THE HISTORY OF ROCK

THE Hard Rock Cafe brand was lured to the Gold Coast in the mid-1990s in what was seen as a major coup for the city.

In March 1995, the Birdwatcher’s Bar on the corner of Cavill and Orchid avenues closed its doors.

Eight months later the Hard Rock Cafe was confirmed as the new tenant with features to include a 17m guitar on the roof of the Paradise Centre and a car called Pray for Surf. The centrepiece of the cafe was the collection of music memorabilia, including a black sequined suit owned by Elvis Presley and the suede jacket owned by The Beatles’ John Lennon and worn on the cover of the 1965 album Rubber Soul.

There were also T-shirts and signed albums from the likes of Silverchair, INXS and Hootie and the Blowfish.

“The whole collection is priceless,’’ general manager David Vincent said at the time.

There was also a rare

Harley-Davidson, valued about $35,000, and another once owned by Slash of Guns N’ Roses.

Jimmy Barnes played the opening night and the venue proved popular at Indy in 1997 when driver Jimmy Vasser visited wearing a Pearl Jam hat. Other famous faces to have visited included Van Halen, Pink, Jeff Martin and his band the Tea Party, Hoodoo Gurus, Neil Finn film director Peter Jackson, Joe Bugner, Mario Andretti,

the Beach Boys and John Daly.

The Surfers Paradise Hard Rock Cafe was struck by disaster on November 11, 2004, when the giant guitar burst into flames and was badly damaged (pictured above). Flames leapt 10m into the air as a big crowd of tourists gathered to watch the rock ‘n’ roll inferno, understood to have been caused by an electrical fault. The sign was repaired by early 2006, in time for the restaurant’s 10th anniversary.