It sounds like the world’s most eclectic record collection, placing Radiohead’s OK Computer next to the Johnny Mercer standard Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive, with Steve Martin, Tennessee Ernie Ford and Lauryn Hill nearby. In fact, it’s the latest batch of recordings selected for preservation by the Library of Congress.

Twenty-five sound recordings spanning from 1890 to 1999 were added on 25 March to the library’s National Recording Registry. Each year the library chooses recordings that are “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant”.

Public nominations lifted Radiohead’s 1997 album OK Computer – with its information-age dystopia characterised by corrupt politicians, psychopaths, consumerism and airline disasters – to the curators’ attention.

“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,” curator Matt Barton said. “I think we can say that OK Computer really sums a lot of that up.”

As well as the contributions from Radiohead and Mercer, among the recordings selected are The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Joan Baez’s first solo album, The Righteous Brothers’ You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ and Steve Martin’s A Wild and Crazy Guy comedy album, on which Martin broke new ground by swapping formulaic jokes and punchlines for less predictable humour.

Upon hearing of his archive-worthy achievement, Martin deadpanned: “I could not be more proud of this honour. This means the record was probably funny.”

The Library of Congress has been seeking to preserve important sound recordings for 15 years under terms of a preservation act passed by Congress.

The oldest are 600 wax-cylinder recordings, saved at the University of California, Santa Barbara, that were made by consumers in the 1890s, 1900s and 1910s as snapshots of their everyday lives. These are among the most endangered audio formats, because their grooves are fragile and the wax decomposes over time. Another set of wax-cylinder recordings from the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair captured musicians from around the world performing at the fair, giving Americans their first exposure to “world music”.



Other historic recordings chosen for preservation include radio coverage of President Franklin D Roosevelt’s funeral in 1945, and the 1953 theatrical recording of John Brown’s Body based on a civil war poem that proved commercially successful as a non-musical play.

Curators also deemed some more recent recordings worthy of preservation, including tunes from the TV show Sesame Street. The children’s show used music as an integral part of its educational programme, and attracted stars ranging from BB King to REM and the Dixie Chicks. The library chose the 1995 recording Sesame Street: All-Time Platinum Favourites for the registry.

The full list of recordings

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)