Most music fans would agree that Craig Inciardi held the ultimate dream job.
As the founding curator for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the man known as the Indiana Jones of rock history spent 30 years traveling the world in search of artifacts to display at the Cleveland shrine to musical excellence.
In “The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: The Outrageous, Definitive and Untold Story” (Diversion Books, 320 pp., out now), Inciardi weaves fascinating tales of meeting with legends including Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, The Ramones and Debbie Harry to loan personal items to display at the Rock Hall.
He also shares behind-the-scenes drama from many of the induction ceremonies, which began in 1986 under the tutelage of cofounders Ahmet Ertegun of Atlantic Records and Jann Wenner, the architect of Rolling Stone magazine.
“The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: The Outrageous, Definitive, Untold History” by Craig J. Inciardi tells the story of the origin of the music institution.
Inciardi’s job was to collect rock ‘n’ roll treasures to be housed in the I.M. Pei-designed building, which opened in 1995, an oft-challenging task when dealing with skeptical musicians.
His escapades are recounted with vivid details and humor as he unfurls the backstory of the hallowed music institution.
Here are five highlights from the book.
Ozzy Osbourne jumped out a window during an emotional meeting
After years of trying to persuade Ozzy Osbourne to meet, Inciardi was granted an audience at his home – a former mental hospital – in the English countryside. Ozzy’s wife and manager Sharon sent a chauffeured Rolls Royce to fetch Inciardi and the couple warmly greeted him and showed him around their home.
During their meeting, Inciardi told Osbourne he’d also talked with Delores Rhoads, the mother of Randy Rhoads, the guitarist in Osbourne’s first solo band who died in a plane crash in 1982 at the age of 25.
Rhoads played an iconic “Flying V” guitar on early Osbourne tracks such as “Crazy Train” and “Mr. Crowley” and Inciardi hoped his family would donate the instrument for display at the museum.
While Inciardi thought the connection would impress Osbourne, the former Black Sabbath frontman instead burst into tears and became inconsolable at the mention of Rhoads’ name, crying, “I miss him so much.”
Though Sharon tried to intervene, Osbourne leaped out a living room window and got on a four-wheeled ATV stationed in the garden. The meeting was adjourned.
How KISS changed the Rock Hall induction process
In its first couple of decades, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame saluted artists chosen for their musical heft rather than overt popularity.
But Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, a respected musician and persuasive speaker, pressed Jon Landau – Bruce Springsteen’s longtime manager and head of the nominating committee until 2023 – to induct KISS.
Landau and most of the nominating committee viewed KISS as lightweights undeserving of the honor. But Morello, who was also an adjunct member of Bruce Springsteen’s band, eventually triumphed and personally inducted the “Rock and Roll All Nite” face-painted megastars into the institution in 2014.
The move spotlighted how the Rock Hall never really had “consistent criteria” in its processes and led to the induction of other massively popular, if not critically adored, rock acts including Bon Jovi, Journey, Yes and Chicago.
KISS, it turned out, “instantaneously transformed the trajectory of the nominating committee forever.”
The ‘most precious artifact’ from John Lennon’s estate
In 2000, Yoko Ono and Wenner collaborated to open a John Lennon exhibit in October of that year to recognize Lennon’s birthday. An anonymous tech executive funded the exhibit for $1,000,000 and Inciardi got to work stocking it with Lennon memorabilia.
He writes that he went to the Dakota – the New York building where Ono and Lennon resided at the time of his death – to pick up “the most solemn and precious artifact I’d laid my hands on in my 30 years at the museum.”
Inciardi signed insurance forms and was handed the eyeglasses Lennon was wearing when he was shot in front of the Dakota in December 1980. The glasses were stored in a large paper evidence bag inside a steel briefcase.
The bag “was covered in dried blood and stamped Roosevelt Hospital.” Inside were Lennon’s clothes from the night of his death along with his key and some coins.
Ono had never opened the bag.
How Steven Van Zant’s speech landed his role on “The Sopranos”
Long regarded as a rock historian, Steven Van Zandt, guitarist in Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, was also known for his colorful bandanas and gregarious presence.
In 1997, at the first Cleveland-based induction ceremony, Van Zandt was tapped to welcome The Rascals into the Hall.
His passionate speech featured “just enough Jersey schtick and sarcasm,” Inciardi writes, as he told stories about The Beatles, the Rolling Stones and The Who as the lead-up to praising The Rascals.
David Chase, creator of “The Sopranos,” saw Van Zandt’s speech and knew he wanted the quirky musician adept in rubber-faced mugging on his new show. And thus, the character of Silvio Dante, Tony Soprano’s consiglieri, was created especially for Van Zandt.
Author Craig Inciardi and Keith Richards, who donated Rolling Stones items to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
The drama behind Cream’s reunion
With all three members of the storied rock band alive for their induction at the eighth annual ceremony in 1993, it would be “arguably the greatest reunion in rock history,” as Inciardi deems.
But it wasn’t without headaches.
Wenner asked Tom Petty to present the award to Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce, but Clapton didn’t like the idea and Petty was eventually disinvited.
Instead, Clapton chose ZZ Top for the honors, partially because the band was a trio like Cream and also because of their similar musical background.
Inciardi writes of the moment Cream began rehearsing, their first time playing together in 25 years, and how “the room seemed to levitate” when Bruce started singing.
During the ceremony, Clapton became emotional recounting how “amazing” it was to play with his mates again and when the band took the stage to perform, Inciardi notes, “it was the first time in the Rock Hall’s history that a true reunion had taken place.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rock & Roll Hall of Fame book spills secrets on Ozzy, Lennon and more
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
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