The Illinois Rock and Roll Museum on Route 66 will induct Enuff Z’Nuff, the metal band from Blue Island that sang “Fly High Michelle,” and Delmark Records, a jazz record label founded in the 1950s, into its 2025 class of honorees.
In a Sept. 14 ceremony in Joliet, the museum will also finally recognize its 2024 class of musicians, after delaying last year’s ceremony due to a tornado. The 2024 list of honorees with local ties includes the two-time Grammy-award winning, Billy Corgan fronted band, The Smashing Pumpkins and singer-songwriter Richard Marx.
The museum, which has been under construction, will host the induction ceremony at Joliet’s historic Rialto Square Theatre. The event will feature live performances, said Ron Romero, the museum’s founder and CEO.
“There’s nowhere else in the world you’re going to see Disturbed, Richard Marx, country singer Suzy Bogguss, and Marshall Thompson with the Chi-Lites all in one place,” said Romero.
The museum’s inductees are determined by a process that starts at the beginning of the year, when nominations are open to the public. An in-house committee vets each nomination for criteria that include, among other things, artists being born in Illinois, recording in Illinois, and significant national or international record sales. Then a ballot of finalists are voted on by the museum’s charter members. “We have 1,100 charter members from 38 states,” said Romero.
The Illinois Rock and Roll Museum became a nonprofit in 2017, and opened its doors to the public in 2023. The building is still under renovations to complete a second floor for more exhibit space, a third floor performance space, and a basement renovation for education programs. Currently, the first floor is open to the public, and has exhibits on display.
“We’ve got a few pieces from Chuck Berry,” said Romero. “We have a great exhibit from REO Speedwagon. We have older history, Little Walter’s hat and his jacket, some harmonicas telling his story.”
It hasn’t been all smooth sailing for Romero. The 2024 induction ceremony was cancelled, in part, due to tornado damage sustained last July.
“It did about $2 million of damage to the building,” Romero said, “so it looks pretty rough on the outside. But the inside looks great.”
Moving forward, Romero said music is more important now than ever.
“We live in a crazy world right now, and we are divided for whatever reason. But we all love music. We may not speak the same music language, but we all love music,” said Romero.
Inductees for the 2025 class include:
- Enuff Z’Nuff
- Head East
- Tim Drummond
- Delmark Records
- Mitch Michaels
- Q101 Chicago
2024 class inductees include:
- Richard Marx
- The Smashing Pumpkins
- Howlin’ Wolf
- Little Walter
- Bo Diddley
- Vee-Jay Records
- Bob Stroud
- Big 10 WCFL