January 21, 2009 'Backstage Pass' to 50 years of Rock and Roll Play video

(Amy Sinclair, NECN: Portland, Maine) - There was a time, when rock n roll musicians would never hang in a museum. They wouldn't have been invited. And museums were way too, establishment.

But that generation and their adoring fans are all grown up now and they get to decide what's art.

Tom: "The exhibit comes from the best private collection of rock photography in the country what's so extraordinary is the number of rare images."

The show features nearly 300 photos culled from a former music industry executive's one of a kind collection. Together they tell the story of 50 years of rock n roll.

There are classic images--- The Beatles---Led Zeppelin--Springsteen--Madonna-- but even their most loyal fans will find something new.

Tom: "We chose the title “Backstage pass” because we wanted to show it was stolen moments off stage. There was very little heroic imagery like guitars behind the back or anything like that."

There are distinctly private moments, John Lennon holding baby Sean. Kurt Cobain in crisis and some fun before they were famous photos.

Tom: "There are turning points in exhibition photos that celebrated the photo shoot name change of the grateful dead and the who from the high numbers in the 1960s.

And a young manager holding a photo of the a young band he was trying to peddle to American audiences.

Anyone ever heard of the Rolling Stones?

What sticks is how prolific these young artists

were. How too many of them died before they got old, how their music defined a generation, and continues to do so today.