2023 NATIONAL RECORDING REGISTRY

The National Recording Registry has just selected the latest twenty-five sound recordings inducted with the goal each year to highlight what it calls "the range and diversity of the American recorded sound heritage". The Registry is an extension of the passage by Congress in 2000 of the National Recording Preservation Act. Since 2002, the Library of Congress oversees the selection of 25 recordings, which must be at least 10 years old at the time of induction, and deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant". This latest group brings the total number of recordings in the registry to 625.

Some of the selections this year include the breakthrough (and then highly controversial) album by Madonna, "Like a Virgin"; "Imagine", the inspirational anthem by the late, former Beatle, John Lennon; the debut album by hip-hop artist, Queen Latifah, "All Hail the Queen"; "Margaritaville", the laid back ode to the cocktail from Jimmy Buffett; Daddy Yankee’s reggaeton explosion, "Gasolina"; "Wang Dang Doodle", the first big hit from "The Queen of the Blues", Koko Taylor; "Stairway to Heaven", the lengthy, innovative rock classic that progressively shifts in tempo and volume from the blues-rock band, Led Zeppelin; the first recording of one of Bacharach-David's legendary pop songs, "What the World Needs Now Is Love" by Jackie DeShannon; the video game sound of "Super Mario Bros." and Mariah Carey's now traditional holiday song, "All I Want For Christmas".

Here is the complete list of the twenty-five selections entered into the 2023 Recording Registry:

"The Very First Mariachi Recordings" — Cuarteto Coculense (1908-1909)
"St. Louis Blues" (single) — Handy’s Memphis Blues Band (1922)
"Sugar Foot Stomp" — Fletcher Henderson (1926)
"Dorothy Thompson: Commentary and Analysis of the European Situation" for NBC Radio (Aug. 23-Sept. 6, 1939)
"Don’t Let Nobody Turn You Around" (single) — The Fairfield Four (1947)



"What the World Needs Now is Love" (single) — Jackie DeShannon (1965)



"Wang Dang Doodle" (single) — Koko Taylor (1966)



"Sherry" (single) — The Four Seasons (1962)



"Ode to Billie Joe" (single) — Bobbie Gentry (1967)



"Déjà Vu" (album) — Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (1970)
"Imagine" (single) — John Lennon (1971)
"Stairway to Heaven" (single) — Led Zeppelin (1971)



"Take Me Home, Country Roads" (single) — John Denver (1971)



"Margaritaville" (single) — Jimmy Buffett (1977)
"Flashdance. . .What a Feeling" (single) — Irene Cara (1983)
"Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" (single) — Eurythmics (1983)
"Synchronicity" (album) — The Police (1983)



"Black Codes (From the Underground)" (album) — Wynton Marsalis (1985)
"Super Mario Bros. theme" — Koji Kondo, composer (1986)



"Like a Virgin" (album) — Madonna (1984)
"All Hail the Queen" (album) — Queen Latifah (1989)



"All I Want for Christmas is You" (single) — Mariah Carey (1994)
"Pale Blue Dot" — Carl Sagan (1994)
"Gasolina" (single) — Daddy Yankee (2004)



"Concerto for Clarinet and Chamber Orchestra" — Northwest Chamber Orchestra, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, composer (2012)

MY FAVORITE SONGS OF 1981

The year was 1981. After graduating from high school, I had officially become an adult. I was a man-child of eighteen, excited yet apprehensive about of my future. Living in the suburbs and about to attend an art college in the big city of Detroit, I had always wanted to become a great commercial artist. Later in my third year of school, a teacher told me to seriously reconsider my dream of being an artist. Lacking the required self-confidence and being very practical, I eventually decided to drop out of school. This setback forced me to rethink my life plans and hastened my goal to move out of Michigan.

Throughout the disappointments that are inevitable in life, music has always helped me get through and comforted me while I was feeling insecure. The quirky and high-energy sounds of new wave was emerging during this time which I gravitated towards yet this music was not being played on my local radio station. I heard many of these songs on MTV and on a Canadian version called MuchMusic. Here are a few of my favorite songs of this year which covers a wide variety of music of the day:

NEW SOUNDS

STING

After first finding success as the driving force behind the ska-rock band, the Police in the mid-seventies and later enjoying an equally successful career as a solo artist, Sting decided he was done with the life of a pop star around 2003. He certainly did not give up creating music as he explored classical using the lute and wrote a Broadway musical, "The Last Ship" based on his own childhood experiences. Not that it's really all that surprising but the sixty-five year old Brit has just returned to the rock arena with "57th & 9th", the singer's twelfth studio album. The title refers to the intersection in New York where he passed each day on his way to the studio. Recorded over three months, a relatively short period of time for a music project, Sting states it helped him not overthink the music and brought a sense of urgency to the songs. The album blasts through with hard-driving guitars and covers a range of topics that are of high interest to the singer right now like climate change, politics, aging and his own mortality.

