Radiohead's 1997 classic OK Computer will be inducted into the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry for preservation today. Each year the library chooses recordings that are "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" and at least 10 years old for inclusion as part of the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000. Radiohead's third studio album is among 25 recordings spanning from 1890 to 1999 that have been added to the library, The Guardian reports.
Speaking about OK Computer, curator Matt Barton said that the album -- which according to the library explores "an information-age dystopia characterized by psychopaths, corrupt politicians, ill-behaved consumers, tyrannical robots, airline disasters, car crashes, and failed safety protocols" -- was brought to his attention through a public nomination.
"I see it as part of a certain ongoing phenomenon in rock music," Barton explained, "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."
In an essay about the album's inclusion, the library details why OK Computer is worth preserving.
"For the album, the band had mostly stripped away such alt-rock signposts as personalized lyrics, sinus-clearing guitar, and thunderous bass and drums," the essay reads. "While these bold moves risked alienating the band's sizeable audience, it paid off with more than a decade of critical praise for this masterful recording. The band used guitars-both searing and angelic-mellotrons, laptops, samples, fat synth lines, machine-like drums and drum machines to produce a dense topology of sound, music and public service announcements. The album has endured as a statement, and a cautionary tale for the digital age."
Other albums being inducted 2015 are The Doors' eponymous 1967 debut, Lauryn Hill's 1997 debut The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, the Righteous Brothers single "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'," Joan Baez's eponymous 1960 debut, the Johnny Mercer single "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive," Steve Martin's comedy album A Wild and Crazy Guy, and Sly and the Family Stone's 1969 album Stand! as well as radio coverage of President Franklin D Roosevelt's funeral in 1945, the 1953 theatrical recording of John Brown's Body based on a civil war poem that became a successful non-musical play, a Sesame Street compilation album from 1995, and many more.
Check out the full list of 2015 recordings here and past years here.
What albums do you think should be inducted next year? Sound off in the comments section below!
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