Smoke and Mirrors: Behind The Rock Hall

Craig Inciardi’s The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: The Outrageous, Definitive, Untold History promises a backstage pass to to a curtain-pull behind music’s most talked-about institution. As founding curator, Inciardi weaves memoir and institutional history to chart how a “museum” built from nearly nothing ultimately amassed some of rock’s most cherished artifacts.

The book is rich in collector lore and bizarre acquisition stories. Inciardi recounts retrieving Pete Townshend’s guitar used in Tommy. Picking up Otis Redding’s leather jacket from before his fatal crash. Bringing in Patti Smith’s duct-taped boots, Aretha Franklin’s handwritten notes, and Debbie Harry’s stagewear. Inciardi even retrieved John Lennon’s glasses worn on the day he died.

Among the more eyebrow-raising stories, his book includes an account involving discovering Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run spiral notebook full of song drafts. This is a discovery that allegedly provoked a failed deal that ended with Springsteen’s attorneys. He also reportedly discusses Joe Strummer’s handwritten London Calling lyrics found in a leaky barn. Additionally, major collectors like Martin Zweig donated eclectic items, from memorabilia to Muhammad Ali’s Golden Gloves.

The book doesn’t shy away from institutional drama either. Inciardi lifts the curtain on the Rock Hall’s secretive nominating processes. The book also talks about internal politics over who gets inducted, and the chaos surrounding its early days. Inciardi describes what it was working out of Rolling Stone offices. He describes responding to Jann Wenner, and the scramble to legitimize the Rock Hall that initially had “a guitar of no importance and three interesting sheets of paper.”

The Rock Hall has had its share of scandal. Inciardi is not exempt from his share. You may remember his name attached to the Eagles' "Hotel California" legal case from a few years back. Inciardi was one of the two men that bought handwritten lyrics from the creation of the the song. The two men were selling the lyrics and Don Henley was not having it.

And as for Inciardi's infamous partner, Jann Wenner: he has not publicly made any statements regarding Iciardi's book. It was during an interview about his book, The Masters, that Jann Wenner made the now-famous statements. Those statements got him removed from the Rock Hall.