We Rock! (Music Lab)

Jason Hanley has been the Director of Education at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum for the last eight years. He holds a Ph.D. in Musicology with a sub-emphasis in Composition from Stony Brook University, where he completed his dissertation entitled "Metal Machine Music: Technology, Noise, and Modernism in Industrial Music 1975-1996." In his position at the Rock Hall Jason teaches students of all ages in a wide variety of educational programs and produces the Museum's public programs.

Over the last eight years he has conducted oral histories and interviews with a wide variety of musicians, producers, and record industry professionals including Les Paul, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Peter Hook (of Joy Division/New Order), Darryl "DMC" McDaniels, DJ Spinderella, Alan Parsons, Dennis Edwards, Al Bell, Bill Kreutzmann, Tommy James, Spooner Oldham, and the band Asia.He has taught courses in music history, electronic music, and popular music studies at Hofstra University, Stony Brook University, Cleveland State University, and Case Western Reserve University.

He has delivered presentations at meetings of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, Society for Ethnomusicology, American Musicological Society, Americana Music Association, Feminist Theory and Music, Teaching Music History Day and numerous other conferences. Jason has published articles in books and journals on the topics of popular music, film music and music technology, and in 2009 he was a guest editor for a special issue on pedagogy for the Journal of Popular Music Studies where he currently serves as an editorial board member. Active in the music industry since 1988, he has played on, composed for, and produced numerous recordings and has performed live with many bands.