Library of Congress to preserve Radiohead's OK Computer

Radiohead's OK Computer, The Doors' self-titled album, records by Lauryn Hill, Sly and The Family Stone and Joan Baez, and radio coverage of President Franklin D Roosevelt’s funeral are amongst the recordings selected by the library for preservation.

Every year the library chooses a list of recordings it deems “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” to be preserved in the National Recording Registry, and has been doing so for 15 years under terms of a preservation act.

Of the additions, curator Matt Barton said the following:

“I see it as part of a certain ongoing phenomenon in rock music that maybe begins with the Velvet Underground but also the Doors, who are on the registry this year. Pop music is not entirely positive in its outlook, shall we say. I think we can say that OK Computer really sums a lot of that up.”

Listen to Philip Selway talk about the album on Mary Anne Hobbs' show below. A full list of the recordings added to the Library Of Congress this year can be found after.

Sorry, Wrong Number (episode of Suspense radio series, May 25, 1943)
"Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive" (single) – Johnny Mercer (1944)
The Doors (album) – The Doors (1967)
OK Computer (album) – Radiohead (1997)
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (album) – Lauryn Hill (1998)
A Wild and Crazy Guy (album) – Steve Martin (1978)
"You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’" (single) – the Righteous Brothers (1964)
Stand! (album) – Sly and the Family Stone (1969)
Kiss Me, Kate (original cast album) (1949)
The Vernacular Wax Cylinder Recordings at University of California, Santa Barbara Library (c 1890-1910)
"Black Snake Moan/Matchbox Blues" (single) – Blind Lemon Jefferson (1928)
"Stand by Me" (single) – Ben E King (1961)
Radio Coverage of President Franklin D Roosevelt’s Funeral – Arthur Godfrey, et al (April 14, 1945)
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)
New Orleans’ Sweet Emma Barrett and Her Preservation Hall Jazz Band (album) – Sweet Emma and Her Preservation Hall Jazz Band (1964)
Lincoln Mayorga and Distinguished Colleagues (album) – Lincoln Mayorga (1968)
Sesame Street: All-Time Platinum Favourites (album) – Various (1995)
Songs of the Old Regular Baptists (album) – Various (1997)
Fanfares for the Uncommon Woman (album) – Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop, conductor; Joan Tower, composer (1999)
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)