RNR HOF

After Beth we drove to Cleveland and last Saturday visited the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

I was hoping for a boatload of Janis, Jimi, Sex Pistols, Doors & Lou Reed. With a heavy dose of history, including John Lee Hooker, Chubby Checker, Little Richard and the other pioneers.
I did get some of that, but it was a lot of Elvis, Ricky Nelson and the others from the bland 50's & 60's ...

The first thing when you get there is a huge sign from Moby & Gwen (Stefani) ... Not exactly hardcore R&R. After paying the 20 bucks and being forced to check the cameras - because no pictures are allowed!! - we stepped into the exhibit hall. The first thing there is 2 short films 15 minutes each about the history of Rock. The first one was without dialogue and covered everything before Elvis. I was disappointed because I wanted acknowledgement of where Rock came from, but they only showed LeadBelly, Bo Diddley and Muddy Waters, they never explained what they meant. The second film was better, only because it had Janis and Patti Smith's Babelogue that she recites before Rock & Roll Nigger. But even that was interspersed with Madonna talking about Sex.

How does Michael Jackson (twice) and Brenda - Rocking around the Christmas tree - Lee make it in, but there's no Pearl Jam or Nirvana, and the Sex Pistols & Black Sabbath just make it in now. That's like having a Baseball Hall of Fame and not including Babe Ruth, the person or band that changed music.
There was stuff from Madonna and Britney & Christina Aguilera, all very disturbing.

The Hall has many interactive stations, which are supposed to be the reason for the fee and should be a highlight. I'll agree that the ones on the 4th floor, with all the inductees was cool. But the others were sorely lacking. The ones with the top 500 songs (how that was determined is unnerving in itself, with the 90's having very little representation and the bulk being in the 60's - not the cool part) was the worst. You can't listen to the music while you navigate through the menus and the accompanying text is cropped to fit the screen but is missing huge chucks making it frustrating more than anything else.

In all, there's some cool stuff like the Ramones lyrics' pages and the poster for the Mookie Blaylock concert (Pearl Jam's original name). But for 20 bucks I was expecting more.
The memorabilia for sale was almost all Elvis & Rolling Stones, nothing for Dylan.

Plus without the ability to capture any of the stuff on camera, I have to rely on a failing memory.
At least P-Funk was acknowledged ... Now let's get funked.