‘Play It Loud’: Metropolitan Museum’s Rock & Roll Exhibit A Worthwhile Affair

An exhibit devoted to artists’ tools seems beside the point; it’s the work that was produced with them that matters, isn’t it? We want to see Rembrandt’s paintings, not his paintbrushes. Nor would those brushes look much different from Picasso’s.

Ah, but the stories told by the objects in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibition Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock & Roll! Some of them are beautiful, some are strange, some are aggressively homely. But they’re not just objects. They’re also cultural signifiers. We know them not just for the music that came out of them but for the cultural freight they carry.

About the Author

Kyle Smith

Kyle Smith is the film critic for the Wall Street Journal.

An exhibit devoted to artists’ tools seems beside the point; it’s the work that was produced with them that matters, isn’t it? We want to see Rembrandt’s paintings, not his paintbrushes. Nor would those brushes look much different from Picasso’s.

Ah, but the stories told by the objects in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibition Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock & Roll! Some of them are beautiful, some are strange, some are aggressively homely. But they’re not just objects. They’re also cultural signifiers. We know them not just for the music that came out of them but for the cultural freight they carry.