Each year, the Library of Congress adds 25 recordings to its archives, recordings that are “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” to music. This year’s list includes a familiar record, the legendary 1997 Radiohead album OK Computer.
The full list of recordings was announced this morning, and it also includes The Doors’ self-titled debut, Joan Baez’s solo debut, a Sly and the Family Stone album, the single “Stand By Me,” an early Preservation Hall Jazz Band recording, and The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, among many others. Even a Sesame Street greatest hits album will be included.
As this process has been going on since 2002, now hundreds of recordings have been added to the Library of Congress’s archives. You can see the full list here, with the list of current inductees below:
Library of Congress Archive Additions:
Vernacular Wax Cylinder Recordings at University of California, Santa Barbara Library (c.1890-1910)
The Benjamin Ives Gilman Collection, recorded at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition at Chicago (1893)
“The Boys of the Lough”/”The Humours of Ennistymon” (single)—Michael Coleman (1922)
“Black Snake Moan”/ “Match Box Blues”(single)—Blind Lemon Jefferson (1928)
“Sorry, Wrong Number” (episode of “Suspense” radio series, May 25, 1943)
“Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive” (single)—Johnny Mercer (1944)
Radio Coverage of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Funeral—Arthur Godfrey, et al. (April 14, 1945)
“Kiss Me, Kate” (original cast album) (1949)
“John Brown’s Body” (album)—Tyrone Power, Judith Anderson, and Raymond Massey; directed by Charles Laughton (1953)
“My Funny Valentine” (single)—The Gerry Mulligan Quartet featuring Chet Baker (1953)
“Sixteen Tons” (single)—Tennessee Ernie Ford (1955)
“Mary Don’t You Weep” (single)—The Swan Silvertones (1959)
“Joan Baez” (album)—Joan Baez (1960)
“Stand by Me” (single)—Ben E. King (1961)
“New Orleans’ Sweet Emma Barrett and her Preservation Hall Jazz Band” (album)—Sweet Emma and her Preservation Hall Jazz Band (1964)
“You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” (single)—The Righteous Brothers (1964)
“The Doors” (album)—The Doors (1967)
“Stand!” (album)—Sly and the Family Stone (1969)
“Lincoln Mayorga and Distinguished Colleagues” (album)—Lincoln Mayorga (1968)
“A Wild and Crazy Guy” (album)—Steve Martin (1978)
“Sesame Street: All-Time Platinum Favorites” (album)—Various (1995)
“OK Computer” (album)—Radiohead (1997)
“Songs of the Old Regular Baptists”—Various (1997)
“The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” (album)—Lauryn Hill (1998)
“Fanfares for the Uncommon Woman” (album)—Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop, conductor; Joan Tower, composer (1999)