Listen to Sting's first single, "I Can't Stop Thinking About You" which manages to feel familiar and fresh at the same time:



EMELI SANDE

Emeli Sandé began her professional career in music as a successful, go-to pop songwriter and producer before she dropped her debut "Our Version of Events" in 2012. This record quickly elevated her to a whole new level with it becoming a worldwide smash, particularly in England where it spent ten non-consecutive weeks at number one and became the best-selling album of the year. Only in the U.S. did Sandé not become a major sensation although the single, "Next To Me", received some airplay and peaked in the top thirty on the pop charts. That may change as the twenty-nine year old British performer has just recently released her follow-up, "Long Live the Angels". This new record does not easily fit in to the current pop atmosphere, offering moody, introspective songs that are far more spare and stripped down. But it's still her soulful voice, filled with deep emotion and electrifying power, that makes this collection truly effective.

Check out the music video for the first release from the album, "Hurts":



TOVE LO

Ebba Tove Elsa Nilsson had always loved music and began writing songs when she was a child in her native Sweden. As a teen, she performed with several rock and punk bands and while in music school in Stockholm developed a close friendship with Caroline Hjelt, who would later form the pop duo, Icona Pop. This soon led her to Los Angeles and the opportunity to work with Swedish producer Max Martin. Nilsson developed her skills as a songwriter and wrote for several pop acts including Icona Pop. She started self-releasing songs with her singing under her childhood nickname "Tove Lo" on-line and "Habits (Stay High)" began to receive some attention. With this new-found popularity, Tove Lo was signed to a recording contract, released an EP, then her debut album, "Queen of the Clouds" in 2014 which brought her international fame thanks to the songs "Habits" and "Talking Body". After having to take a forced break due to vocal-cord surgery, the now twenty-nine year old singer is finally back with "Lady Wood". The title comes from the singer's expression for an aroused female and these bold songs on the album reflect a 21st century young woman's raw and honest views on feminism, love and sexuality.

Take a look at the short film, "Fairy Dust", directed by Tim Erem, which in essence is a long-form music video and features the first five songs on "Lady Wood":

THE FIRST TIME: PART NINE

PRINCE - "PRINCE" (1979)

This wildly talented and eccentric artist was born Prince Rogers Nelson in 1958 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His father, John was a jazz musician and Prince was named after his father's stage name, Prince Rogers. As a child, Prince developed an interest in music, which his father encouraged, and he wrote his first song at the age of seven on his father's piano.

Prince's parent split up when he was ten and he would go and live with them both, having to go back and forth between them. He would eventually move in with the family of a close friend, Andre Anderson who would later become musician, Andre Cymone.

Prince formed a band in high school called Grand Central with Andre on bass and Prince's cousin, Charles Smith on drums. Prince handled piano and guitar and the group performed covers songs at parties and clubs. Morris Day (who would later become the lead singer of the band, The Time) replaced Charles on drums and the band renamed themselves, Champagne and started performing original music.

Prince worked on creating his own demos, trying to get signed to a record label. At seventeen, he signed with Owen Husney to manage him and help get him a recording contract. Prince was teamed up with David Z to produce a slick new demo and several labels became interested. Prince eventually signed with Warner Bros. Records where the label agreed to give him creative control on his first three albums and ownership of the publishing rights, which is not exactly a common arrangement for a new artist.

"For You" was Prince's debut album, which was released in 1978. He would write, arrange and produce the entire record as well as play all of the instruments. However, during the recording of the album, he went over double the amount of his initial advance. While the album had one single, "Soft And Wet (LP Version)' hit number twelve on the r&b charts, it didn't do anything on the pop charts. The album sold slightly under a half a million copies but created some buzz for the musician.

He released his next album in 1979, simply titled, "Prince" and now everyone started to take notice. It was a much more diverse record, covering pop, rock, funk, dance and sexy ballads. The first single, "I Wanna Be Your Lover" went to number one on the r&b charts and hit number eleven on the Billboard Hot 100. That single alone sold over a million copies and the album would also go platinum.

He would go on to release two more successful albums, "Controversy" (1981) and "1999 [Explicit]" (1982) before becoming a full fledged superstar by starring in a popular semi-autobiographical film, "Purple Rain" in 1984 and the hit soundtrack,"Music from the Motion Picture "Purple Rain"" which would go on to sell thirteen million copies in the U. S. alone. Prince would win two Grammy Awards and an Academy Award for Best Original Score for this project.

Prince is one very busy and prolific musician, releasing thirty-five albums to date and selling well over 100 million copies worldwide as well as writing and producing for many other artists including Chaka Khan, The Bangles, Madonna, Shelia E, The Time, Sheena Easton and Sinead O'Connor.

Enjoy the first single that introduced Prince to the world:

"I Wanna Be Your Lover" - Prince (1979)

BRITNEY SPEARS - ". . .BABY ONE MORE TIME" (1999)

Britney Jean Spears was born in 1981 and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana. She began performing at a very young age where she won local singing competitions and children's talent shows.

