Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas – An awesome place for music lovers

Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas – An awesome place for music lovers

The Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas was purchased by Richard Branson, the billionaire founder of the Virgin Group.  Richard Branson spoke about this at a press conference on March 30th 2018.  So far it looks like the Hard Rock hotel will remain the same until 2019.  In 2019 it will become Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.  Richard Branson mentioned in his press conference that most of the memorabilia will remain, however the big guitar in front of the hotel may not be there anymore.

“The guitar may not survive. But we have a giant ‘V,’ which is sort of guitar-shaped, which may take over,”

 

Its been a while since I’ve visited the Hard Rock hotel.  This time I went during the week, early in the morning when it wasn’t that busy, and really got to enjoy all the memorabilia that is displayed here.

I love the guitar door handles.  What a nice touch!

Guns N Roses and Metallica.  The 2 bands that I grew up on.  Guns N Roses – Appetite for Destruction was the first album that I ever purchased.  I was in elementary, and didn’t even know what most of the lyrics meant until much later, but still got lost in their music.  Welcome to the jungle, paradise city, sweet child o mine, still listen to the album now.  Metallica got me a lot more into rock, and I actually started playing guitar because of Metallica.  I’ll be honest, I’m not a huge fan of the stuff that came out after the Black Album, but nonetheless they are legends.  When I was younger, I used to go to Guitar Center a lot.  I would grab a guitar, and start playing Orion or Fade to black, or Sandman, and out of nowhere a random person who is also looking at guitars will start playing along with me.  I think that tells you how much Metallica had an influence on guitarists.

Stevie Ray Vaughan.  Another legend.  Blues hall of fame, Musicians Hall of Fame, 6 Grammy Awards, tragically died on 08/27/1990 in a helicopter crash at the young age of 35.  Sometimes I still put on my headphones and listen to his version of Little Wing when I need to wind down after a long day.

Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Queen, I like to call them musicians, rather than a band.  As a kid I always heard of Queen, but never really knew who they were.  When Bohemian Rhapsody came out on Wayne’s World, instantly I became a fan.  And of course naturally, I went out and started buying the rest of their albums and DVD’s.  I couldn’t believe what I’ve been missing out on.  Innuendo, Don’t stop me now, You’re my best friend, Radio Ga Ga, I can go on and on.  Unfortunately, Freddie Mercury was diagnosed with AIDS in April 1987.  Freddie Mercury died on November 24th, 1991 at the age of 45 at his home in Kensington.  He is the first major rock star to die from AIDS.  In April 1992, the remaining members of Queen founded the Mercury Phoenix Trust, which has raised millions of pounds for various AIDS organizations.  The final album, Made in Heaven, was actually finished and released after Mercury’s death in 1995 with prerecorded material and fresh instrumentation.  More than 20 million copies of this album were sold worldwide.

Tom Petty, Chester Bennington (Linkin Park), and Chris Cornell (Soundgarden) – All great artists that passed away not too long ago.  Tom Petty and Soundgarden were both famous while growing up in my age group, but it was especially tough hearing about Chester Bennington.  Me and a few of my coworkers discussed going to watch Linkin Park perform when they came to Las Vegas at the end of the year shortly before the incident.  One More Light, Linkin Park’s final album, really hits a certain spot when listening to the lyrics.  I think especially for people who have lost a close person to them.

As I was born and raised in Los Angeles, it was awesome seeing a Tupac display here.  September 7th, 1996, this is what Tupac wore to the Tyson fight at MGM Grand.  “On the way out through the casino the posse spotted Orlando Anderson, a “Southside Crip” suspected of robbing one of the Death Row Records entourage.  2Pac personally administered a beating that was quickly broken up by Hotel security.  Proceeding to the exit the crew returned to the Luxor Hotel where 2Pac changed into stage clothes for a performance at Suge Knight’s 662 club on Flamingo.  It was on the drive over to the club in Suge’s BMW that they were ambushed and 13 rounds from a .40 Glock were fired.  4 hitting Tupac Shakur, who died 6 days later.  To this date 2Pac records have sold 79 Million copies.”

2 more artists that I was really happy to see on the wall here ( There are many more that I haven’t mentioned on this post ) are Smashing Pumpkins and Richie Sambora.  Smashing Pumpkins songs like Today, Mayonnaise, Disarm, 1979, Bullet with Butterfly Wings, Cherub Rock, etc…never get old.  Richie Sambora is somebody who I think deserves a little more credit than he gets.  Richie Sambora’s Solo album (Stranger in this town) is an album you should definitely get if you don’t have it already.  I remember hearing this album for the first time without knowing who it was, and thinking to myself, bon jovi?

The Beatles – Need I say more?

 

Some more random pics of the Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas

D.I

JULY 2, 2018 BY DAVIDIN