"In 1969 a screaming, reverberating rendition of the Star Spangled Banner by Jimi Hendrix seemed to herald an end to innocence. His resonant lyric "Are you experienced?" is now recalled in the name of software billionaire Paul G. Allen's Experience Music Project. Hendrix would have appreciated the design approach to Seattle's new museum of pop music.

"Architect Frank O. Gehry has made a career out of bending vertical and horizontal lines of building construction into something defiant and sometimes poetic. With Seattle's EMP, opened just over a week before the Fourth of July, he has met his perfect client in Allen and his metaphorical match in rock-'n'-roll. The resulting architecture is a unique performance and a new landmark on the edge of the Seattle Center."

— Clair Enlow, "Frank Gehry Rock Temple", in ArchitectureWeek No. 9, 2000.0712