Give the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame some credit: while its voters can take an awfully long time to induct certain bands, the Hall’s displays are more than ready when those inductions roll around.
The morning after Thursday’s inductions in Los Angeles, we dropped by the Hall in Cleveland to find the new members’ artifacts and memorabilia already ensconced in their display cases, their video montages already tacked onto the constantly rolling inductees film, and their signatures already etched in the glass of the inductees’ wall.
Some highlights:
- A musical score for Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” written by Quincy Jones
- A Flying V–style guitar given to Albert King by ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons in 1987
- Flavor Flav‘s Nike jacket
- a proclamation by the mayor of Boston declaring Nov. 26, 1975 “Donna Summer Day”
- a pair of double-neck guitars that could only have come from the 1970s–one from Heart and one from Rush
Footnote: speaking of the 70s, we couldn’t help but take note of an earlier exhibit on punk we encountered at the museum, on which the display read: “The popular styles of [the mid-70s] … such as progressive rock … were viewed by many as pretentious, stagnant and even silly.” Thirty-five years later, as Dave Grohl pointed out in his induction speech for Rush, it may actually be cool again.
Here are a few more highlights from the new displays:
Some of Heart’s medieval-inspired 1970s garb.
The neck from Albert King’s guitar, gifted to him by Billy Gibbons in 1987.
Flavor Flav’s 1990 Nike jacket.
The display case for Rush, including an outfit worn by Alex Lifeson, Neil Pear’s snare drum, sticks and cymbal.
Donna Summer’s iconic waitress uniform from “She Works Hard for the Money.”
