Billy Joel, Clive Davis, Michael Bloomberg Announce Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex in NYC

Songs from Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen echoed through the streets of Soho this afternoon as Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex in "the city where Lou Reed took a walk on the wild side."

Flanked by Joel, Clive Davis, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation President and CEO Joel Peresman, RRHOF Museum President and CEO Terry Stewart and CEO of NYC & Company George Fertitta, the Mayor said, "I'm one of the few people here who were around when this car was built," referencing Bruce Springsteen's 1957 Chevy Convertible at his side. The car, along with the CBGB phone booth on display, is one of the many artifacts which will make their home at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex in New York City this coming November.

The Annex will occupy 25,000 square feet at 76 Mercer Street in Soho and showcase selected artifacts from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland, along with special rotating exhibits which will change about every six to nine months. "From Shea Stadium to Madison Square Garden, New York really gave birth to rock and roll" Peresman proudly proclaimed.

Billy Joel, inducted into the R&RHOF in 1999, told Rock Daily, "New York gave me my words and my music, and rock and roll gave me a place for that music to live."

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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