Fans of The Clash, The Sex Pistols, and other punk iconoclasts who have wished for a permanent place of worship: You’ve got one. According to Smithsonian Magazine, a museum dedicated to the music genre is set to open in Las Vegas, Nevada, early next year.
A 10-person collective including skateboarding legend Tony Hawk and NOFX frontman Mike Burkett are leading the project, which has been dubbed The Punk Rock Museum and is set to occupy roughly 12,000 square feet in downtown Las Vegas. All kinds of ephemera will be featured, from instruments (like a guitar from Rise Against) to handwritten sets to clothing (like Debbie Harry’s Vultures shirt). Visitors will even be allowed to play some of the instruments.
In keeping with punk’s ethos, the museum will have some other amenities not often found at exhibits, like a bar, a wedding chapel, and a tattoo parlor.
Co-founder Vinnie Fiorello told Artnet that part of the museum’s mission is to chronicle how punk rock has leaked into the mainstream. “I think the big misunderstanding comes from not knowing how much punk has influenced popular culture for decades,” Fiorello said. “Seeing the roots of the punk movement and then looking at what it becomes you realize how much it is woven into design, art, music, fashion.”
Some trace the origin of punk to 1976, when The Sex Pistols played a concert in Manchester, England, that saw attendance by future members of The Smiths and The Fall.
The museum is set to open on 1422 Western Ave. on Friday, January 13.
[h/t Smithsonian]
Jake Rossen
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