely shaped, it's just not another brick and mortar building, it's totally different and very unique.

 

We walked in and the first thing we noticed was a prop hotdog used by Phish , this thing was massive and there was something about seeing glittering relish that made me want a hotdog.... The museum is laid out on several floors and has intertwining rooms housing the memorabilia and interactive kiosks. We were a little disappointed that we would not be able to take pictures in the Hall, we could only snap pictures in the area before you head into the main portion of the Hall. That stunk, my husband was bummed he had planned on taking god knows how many pictures he's become a real shutter bug with our new camera and was disappointed he couldn't use it throughout the Hall but he put the camera away and we were off.

It was nice to see a chronological order of the history of Rock-n-Roll from its R&B roots in the deep south the where it stands today. Many of the names of those R&B legends I didn't recognize but was informed by my husband that when you listen to or read interviews from bands that we all recognize that many of these men and women that aren't recognized by the masses were very influential in the shaping of what we know as Rock-n-Roll today.

We moved from room to room and a few of the highlight's for us were seeing Elvis' Lincoln Mark IV, that car was MASSIVE! It was purple and huge and could easily carry 15 people in it. My husband geeked out over several instruments such as Jimi Hendrix's guitars, John Lennon's Rickenbacker, prototype guitars built by Les Paul, the whole Metallica area with all their instruments, DMC's glasses and shell toed Adidas, the hand written lyrics of Highway to Hell by Bon Scott and the handwritten lyrics to the Beastie Boy's Brass Monkey on a Tide notepad! And seeing stage worn costumes by the Stone's and realizing that Mick Jagger must weigh about 50 pounds! His clothes looked like they wouldn't fit my 7 year old that's how small they looked!

But the one thing that I pointed out to him and this made me laugh to see him morph back into a 15 year old the 2 small references to House of Pain. They were an Irish rap trio from the early 90s most noted for Jump Around and the Hall had a small pin and ring with their logo on it and I'm not kidding you he lit up like a Christmas tree and had a huge smile on his face that a band that meant a lot to him as a kid had a small place in the Hall. 

Possibly one of the coolest displays was the "Hall" itself, the area where all the enshrined artists names were listed and not just listed any old way they had their autographs engraved and backlit onto the wall. And I have to tell you that was the coolest way to display the Hall of Famer's. After touring the Hall we headed out and were able to go inside Johnny Cash's tour bus that had logged over 4 million miles! It was neat to see how the bus was set up for Johnny and his wife June to go from coast to coast because "The Man in Black" wasn't a fan of flying. I need tour bus! I do wish we had won the bid to get the Hall in Philly, it's a great museum full of history and artifacts that anyone who is a music lover needs to visit. 

And before I go I have to get on my soapbox and lobby for someone who needs to be enshrined who isn't....Weird Al Yankovic. How he's not in the Hall already is a mystery to us considering Kurt Cobain declared him a musical genius and admitted that Nirvana finally made it when the King of Parodies made a parody of Smells Like Teen Spirit with Smells Like Nirvana. Is he Hendrix or the Stone's or the Beatles? No, but he never claimed to be. He's been making parodies for 30+ years and is just as funny and brilliant today as he was in the beginning. 

 






Disclosure: The reviews and or opinions on this blog are my own opinions . I received 2 tickets to facilitate this review. No monitory compensation was received. I was not required to write a positive review. Your experience may differ. The opinions I have expressed are my own I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsement and Testimonials in Advertising .