The House That Rock Built

Rock Hall architect I.M. Pei, Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun, Rolling Stone magazine founder Jann S. Wenner and Yoko Ono, among many others, attended the opening of the museum.

Rock Hall co-founder Ahmet Ertegun speaking at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Museum opening ceremony.

Yoko Ono speaking at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame opening ceremony.

Sire Records co-founder Seymour Stein, Rolling Stone magazine founder Jann S. Wenner, Yoko Ono and Little Richard at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ribbon cutting.

Yoko Ono and Little Richard at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ribbon cutting. Little Richard was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with its first class in 1986.

State and local officials, alongside Sire Records co-founder Seymour Stein, Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner, Yoko Ono and Little Richard, cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony for the Rock Hall.

Seymour Stein, Jann S. Wenner, Yoko Ono and Little Richard cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony for the Rock Hall. Both Wenner and Stein are recipients of the Rock Hall's Ahmet Ertegun Award, in 2004 and 2005 respectively.

Ribbon cutting for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

James Brown and The Temptations' Dennis Edwards at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Yoko Ono in the Beatles exhibit at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Chuck Berry was the Rock Hall’s first inductee in 1986. After Elvis Presley, only Chuck Berry had more influence on the formation and development of rock & roll.

Fogerty is a 1993 Hall of Fame inductee with Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Martha Reeves with Chuck Berry, backstage at the Concert for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Reeves is a 1995 Hall of Fame Inductee with Martha & The Vandellas.

Chatting backstage at the Concert for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Brown was inducted with the first Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class alongside Berry; while Dylan was inducted two years later in 1988.

James Brown was known by many names: "Soul Brother Number One," the "Godfather of Soul," "Mr. Dynamite," the "Hardest-Working Man in Show Business" and then some. He will always be known as the indefatigable forefather of soul, funk and rap, and a performer like no other.

Aretha Franklin was the first woman inductee of the Rock Hall in 1987. She and Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun shared a barbecue lunch backstage at the Concert for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

The Pretenders are 2005 inductees to the Hall of Fame. Hometown girl Chrissie Hynde scored with the concert crowd by opening their set with “My City Was Gone,” which includes references to Ohio and her childhood home in Cuyahoga Falls.

Jackson Browne, Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash at the Concert for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Johnny Cash was inducted in 1992; Browne in 2004. In 2016, the Rock Hall honored Cash as the Annual Music Masters recipient, culminating in a star-studded tribute concert.

George Clinton was inducted as part of Parliament-Funkadelic in 1997, while the Wilson sisters were inducted in 2013 with Heart.

Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson and Chrissie Hynde at the Concert for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Lewis is another member of the Rock Hall's first induction class in 1986. He was an unrepentant, wild example for naysayers to use when they spoke out against what even Lewis himself called “the Devil’s music.”

2020 Inductee Jon Landau managed Natalie Merchant beginning in the mid-1990s and oversaw her first major solo concert tour in 1998, the Come on Over Tour.