New museum honors British rock stars

Following the success of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame museum in Cleveland, the Experience Music Project in Seattle and the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles is the new British Music Experience which opened on March 9 in London at the O2 Arena. This permanent exhibition celebrates 60 years of popular music in Britain.

The British Music Experience, or BME, takes over the 22,000 square feet on the top floor of The O2 bubble, The O2’s state of the art exhibition space. Hundreds of artists featured in the exhibition range from The Beatles to Iron Maiden, from Cilla Black to Elastica, and from David Bowie to Motorhead. Musical genres from Skiffle to Reggae, from Rock n Roll to Blues, and from Punk to Grime are also explored.

Although predominantly an interactive exhibition, there are over 500 key pieces of British music memorabilia featured including David Bowie’s Ashes to Ashes clown suit and Ziggy Stardust costume, Noel Gallagher’s Epiphone Union Jack guitar, Roger Daltrey’s Woodstock outfit and a vintage Amy Winehouse dress.

The interactive exhibition allows you to scroll through years of music, video clips, stories and images of your favorite artists, or search across a giant interactive music map of Great Britain. In the Gibson Interactive Studio, you can develop your skills on guitar, bass, drums and in the vocal booth.

For more info: Visit the BME's official website at www.britishmusicexperience.com. For information on the O2, visit www.theo2.co.uk