Gudinski’s interactive exhibition ’Music Melbourne & Me’ launches today

An exhibition celebrating 40 years of Mushroom Records and the music of Melbourne launched today and will run until March 3 at the RMIT Gallery in the city.

The Music Melbourne & Me: 40 Years Of Mushroom And Melbourne’s Music Culture exhibition was curated by Michael Gudinski, and was unveiled to the music industry last night.

It includes a recreation of Mushroom founder Michael Gudinski’s office (complete with a wall of Platinum records); Melbourne’s best songs – voted for by newspaper readers and radio listeners – blaring out of a Top 40 jukebox; live sets; a series of talks covering the city’s celebrity cult, fashion and nostalgia; a LED-light dancefloor; screenings of footage from the Sunbury festival, Countdown episodes and the Dogs In Space movie; a booth for fans to record their memories; soundbytes from 22 artists (everything from Paul Kelly revealing his favourite Mushroom record to Red Symons on the cover of the first Skyhooks album); and the Sticky Carpet Room, dedicated to rock venues.

The memorabilia was drawn from the personal collections of Gudinski, Ian “Molly” Meldrum and the artists themselves. They include dozens of photos, costumes from Skyhooks, Split Enz, Crowded House and Kylie Minogue, and props including an AC/DC payment chit, a Little River Band booking contract, and Pegasus from Minogue’s Aphrodite Les Folies 2011 tour.

Gudinski told last night’s gathering that he had turned down offers of similar exhibitions in the past because they had come with an entry fee for punters. “This city has been good to me, and I wanted to give something back,” he said, adding that the exhibition was a motivating factor to chase up his long time vision with Meldrum to set up a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Melbourne.