Though the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was first established in 1983, it took 12 years before it finally settled on an actual home. On September 2, 1983, Yoko Ono and Little Richard cut the ribbon to officially open the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio. The hall, designed by legendary architect I.M. Pei, the Hall houses seven floors of music history and memorabilia, from Keith Moon's velvet suit to Janis Joplin's 1965 Porsche. Though the criteria for getting into the Hall is sketchy at best, in recent years they've done a better job about embracing older rock pioneers from the '50s and more underground and hip-hop acts from the modern era.
This year's inductees included Jeff Beck, Little Anthony & the Imperials, Run-D.M.C., Metallica and Bobby Womack. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has been slow to embrace metal, so the welcoming of Metallica is especially interesting and should open up the category to more than just them and Black Sabbath. (It seems like Slayer and Sepultura are long overdue for some proper acknowledgment.) Metallica brought speed metal to the masses and made hard music radio-friendly, but they almost certainly couldn't have gotten to the top of the metal mountain without the help of some (typically disturbing) music videos. "One" put them on the map and "Enter Sandman" gave birth to a million video clichés (though nobody did them with more conviction than the boys in Metallica), but they continue to push the envelope today. Though it was somewhat overhyped, Metallica's 2008 album Death Magnetic was a satisfying jolt of old-school metal, and the video for "The Day That Never Comes" was a grim and satisfying effort that belongs among the best rock clips ever made.
