LA's high-tech Grammy Museum is a music-lovers' happy place, writes Rob McFarland.
Listening to Amy Winehouse as she would have sounded in the late-1800s is surreal. Hearing her sing "I told you I was trouble. You know that I'm no good ..." doesn't have the same impact when it's coming from a gramophone.
From Mono To Surround is an intriguing exhibit at the Grammy Museum in downtown Los Angeles that allows you to hear how technological advances have changed the way we listen to music. Select one of four well-known tracks, then choose to hear it played through the original Edison wax cylinder phonograph, stereo LP, cassette or high-definition 5.1 channel surround-sound.
Predictably, there's a noticeable improvement in quality at each stage. Apart from the last. Switch from surround-sound to the format in which most of us now listen to music - MP3 through ear buds - and there is an alarming drop in quality. Technology has made our music more portable, but at what price?
Interactivity is the driving force behind this fascinating museum in the LA Live entertainment complex, and it has been used to great effect. Spread over four floors is an ear-numbing array of exhibits which could keep anyone with even the slightest interest in music amused for days. I set myself a time limit of two hours and almost spent that on the first exhibit.
The Grammy Awards have been presented annually since 1958 by The Recording Academy in the United States to honour outstanding achievements in the music industry. And although the museum presents a comprehensive history of the awards, its wider brief is to explore the enduring legacies of all forms of music and the creative process of music-making.
After emerging from the lift on the top floor, I'm immersed in a corridor of familiar music and video clips from the Grammys. Next up is a touch-sensitive exhibit called Crossroads, where I can view photos, hear songs and read stories from more than 160 musical genres. It also shows how the different genres are related.
Another interactive display charts the times and places of key events in American music history, while the Grammy archive provides access to a database containing 50 years of information on Grammy winners, with notable recordings and performances. Perhaps the most impressive exhibit is a series of eight self-contained pods where you can interact through touch-sensitive screens with a famous producer, engineer or artist. It allows you to explore how choosing a particular voice effect or background beat can affect the finished recording. It works surprisingly well and, for a few minutes, up-and-coming DJ MC Mix Master McFarland is in the house.
Also on the third floor is the Everything Grammy exhibit. Displayed in glass cabinets are a selection of instantly recognisable costumes from artists such as Beyonce and Kanye West, together with the infamous plunging Versace dress that is said to have launched J-Lo's career when she wore it to the Grammys in 2000.
In addition to the museum's permanent displays, there is also a dedicated area for temporary exhibitions. The first of these, Songs of Conscience, Sounds of Freedom, brings together more than 100 artefacts and 70 rare photographs to explore the connection between music and politics. On display until the end of the year, this moving exhibition has several specially commissioned documentaries about influential music figures, alongside artefacts such as lyrics from Patti Smith and the iPod of a US soldier serving in Iraq.
Interestingly, despite the museum's impressive array of interactive exhibits, it is a handwritten letter from Buddy Holly to his mother while he was on tour in 1957 that provides the most telling indication of how times have changed. In it, Holly writes: "...we are the only white act on the show. There's more Negroes here I think than white people, but as a rule they are real nice."
IF YOU GO
Details: Grammy Museum, LA Live, 800 West Olympic Boulevard, LA. Admission is US$10.95 for children.
Staying there: The Philippe Starck-designed SLS Hotel has stunning interiors and is home to award-winning restaurant, Bazaar. At 465 S La Cienega Blvd, rates start from US$389 a night.
Rob McFarland was a guest of V Australia and California Tourism.
