The Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame Annex Soho

I guess Rock is really dead. Maybe it died with Jack Black's "School of Rock" movie where Rock 'n Roll got reduced to a historical recreation club for kids. Rock seems to have splintered down an endless series of niche markets. To mark the death of Rock and to water down what Rock is, we have the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame, where you can see old guitars, shoes, and scraps paper like you are touring the ancient Egyptian wing of your local museum. And is worth it? Is it worth the $26 dollar price of admission in these harsh times? Well, frankly NO.

You can see more interesting Rock n' Roll memorabilia at your local Hard Rock Cafe, where $26 at least gets you a burger, fries, soda, and salad.

The annex seems like it is based on the Holocaust museum. You walk into a hard room with your other guest, like you do in the Holocaust museum to simulate what it would be like to be sent to a concentration camp, except this time you where snippet's of music, then you see a film.

OK, I have to admit I liked the film. The sound was great and it hard to want to sing along. After a pretty cool film you are given a headset. There are images of bands, like the Beatles and U2 that light up and the head set plays their most popular song. Like, "I can't get no satisfaction" for the Rolling Stones. No history. They make sure you don't learn anything. Then you walk and look really non-interesting items that the rock stars just gave away. There are some hard written song lyrics, but it is unclear when these were written. The assumption is that they are written at the creation of the song, but it never says that and they look too neat to be made in the throes of creation.

There big exhibit was of the "The Clash". I mean I like a some of their songs but not enough to look at 12 pairs of there boots.

At other times, as awesome as Rap is, is it really Rock n' Roll?

Isn't Rock n' Roll suppose to be anti-establishment? This place thinks a nose piercing and a tattoo is really sticking it to the man.

The whole thing could have been a Morgan Stanley corporate event.