Why is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland?
The world of rock and roll has a lot to thank the great city of Cleveland, Ohio, for. It gave the world Bobby Womack, Kid Cudi and Tracy Chapman. Its alternative scene was where a young Trent Reznor cut his teeth in the 1980s. Above all, though, it’s where Spinal Tap got lost going from the green room to the stage. “Hello Cleveland” indeed.
However, did you know that the relationship between rock music and The Forest City isn’t a one-way street? It’s true, Cleveland has Rock & Roll to thank for arguably its most popular tourist destination. The story begins in 1983 when the chairman of Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegun, assembled a crack team of music industry bigwigs to form the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation.
Initially an annual ceremony honouring the biggest acts in music and adding the most influential acts of yesterday to the titular hall, the idea was always for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to have an actual, well, hall!
What followed was on Olympic style bidding war for the rights to host the hall. The Foundation had operated out of New York City, so naturally, The Big Apple was considered the favourite.
So, where would the hall go?
Countless other musical meccas were also considered, like Detroit, Minneapolis and Memphis, but it soon became clear that of all of them, Cleveland actually wanted it the most.
Civic leaders in the city promised a staggering $65 million of public funds to construct the hall but their drive went far beyond having the funds to hand. Their argument was that without the 216, there would be no rock & roll and they may have a point. After all, it’s commonly agreed that Alan Freed, disc jockey for Cleveland’s most popular radio station in the 1950s actually coined the term ‘rock and roll’ and was instrumental in popularising the genres early records by playing them on his show.
Also, the generally accepted “first ever rock and roll concert,”1952’s Moondog Coronation Ball, was Freed’s creation. The cherry on top of all this was that his efforts in popularising rock and roll got him a spot in the actual Hall of Fame in 1986.
This, along with the fact that other Cleveland radio stations had kickstarted the mainstream careers of everyone from David Bowie to Bruce Springsteen, saw the foundation give them the honour of opening the museum. They broke ground on the project in 1993 and opened to the public on September 1st, 1995. Since then, the Hall of Fame has become much more than just a tourist attraction.
How is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame doing today?
It’s even become more than a museum. It’s become an icon for Cleveland, and a thriving addition to the cities tourism industry and economy as a whole. As Rock Hall president and CEO Greg Harris put it to News 5 Cleveland in 2023, “Since we opened our doors our economic impact to this region has been over $2billion, it was a smart bet and the city’s had this jewel for the last 28 years.”
Today, the hall is arguably the best museum of popular music in the world, and also hosts every other ceremony inducting music legends into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. There are cities in the US with more popular music history than some countries (I mean, Nashville, Tennessee is often called “Music City”), but there’s something truly special about placing it in Cleveland.
Somewhere, that had an underrated but vitally important effect on the music that we love, which doesn’t just honour that legacy but starts a whole new one as well. What could be more rock and roll than that?