At eight, she went to audition for the revival of the television show, "The All-New Mickey Mouse Club" but was rejected because she was too young but the casting director was so impressed by Britney that he introduced her to a talent agent. The agent helped get her commercials and theater work as well as a shot on the television talent program, "Star Search". Britney finally got an opportunity to appear on "The Mickey Mouse Club" during the show's sixth season in 1993 but the show was cancelled after one more season.

In 1997, Britney's mother, Lynne gave family friend and entertainment lawyer, Larry Rudolph a tape of Britney singing. He decided he wanted to pitch her to record labels and a professional demo was made. Britney later went to New York with the tape and met with four record labels. She was rejected by three of the labels but Jive Records was interested. They were impressed by her singing ability at such a young age  and saw her potential commercial appeal. The label teamed her up with producer, Eric Foster White to work on some demos and help shape her sound. Jive's president, Clive Calder liked what he heard and ordered a full album. Britney was flown to Sweden to work with several producers (including Max Martin) there to record part of the album.

"...Baby One More Time" was written by Max Martin and was originally given to the r&b/hip-hop group, TLC but they turned it down.  The tune became Britney's first single, where it went straight to number one and topped the charts for two weeks.This song would go on to hit number one in fifteen different countries, sell an astonishing nine million copies and earn Britney a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

Her debut album, also entitled "...Baby One More Time [ENHANCED CD]" was released after Britney did a mini-tour at shopping malls across the country and the album entered the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart at number one. Three more singles were released, "Sometimes", "(You Drive Me) Crazy" and "From The Bottom Of My Broken Heart" and they all became top forty hits. The album would go on to sell a total of twenty-five million copies around the world.

This was just the beginning as Britney would become a media sensation and continued to have many hit songs and concert tours but the pressure of fame and success took it's toll on the young singer. She had issues with substance abuse and depression which eventually lead to a public emotional meltdown in 2007 where she would wind up shaving her head. She sought treatment and soon got her life back in order.

She married childhood friend, Jason Alexander in January of 2004 in Las Vegas but the marriage was annulled two days later due to a "lack of understanding her actions". She would later marry her back-up dancer, Kevin Federline after knowing him for five months in September 2004. They would have two sons together, Sean and Jayden but the marriage ended in 2006.

Britney Spears has sold over one hundred million records during her career and her upcoming seventh album, "Femme Fatale" is due to be released on March 15th of this year. The first single, "Hold It Against Me" has already topped the charts here in the U.S.

"...Baby One More Time" - Britney Spears (1999)

This is the music video for her first single where Britney dances around as the naughty school girl:


"OUTLANDOS D'AMOUR" - THE POLICE (1978)

Drummer, Stewart Copeland formed The Police after his progressive rock band, Curved Air disbanded in 1977 with Henry Padovani on guitar and Gordon Sumner, who would later become professionally known as "Sting" on bass guitar and vocalist. The punk rock sound was taking hold in London at the time, so the trio would release a single called "Fall Out" and toured as a support act. Guitarist, Andy Summers joined the band later that year and they all performed briefly together before Henry Padovani left the band and this would become the permanent line-up.

The Police struggled to make their first album because they had little money and no record deal but when Stewart's older brother, Miles Copeland III, an entertainment manager, heard the band's song, "Roxanne" he was determined to get them signed to a label. Miles got The Police signed to A&M Records (and with the label's help, created his own record company, I.R.S. Records in 1979) and they released, "Outlandos D'Amour" in 1978. "Roxanne" was the band's first single but it did not chart. After extensive touring around the globe, the single was re-released and it reached number twelve in the U.K. and number thirty-two in the United States.

The group released their second album, "Reggatta De Blanc" later in 1979, which became a major seller in the U.K. reaching number one and gave The Police their first number one singles there with "Message In A Bottle and "Walking On The Moon". Although the songs didn't do as well here in the U.S., The Police were enjoying emerging awareness and popularity throughout the rest of the world.

The group would release three more chart-topping albums with "Synchronicity" in 1983 being their most popular with four singles reaching the U.S. top forty including "Every Breath You Take" which went to number one for eight weeks and won The Police a Grammy that year for Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal.

By the end of the "Synchronicity" Tour in March 1984, each member went their separate ways and spent time pursuing solo projects but this was more seen as the band just taking a break however, "Synchronicity" would end up being The Police's last studio album due to a clash of egos, the pressure of fame and financial success that increased tension and strain amongst the band mates and they officially ended as a group.

The Police did eventually reunite for a world tour to mark the 30th anniversary of the group in 2007 and to kick things off, they opened the 49th Annual Grammy Awards, performing "Roxanne" as a way to announce their return.

During their career, The Police released five studio albums which have sold over fifty million copies worldwide, had seven top ten U.S. hits, won six Grammy Awards and would be inducted into The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.

This is the band's first major release:

"Roxanne" - The Police (1978)