Nas (photo by Ben Kaye), Kermit the Frog (photo by Ben Kaye), and Janet Jackson (photo by Julia Drummond)
The Library of Congress has announced this year’s selection of 25 “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” pieces of recorded music to archive into its collection. Among the inductees are no-brainer albums by Nas and Janet Jackson, classic songs by Kool & the Gang and Louis Armstrong, and one surprise inductee: Kermit the Frog.
The beloved green puppet was chosen for “Rainbow Connection”, an Oscar-nominated Top 25 hit from 1979’s The Muppet Movie. Check out Kermit’s April 2020 performance of the song below.
Other recordings selected for the National Recording Registry include Nas’ classic debut Illmatic; Janet Jackson’s seminal Rhythm Nation 1814; Kool & the Gang’s No. 1 hit “Celebration”; and Louis Armstrong’s iconic “When the Saints Go Marching In”, as well as Labelle’s “Lady Marmalade” and Jimmy Cliff’s The Harder They Come.
Find the full list of newly archived works below, and take a look at the Library of Congress’ full registry here. Last year’s selections included Dr. Dre’s The Chronic, Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You”, Tina Turner’s Private Dancer, and Cheap Trick’s Cheap Trick at Budokan.
Editors’ Picks
2020 National Recording Registry:
— Edison’s “St. Louis tinfoil” recording (1878)
— Hjalmar Peterson — “Nikolina” (1917)
— Marika Papagika — “Smyrneikos Balos” (1928)
— Louis Armstrong & his Orchestra — “When the Saints Go Marching In” (1938)
— Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill — Christmas Eve Broadcast (December 24, 1941)
— “The Guiding Light” — Nov. 22, 1945
— Odetta — Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues (1957)
— Albertina Walker and the Caravans — “Lord, Keep Me Day by Day” (1959)
— Roger Maris hits his 61st homerun (October 1, 1961)
— Leontyne Price, et.al. — Aida (1962)
— Connie Smith — “Once a Day” (1964)
— Albert King — Born Under a Bad Sign (1967)
— Marlo Thomas and Friends — Free to Be…You & Me (1972)
— Jimmy Cliff — The Harder They Come (1972)
— Labelle — “Lady Marmalade” (1974)
— Jackson Browne — Late for the Sky (1974)
— Pat Metheny — Bright Size Life (1976)
— Kermit the Frog — “Rainbow Connection” (1979)
— Kool & the Gang — “Celebration” (1980)
— Jessye Norman — Richard Strauss: Four Last Songs (1983)
— Janet Jackson — Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989)
— Flaco Jiménez — Partners (1992)
— Israel Kamakawiwo’ole — “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”/”What A Wonderful World” (1993)
— Nas — Illmatic (1994)
— “This American Life: The Giant Pool of Money” (May 9, 2008)
