Wow! eBook
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: The Outrageous, Definitive & Untold History
Author(s): Craig Inciardi (Author)
- Publisher: Diversion Books
- Publication Date: September 30, 2025
- Language: English
- Print length: 320 pages
- ISBN-10: B0DVCGB9X2
- ISBN-13: 9798895150481
Book Description
Craig Inciardi was a rising star at Sotheby’s, wheeling and dealing in rock memorabilia, when he got the call to help launch the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Museum. The catch? There was no museum. Just a “guitar of no importance and three interesting sheets of paper.”
With a green light and few guardrails, Inciardi hit the road and became the Indiana Jones of rock history—working out of
Rolling Stone’s offices, answering to Jann Wenner, and tracking down legends for their sacred stuff. His journey took him to Ozzy Osbourne’s country estate (where Ozzy greeted him with a gun), Keith Moon’s boyhood home, and Art Garfunkel’s secret stash of letters from Paul Simon. Along the way, he landed the guitar Pete Townshend used to write “Tommy,” Otis Redding’s leather coat worn before his fatal plane crash, Patti Smith’s duct-taped boots, ArethaFranklin’s handwritten notes, Debbie Harry’s stagewear, and John Lennon’s glasses that were worn on the day he died.
And that’s only a fraction of the rock-relic stories on offer.
Meanwhile, Inciardi pulls back the curtain on the hall’s chaotic birth: the cutthroat induction debates, the backstage meltdowns, and the legendary all-star jams with Jagger, Dylan, Springsteen, and more.
Editorial Reviews
Review
–Andy Greene, Senior Writer at Rolling Stone and New York Times bestselling author of The Office
“Inciardi weaves fascinating tales of meeting with legends. . . [and] shares behind-the-scenes drama. . . . His escapades are recounted with vivid details and humor as he unfurls the backstory of the hallowed music institution.”
“Like the hall itself, this one is a blast of nostalgia.”
About the Author
In 2019, Inciardi co-curated “Play It Loud: The Instruments of Rock and Roll” with the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He has conducted numerous on-camera interviews with artists, including Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Jimmy Page, Tom Morello, Taylor Swift, Bono, Ringo Starr, Paul Simon, and former president Jimmy Carter. He is the co-author of
Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock and Roll which was published by Yale University Press. He is a contributor to the documentary Jimmy Carter: The Rock and Roll President, which was released in 2020. Previously, he worked at Sotheby’s auction house in New York, where he developed specialized sales of rock and roll memorabilia and pop culture materials. He graduated from Fairfield University in 1986, where he studied communications and english.
