The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum celebrates AP magazine’s 30 years of independent operation
CLEVELAND -- The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum celebrated the 30th anniversary of Alternative Press as it unveiled a special new exhibit ”Never Give Up: Alternative Press Magazine at 30.”
Alternative Press began, and continues to run, as an independently owned and operated publication and is known as the number one youth music magazine in the world. The magazine has broken music artists such as Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins and Fall Out Boy.
The night also celebrated the eve of the second annual Journeys Alternative Press Music Awards on Tuesday.
“I speak to a lot of music fans, listeners of all ages and creeds who either pledge varying degrees of allegiance toward assorted subgenres or are completely immersed in playlist culture where the ‘guilty pleasure’ simply doesn't exist,” said Jason Pettigrew, editor-in-chief of Alternative Press, in a press release. “All of them are quick to acknowledge AP as being a flashpoint for their musical enlightenment at some point in their lives.”
The Hall’s exhibit tells the story of the magazine’s 30 years, including its history, some of its best and biggest stories and the overall story of how the magazine has lent an unprecedented and unmatched voice to the underground music scene. The exhibit has no shortage of artifacts for fans, such as fan mail and celebrity letters, historic cover art and footage from past Vans Warped Tours and award shows.
Because of the magazine’s history in breaking underground artists, there was no better way to open up the exhibit than to celebrate with live music from one of the most recent breakthrough acts, New Politics. The Danish trio played to a packed main floor at the Rock Hall on Tuesday night mixing hits from both of its studio albums. The indie dance rockers even performed a Beastie Boys cover and a drum solo that began with Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda.” New Politics was among AP’s “100 Bands You Need To Know” in 2015.
The 2nd annual Alternative Press Music Awards will commence at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday at the Quicken Loans Arena.
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