Metropolitan Museum of Art to Exhibit Iconic Guitars
'Play It Loud' will feature Eddie Van Halen's "Frankenstein," Eric Clapton's "Blackie," and many more legendary instruments.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present a new exhibit titled Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock and Roll, featuring more than 130 instruments that were used by artists including Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, Metallica, Jimmy Page, the Beatles, Chuck Berry, Steve Miller, Elvis Presley, St. Vincent, and more.
According to Rolling Stone, the collection boasts instruments spanning from 1939 to 2017, and was curated from 70 private and public collections in the U.S. and U.K.
Some of the featured items, most of which have never been seen apart from their performances onstage, include Eric Clapton’s “Blackie,” Eddie Van Halen’s “Frankenstein” and Jerry Garcia’s “Wolf.”
Other highlights include Chuck Berry’s main guitar from 1957 to 1963, Jimmy Page’s “dragon-embroidered costume” worn during Led Zeppelin’s live shows circa 1975 to 1977 and St. Vincent’s electric guitar from 2015.
Play It Loud will go on display on April 8, 2019 through October 1st, 2019. It will then move to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
For more information, head over to MetMuseum.org.
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Rich is the co-author of the best-selling Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion. He is also a recording and performing musician, and a former editor of Guitar World magazine and executive editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine. He has authored several additional books, among them Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, the companion to the documentary of the same name.
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