Finished in 2000, the Experience Music Project was started and primarily paid for by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. As a concept, this museum is pretty exciting. The idea is that visitors can not only learn about music and music history, but experience music as well. Unfortunately, the experience part consists of one gallery on the top floor. It really turned more into a rock history museum. Basically, the Experience Music Project is great if you have kids and want them to learn in a fun way, or if you're really into rock history.
The interior of the building has some really interesting areas. The exterior, in my opinion is not that amazing. It was supposedly inspired by a deconstructed Stratocaster Guitar. If you look at pictures of the building from the right angle above, you can kind of see it. Kind of.
The three story tall space dubbed the "Sky Church" is one of the interior areas I really enjoy. Dedicated to Jimi Hendrix, this area has a 40 foot high by 70 foot wide screen that displays visuals to accompany the music playing.
Partially (I imagine) due to the lackluster popularity of the EMP, in 2004 the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame was opened. Basically, this museum is a re-purposed basement storage area. If you are interested in Science Fiction, then this is definitely worth a visit. Obviously, if you don't enjoy the genre, you'll probably be bored. Because Science Fiction covers a pretty wide field of writing and the space isn't that extensive, every display is jammed full of a lot of information. Personally, I liked it.
