Cleveland Rocks
Birth Place of Rock ‘n’ Roll
By: Charles Giuliano - May 11, 2010
For better or worse, rightly or wrongly, Alan Freed, Cleveland disk jockey, in 1951, is credited with being the first to use the term Rock ‘n’ Roll on radio. He introduced black Rhythm and Blues to a white audience of teens. Also Freed organized the first rock shows. He was later caught up in the payola scandals.
As the ersatz birthplace of rock, actually a far more complex history, Cleveland is the site of the spectacular Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.
There is a sameness recalling the County Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, or the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. They all pack in lots of memorabilia from cars to guitars. As in Nashville there are numerous video displays and listening booths.
It’s trippy to see all those Mick Jagger stage costumes, early Beatles outfits, Michael’s famous glittery glove, or a bashed up guitar from the Ramones.
But the actual displays of the material seemed cramped.
You enter an impressive lobby with suspended hot rods, giant guitars, and a great feeling of space.
The memorabilia displays are crammed into the basement level. Let’s hope there are no more rock stars over the next generation or the exhibition will bust at the seams.
We went up to the fourth level to catch a concert film of U2 in 3-D. It was wicked cool.
Then down to the third level for a lousy lunch. Not much more than commercial salads overpriced and the kind of sandwiches they sell in machines. With ambient music.
The second level was basically the planet’s last surviving CD store. With T-shirts and caps.
Great idea, cool building, but not really that much inside. The stroll down memory lane proved to be more of a stumble.