A Visit to the Rock Hall
I spent 5 1/2 hours at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame today, and it was glorious. even though i've been living in Cleveland for three years now, i still hadn't visited during that time. i had been once, though, back in high school, so i didn't think i'd enjoy today's tour as much as i did. maybe it was the tour guide, who offered interesting insights into the exhibits and into bands which, for the most part, i was already pretty familiar with. the temporary bob dylan exhibit was great, the main exhibits in the basement are full of some great artifacts, but these weren't even the highlights for me. the first of these was the pink floyd stuff, which is very limited in the hall of fame, but the Division Bell heads and the Wall display are pretty awesome. i asked our guide why there wasn't more Pink Floyd stuff in the Hall, but he wasn't able to give me a very satisfactory answer, beyond the idea that since the band is still alive and touring (even if separately) they may be hanging on to their stuff. still, to have two giant artifacts there from my favorite band was great to see, both of which i don't remember from my first visit, somehow i must have missed them...
as for the second highlight, it was the hour long video presentation of all of the hall's inductees, presented with each year's induction class together. the video is just a montage of performances and videos of all of the inductees, but seeing them together like that was fantastic. i got really emotional during the video, and i'm not even sure why. maybe it was seeing all of those musicians who were gone before their time, wondering what could have been. jim morrison, janis joplin, hendrix, john lennon, marvin gaye, otis redding, buddy holly, richie valens, the big bopper, keith moon, john bonham, duane allmann, the list goes on and on. some people say that that is part of the mystique of these musicians, that seeing them playing for another forty years beyond their prime would be painful, and it's for the best that all we have is those brief flashes of brilliance. as neil young sang, it's better to burn out than to fade away. yeah, maybe, but i'm pretty sure stones fans are happy with the forty years that they've had to listen to new music from their favorite band. but maybe that wasn't even it, maybe it was just being assaulted with all of these images and sounds of some of my favorite music all at once. as i walked out, i heard some girls sitting outside complaining about the video because it was just a bunch of pictures and songs from the bands inducted. and yes, that is all it was, but to me, that is what the place is about. the entire rock hall exists to celebrate the music of these people, and what that music has meant to individual listeners and to the world, and that's what the video represented in one quick extravaganza of sight and sound. rock and roll has had a huge impact on the world, and maybe those girls wanted to see a video telling them about that, but sometimes the music is enough as it is. or at least it was for me. oh, and one other highlight, seeing the lyrics to Rockin' in the Free World written by Neil Young on a manilla folder, i actually teared up. i honestly don't think there are many better verses than the second one in that song: i see a woman in the night/with a baby in her hand/under an old streetlight/near a garbage can/now she puts the kid away and she's gone to get a hit/you know she hates her life and what she's done to it/there's one more kid that'll never go to school/never get to fall in love, never get to be cool/keep on rockin' in the free world
clearly, the title and chorus are not meant as some pro-american anthem. i wonder if any idiot politician asked to use it for his campaign, like reagen did with Born in the U.S.A., which if you actually listen to the lyrics, and have the mental capacity of an eight year old, than you'll realize that it isn't quite the USA lovefest that Reagen thought it was
to anyone who hasn't been there and enjoys music, even if it isn't the music you typically associate with the rock hall, take a chance and visit the place. it can help bring a better understanding of where music is today and where it has been, and how some things never change. the exhibit on teen idols, which has outfits ranging from ricky nelson to britney spears, and the exhibit on the negative reaction to rock and roll's emergence (you realize they used to burn beatles albums, right?) were particularly pertinent even today. see, cleveland does have something to offer the world.
and now, for a list of the coolest random stuff i heard while at the rock hall:
1. Prince wears a size 1 in women's clothing
2. Pearl Jam used to call themselves Mookie Blaylock, after the Atlanta Hawks guard, apparently just because they thought it sounded cool (while I already new this, i still think it's so cool it's worth mentioning)
3. in San Francisco they printed Janis Joplin caricatures on napkin-sized paper....that was perforated and used for dropping acid
4. Charles Manson wrote a letter to Rolling Stone after they featured him on the cover, he signed it with a swastika and asked for a free subscription
5. Otis Redding's plane that crased left from Cleveland on its way to Pittsburgh (only interesting cos now shards of that plane with his name on it reside in a display case in the rock hall, and cos cleveland is clearly bad luck for anyone who comes here, just look at otis, bill bellicheck, kellen winslow jr.)
6. the Rolling Stones and the Beatles switched images, as the Rolling Stones grew up rich while the Beatles were the punks of their day, but the Stones were the tough band while the Beatles had the clean image early on
that's it for today, enjoy the heat
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