Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2026 Inductee Exhibit Opens November 9 in Cleveland, Ohio: Artifacts From All 18 Entries on View for About a Year
Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio — The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opened its 2026 Inductee Exhibit to the public on Monday, November 9.
The exhibition, on the museum third floor, brings together artifacts from all 18 entries in this year class. The November 9 opening came five days before the induction ceremony, which is set to be recorded on November 14 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California.
The performer category has eight entries: Billy Idol, Phil Collins, Iron Maiden, Joy Division and New Order as a joint entry, Oasis, Sade, Luther Vandross and Wu-Tang Clan.
The Early Influence category has five entries: Celia Cruz, Fela Kuti, Queen Latifah, MC Lyte and Gram Parsons.
The Musical Excellence category has four people: songwriter Linda Creed and producers Arif Mardin, Jimmy Miller and Rick Rubin. The Ahmet Ertegun Award goes to television host Ed Sullivan. The four categories total 18 entries, matching the artifact list published by the museum.
Artifacts on view include the metallic headpiece Billy Idol wore in a music video, and a 1985 Harley-Davidson motorcycle owned by Idol, shown on the fourth floor.
The Luther Vandross display includes a custom Dior jacket he wore on his 1991 to 1992 Power of Love tour.
A tambourine used by Oasis singer Liam Gallagher is also on display, along with a kick drum head painted with the Union Jack flag.
Celia Cruz is represented by performance dresses, one of them from a music video, and by one of her wigs.
The Gram Parsons case holds two guitars loaned by Emmylou Harris. One is a Gibson J-200 acoustic that Parsons used as his main songwriting guitar, and the case also holds handwritten lyrics, a journal and two shirts.
Andy Leach, the museum senior director of museum archive collections, said he was privileged to curate the Parsons display and thrilled that Harris was willing to loan the two guitars Parsons had played.
The first bass guitar owned by Peter Hook of Joy Division and New Order is also on view. Reports say Hook bought it the day after he saw the Sex Pistols in Manchester in 1976, when he did not yet know how to play bass, and wrote the notes on the fretboard in marker.
The Phil Collins display includes the tuxedo he wore to the 1986 Grammy Awards and a card he sent from Oslo, Norway, in 1994.
The Fela Kuti display features performance suits loaned by his family and sent from Nigeria. Leach said the suits were among his favorite items in the exhibition visually.
Hip hop artifacts include the jacket MC Lyte wore at the 2006 VH1 Hip Hop Honors and a 1994 Honda motorcycle from Queen Latifah music video for U.N.I.T.Y. A Wu-Tang Clan time capsule, filled with contributions from fans during the group 2025 tour, sits just outside the main gallery.
The Iron Maiden display is not yet finished. Museum crews expect to complete it within a week or two, and it will include artifacts for every inducted member of the band. The exhibit is expected to stay open for about a year.
The museum held a member preview on November 6. On November 22, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., the museum will hold its 2026 Community Day, when Cuyahoga County residents who RSVP can visit free, preview the museum expanded space and see the new artifacts in the 2026 Inductee Exhibit.
Reports say November 22 is also the day the museum debuts its 50,000 square foot expansion. The museum is at 1100 Rock and Roll Boulevard in Cleveland.
The recorded induction ceremony is scheduled to air on ABC on December 8.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于俄亥俄州克利夫兰的摇滚名人堂建筑外观（本尊图）。MusikAnimal 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons / Photo: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, May 2016. By MusikAnimal, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
