Old-Time Rock ‘n’ Roll:
How The 1980s Embraced 1950s and 1960s Oldies Music
Rock ‘n’ Roll History is Preserved at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Photo: "The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Credit Positively Cleveland" by US Embassy Canada is licensed under CC PDM 1.0
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame began it’s lengthy development in the 1980s. Conceived in 1983, and promoted by Atlantic Records' Ahmet Ertegun and Rolling Stone magazine’s Jann Wenner, inductions to the Hall began in 1986. The Foundation selected Cleveland, Ohio as the Hall’s location due to the city’s popular deejay Alan Freed coining the term rock ‘n’ roll.
Cleveland and the State of Ohio also contributed tens of millions of dollars to pay for the construction. Criticism began in 1993 that 1970s superstars inducted into the Hall leapfrogged the innovators of the 1950s and 1960s. After delays and setbacks, the Hall opened Labor Day Weekend, 1995.