Look closely, and you can find Garbage in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Shirley Manson, lead singer of the ‘90s grunge act, is part of the new “Revolutionary Women in Music: Left of Center” exhibit. She was on hand for the opening Thursday. Singer-songwriters Lisa Loeb and Malina Moye plus 2021 inductee Jane Wiedlin of the Go-Gos also attended.
“There’s so much of historical importance here,” Wiedlin said. “I hope that young women will see these artists that they don’t know about and discover them and listen to them.”
They were among the dozens of performers to contribute stage outfits, instruments, handwritten lyrics, and other memorabilia. Manson toured the exhibit, and she was shocked to see her gear on display.
“I go to the corner of the exhibition, where my cabinet is, and I just about died,” she said. “To the right of me is Patti Smith, and then right in front of me is Siouxsie Sioux. And Patti and Siouxsie were two of the most influential women in my entire life. To be in the same space of them felt insane – in a good way.”
Smith was inducted in 2007. The groundbreaking performer and poet gained fame in the mid-1970s and is considered the demarcation point for the new exhibit. Rock Hall CEO Greg Harris said that while the stories of inductees, such as Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Aretha Franklin, are already on display, “Revolutionary Women in Music” examines the era after that: from punk to modern. Tracy Chapman, Sheryl Crow and Queen Latifah are all represented alongside Taylor Swift and Beyoncé.
Instead of a ribbon-cutting, Lorain native Moye played a scorching instrumental called “Fine.” She thanked her fellow performers for their inspiration, calling them “amazing, incredible, fabulous” and “fearless.”
“I stand on your shoulders,” she said. “This exhibit is extraordinary. I hope that you see yourselves in this.”
After Moye’s performance, her guitar was immediately enclosed in a display case in the exhibit.
