Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Wonder and B.B. King are officially immortal.
The late rock god, Motown superstar and blues icon are joining a handful of artists whose masterworks will be preserved in perpetuity by the Library of Congress. All told, 50 recordings have been selected to be added to the National Recording Registry, it was announced Tuesday.
Instituted by Congress through the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000, the Library selects musical and spoken word recordings that are at least 10 years old and deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" for inclusion in the permanent collection.
"The National Recording Registry represents a stunning array of the diversity, humanity and creativity found in our sound heritage, nothing less than a flood of noise and sound pulsating into the American bloodstream," Librarian of Congress James H. Billington said in announcing the class of 2006.
Leading the newcomers is the Jimi Hendrix Experience's 1967 psychedelic tour de force, Are You Experienced?, which was hailed as one of the "most groundbreaking guitar albums of the rock era." Hendrix's indelible guitar playing is featured on such seminal tracks as "Hey Joe," "The Wind Cries Mary" and "Purple Haze."
Wonder made the cut for his 1976 double album, Songs in the Key of Life, which according to the Library, marked the apex of his career thanks to "impeccable musicianship." Featuring guest players like jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, Songs produced a slew of jazz, blues and gospel-tinged hits, including "Isn't She Lovely?," "Sir Duke," "Knocks Me Off My Feet," and "Joy Inside My Tears."
King was recognized for his legendary 1965 live concert album, Live at the Regal, which showcased the blues great at the peak of his powers, delivering searing versions of "Everyday I Have the Blues" and "How Blue Can You Get?" The record is widely considered to be one of the greatest live blues albums and influenced a generation of musicians, most notably Buddy Guy and Eric Clapton.
Some pioneers of rock 'n' roll were also tapped: Fats Domino's laid-back 1956 cover of Glenn Miller's 1940 hit "Blueberry Hill"; and two 1957 recordings, Jerry Lee Lewis' Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" and Buddy Holly's "That'll Be The Day."
Also making the cut was Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention's 1968 masterpiece, We're Only in It for the Money, an avant garde "sound collage" that satirized both America's conservative establishment as well as the free-love radicals of the '60s.
The most recent recording selected is Sonic Youth's 1988 art-noise opus, Daydream Nation.
Of course, what good is a National Registry if you don't save the really golden oldies? Some of the key recordings earmarked for preservation from bygone eras include a 1925 broadcast of Calvin Coolidge's presidential inauguration, the first of its kind; the first official transatlantic telephone conversation, which place in 1927; a rare 1930 recording of Beethoven's Egmont Overture performed by the Modesto, California, High School band; Clem McCarthy's radio broadcast of boxer Joe Louis' first-round knockout of Max Schmeling in 1938 heard by an estimated 70 million people; the 1937 tune "One O'Clock Jump," by the Count Basie Orchestra; the Bob Hope-hosted "Command Performance" broadcast to the troops on Armed Forces Radio; Nat King Cole's 1943 hit "Straighten Up and Fly Right"; radio show host and oral historian Studs Terkel's 1962 interview with James Baldwin; and William Faulkner's 1962 address at West Point Military Academy.
The complete list of 2005 honorees and a nomination form for the 2007 registry can be found at the National Recording Preservation Board's Website, www.loc.gov/nrpb.