As we continue with the gigantic task of loading our colossal collection of rock artifacts into our new interactive memorabilia website, we’ve started photographing pieces that are in various exotic locales. Many of these pieces have been in places such as Singapore, Malaysia, and the Middle East for years and have never been professionally photographed. This project has reminded us just how vast our collection is, and we’ve found some pieces that have been “off the radar” for years. Pieces like Phil Lynott’s bass in Hard Rock Cafe Beirut, Rusty Young of Poco’s bizarre Mel-O-Bar steel guitar in Hard Rock Cafe Athens and, in Hard Rock Cafe Fiji, an original poster for the ill-fated Monkees tour with Jimi Hendrix (opening, no less!) are some of the standout pieces from our recent photo safari.
The absolute winner, though, has got to be the hideous plaid suit Elton John wore in the 1976 video for “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart." It’s currently at Hard Rock Cafe Singapore. When we saw this piece, we were in tears laughing. Of course, we immediately pulled up the video. Now this damn song is stuck in our collective consciousness and it won’t get out! We share it with you so you can feel our pain. Here’s this little ‘70s time capsule in all its polyester glory:
