The GRAMMY Museum

FOURTH FLOOR

The moment the elevator doors open, you are fully immersed in the GRAMMY experience. A tunnel of music welcomes you. Saturated with bold video and exceptional sound, GRAMMY – The Greatest Music captures the breadth and power of GRAMMY music. Fast, emotional, and instantly accessible, it fully amps you for the museum experience.

The tunnel opens up to an exciting gallery space filled with content-rich interactives, films, and artifacts. These can be explored in any order you choose. Both on their own and taken as a whole, they reveal the legacy of recorded music and the many ways in which it intertwines with social and cultural history.

Crossroads

A large and colorful table spreads out before you, inviting you to explore nearly one-hundred and fifty genres of music. Multi-touch technology allows you to grab the ones that interest you, which open up to reveal photos, songs, and artists' voices that describe the music and its impact. In turn, each genre reveals its connections to others, inviting you to experience familiar sounds in new ways, and new sounds in exciting ways.

Enduring Traditions

Four pods, lined with unique artifacts and oversize imagery, beckon you to explore the history of some of America's most significant musical traditions: pop, folk, sacred, classical, and jazz. Inside, vintage footage and interviews with a broad spectrum of musical artists capture the essence of the music, as well as its continued evolution.

Music Epicenters

Spread across a curved wall, a backdrop of the continental United States flashes with imagery. Using dynamic touch screens, you explore the times and places where the sounds of American music have changed, and learn about the nation's rich and varied musical legacies.

Adjacent, one city is highlighted, and its story illustrated with artifacts and compelling imagery. This spotlight city exhibit is changed on a consistent basis, as well, allowing even more stories to be told.

Culture Shock

Against a backdrop of some of modern music's most revolutionary figures, an audiovisual timeline reveals the past half-century. As you explore, the frequently heated intersection of music and the broader culture is revealed, telling some of society's most compelling stories, and spurring critical thinking and discussion about them.

The GRAMMY Archives & Hall of Fame

Here is the place where you can dig deeply into the history of GRAMMY nominations and awards. Dedicated computer databases contain information on fifty years of GRAMMY recordings and artists, while the most recent year's winners are honored in a contemporary display. Finally, a wealth of rare artifacts connects you to the legendary recordings and artists that have been honored by the GRAMMY Hall of Fame and Special Merit Awards.

Inspiration and Influence

In this sit-down theater space, you connect with music artists from a broad range of genres, eras, and perspectives. A series of engaging short films reveal the influences that shape and inspire the lives and work of legendary artists as in their own words they tell you about how music history directly impacts them, their creative process, and their music.

Spanning the back wall of the theater, The Artist Connection exhibit contains artifacts from some of music's most legendary figures. Making the mythical personal, these reveal unique details that help you connect to the person behind the music.

Songwriters' Mezzanine

As you make your way from the Theater to the stairs that will take you down to the third floor, you arrive on the Songwriters' Mezzanine. Against a backdrop of historical imagery and oversized lyrics, interactive kiosks allow you to hear some of the most significant songwriters describe in their own words their creative process and the stories behind their creation of legendary songs.

Third Floor Exhibits >>