Library of Congress Selects Records by Green Day, the Chicks, the Notorious B.I.G., ABBA, Blondie for National Recording Registry
variety.comChris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The Library of Congress has released its annual list of 25 audio recordings earmarked for celebration and preservation as part of the National Recording Registry, and the musical artists selected for inclusion run the historical gamut from “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” to “Ready to Die.” Benny Goodman, Gene Autry and Perry Como are among the mid-20th-century icons making the list, which extends to ’70s and ’80s releases by ABBA, the Cars, Doug E.
Fresh and Blondie, and is rounded out on the latter end by such artists as Green Day, the Chicks and the Notorious B.I.G. Although in some years the National Registry has dipped into the 21st century, the most recent release on the 2024 list is “Wide Open Spaces,” credited to the Chicks, although the trio was known as the Dixie Chicks at the time of release.
The earliest is from 1919, a recording of the all-Black 369th U.S. Infantry Band led by James Reese Europe after World War I.
With these 25 additions, the number of recordings in the National Registry is bumped up to 650. As part of the rollout, the Library of Congress has collected video interviews about the included recordings with Green Day’s Billie Joel Armstrong (talking about “Dookie”), Blondie’s Debbie Harry and Chris Stein (on “Parallel Lines”), Jefferson Airplane’s Grace Slick and Jorma Kaukonen Recall (“Surrealistic Pillow”), Booker T.
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