Imagine if the walls of some of the country's most famous music venues could talk. You know they'd be filled with legendary stories of sex, drugs and rock and roll.

Now, a new application from Seattle's Pelago -- developed in conjunction with the Experience Music Project and New York club Max's Kansas City -- highlights dozens of stories at more than 100 music venues across the country. Users of the Whrrl application from Pelago can check in at nearby clubs on their iPhones and pull up historical information -- from the venue where Nirvana first played "Smells Like Teen Spirit?" to the club where Aerosmith was discovered.

In Seattle, Whrrl offers historical information for more than 10 current and former venues, including some of my old stomping grounds like the Crocodile Cafe, Off Ramp Cafe, OK Hotel, Showbox and Linda's Tavern. Music geeks also can pull up information on Birdland -- the famous venue where Jimi Hendrix learned to play guitar. (It is now a grocery store). Other former establishments whose history is chronicled include Motor Sports International Garage, Gorilla Gardens and the Seattle Coliseum.

At Max's Kansas City -- one of the most important New York rock clubs of the 1970s and 80s -- users of the app can discover information about Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, David Bowie and The Ramones.

Users of the app also can "unlock" memberships into micro-communities of like-minded music fans as they visit different venues in Seattle, New York, L.A., D.C., Minneapolis and San Francisco.

The application -- only available on the iPhone at this time -- looks cool. But it would be really nice it incorporated gaming elements where users collected points based on the venues they visited.

Heather Meeker, vice president of marketing at Pelago, says the next version of the Whrrl service (to be introduced at SXSW) will incorporate some of these elements.