Rock Hall of Fame ready to roll

September 1, 1995

From Correspondent Mark Scheerer

CLEVELAND (CNN) -- The plaza is shaped like a disc. The superstructure looks vaguely like the tone-arm and stylus of a record-player. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, which straddles the edge of a pier north of downtown Cleveland, is open for business.

"Inside, there's music everywhere, as the sounds of rock and roll's many eras and styles overlaps in the 50,000 square feet of exhibition space. The permanent collection includes the sort of memorabilia indigenous to theme restaurants, but there's educational and interactive components as well," said the museum's architect I.M. Pei.

Those inclined to think of the museum as a Hard Rock Cafe without the hamburgers might want to think again. "We are a real museum and we are going to do all the things that a real museum does. We are going to lend things, we are going to borrow things and we're going to send exhibitions on the road," said director Dennis Barrie. (792k Quicktime movie)

In a recent CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, just over a third of all Americans say they are interested in giving the museum a spin.

Rock fans, like sports fans, love a good debate. An interactive display of the "Five Hundred Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll" should generate some discussion. There's a bit of a controversy already about how the public and the news media are forbidden from photographing items that belonged to John Lennon, Michael Jackson and David Bowie, among others, because of restrictions placed by the donors.

But rock and roll is no stranger to controversy. Some people are still asking, for example, why is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland? Ohio governor George Voinovich, who helped raise public and private funds to build it, says stars such as Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel have always been in favor of Cleveland site.

And it was a Cleveland DJ, Alan Freed, who coined the term "Rock and Roll" in the fifties. Of course, Freed is honored in the Hall of Fame.

Related Sites:

CNN/USA TODAY/GALLUP POLL

Attending Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Sampling error: +/- 5 percentage points

Interested	Uninterested

36%	63%

Interested in Attending Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Sampling error: +/-7 percentage points

Under 50	50 and older

50%	13%

Greatest Rock and Roll Star of All Time

Sampling error: +/-5 percentage points

Elvis Presley	Michael Jackson	Mick Jagger	Jimi Hendrix

35%	5%	4%	3%

Greatest Rock and Roll Band of All Time