Hard Rock Cafe
Hard Rock Cafe is:- a chain of restaurants that started on June 14, 1971 in London, England, United Kingdom.
- side one of The Doors' 1970 album, Morrison Hotel.
- a (now closed) bar in Los Angeles depicted on the back cover of Morrison Hotel.
In 1990 The Rank Organisation acquired Mecca Leisure and continued expanding the cafes, acquiring the cafes owned by Morton a few years later. There are more than 143 Hard Rock Cafes in over 36 countries at current date, with several more in the works. Hard Rock was most popular in the 1980s when it was a common hobby to visit as many locations as possible and collect a Hard Rock t-shirt bearing their logo and the location name. Now pin collecting is the current rage.
Hard Rock is best known not for its food but for its atmosphere. The cafes solicit donations of music memorabilia and have the world's largest collection of such. Things like autographed guitars, outfits from world tours and rare photographs are oft to be found mounted on cafe walls.
Hard Rock has now started building hotels and casinos, attracting more visitors around the world.
In recent years, critics claim Hard Rock's direction has shifted. What was once an independently spirited, musically influenced chain has "gone commercial." Music videos are piped into all cafes from a central location that are more of a pop music nature than rock and roll. Where once you might see a rare Beatles record now hangs Britney Spears' waitress outfit from a music video clip (as in Hard Rock New Orleans.)
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