Happy 30th birthday to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland! The glass-walled pyramid-shaped shrine to music's groundbreaking artists was dedicated on September 1st in 1995.
The ceremony, on a sun-filled late summer day, drew a who's who of legends, including Little Richard, Ben E. King and Martha Reeves. There were also speeches from Cleveland Mayor Mike White and Ohio Governor George Voinovich.
Cleveland was chosen as the site for the museum in May 1986, four months after the Hall inducted its first group of artists at a New York gala. The museum's groundbreaking was held on June 7th, 1993 with architect I.M. Pei joined by Hall of Fame board members Ahmet Ertegun, Suzan Evans and Jann Wenner, as well as inductees and prominent artists such as Pete Townshend, Chuck Berry, Billy Joel, Sam Phillips, Ruth Brown and Sam Moore. Just under 27 months later, the doors opened and rock and roll finally had its own museum.
A little over a week after the groundbreaking ceremony, Pete Townshend recounted to us his speech that day.
"I said something about the fact that I had been, not skeptical, but doubtful about the value of a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as everybody else. You know, even [Rock Hall founder and Atlantic Records founder and chairman] Ahmet [Ertegun] was at the very beginning. I mean he was canvassing opinion from left, right and center. [He] wasn't really sure that it was a good idea and everybody that's involved in it didn't seem to be particularly sure. And I realized in a sense what's really important about was the white side continuing to honor, pay reverence, to its engagement with the black side."