When the Punk Rock Museum in Las Vegas opened its doorways in 2023, onlookers fell into one in every of two decidedly completely different camps. Many have been excited to have fun the style’s distinctive and engaging historical past, whereas others argued that placing punk in a museum would go in opposition to the music’s anti-establishment methods.
After visiting ourselves, we are able to report that the Punk Rock Museum acquired it proper. This isn’t a stuffy assortment of artifacts, however relatively an thrilling take a look at the style’s distinctive place in historical past. So many artists are represented, masking the assorted generations of punk acts. The museum additionally put a transparent emphasis on the better punk neighborhood – with varied nations, races, sexual orientations and gender identities all represented among the many sprawling two-story venue.
A few of the rooms have completely different vibes. There’s a sitting space made to appear to be a traditional early ‘80s front room, its wall embellished with “household albums” – aka private footage given to the museum from varied musicians. Elsewhere, a hall is enshrouded with live performance fliers and zines, a mirrored image of punk’s persevering with DIY ethos. Nonetheless, in lots of different areas, the objects on show do the speaking, with one-of-a-kind artifacts and memorabilia collected from a lot of punk’s most well-known acts.
Some heavy-hitters have been behind the Punk Rock Museum’s creation, together with MXPX chief Fats Mike, Warped Tour creator Kevin Lyman and skateboarding legend Tony Hawk. Vital members of the punk rock neighborhood have been concerned with each side of the museum’s creation, making certain it will be an correct reflection of the neighborhood, relatively than some Disney-fied retelling of punk historical past.
The result’s an unfiltered and sincere glimpse inside one in every of rock’s most vital sub-genres, and a museum in contrast to some other we’ve been to. Listed below are the ten coolest issues we noticed throughout our go to.