In 2000, the United States passed the National Recording Preservation Act, which was similar to the National Film Preservation Act of 1988. Both acts created a preservation board that answered to the Library of Congress, and was tasked with the collection and preservation of important recorded works. As part of that task, the National Recording Preservation Board selects 50 recordings every year for inclusion into the National Recording Registry, with an eye towards restoring old recordings, digitizing them, and putting them into the permanent collection of the Library of Congress. Works can be nominated for the registry 10 years after they’ve been published, so the collection ranges from the first mass-produced records in 1888 all the way to Nirvana’s Nevermind and Public Enemy’s Fear Of A Black Planet. Music critics bicker back and forth all the time about what albums are true classics and which ones will be forgotten in a couple of years, but somehow the opinion of the Library of Congress feels more substantial.

The additions for 2005 were announced last week, and there are a couple of weighty recordings on the list: the first broadcast of a presidential inauguration and the first transatlantic telephone call are present, as are Studs Terkel, Frank Zappa and Fats Domino. “Dancing In The Street,” by Martha and the Vandellas, is probably the most recognizable recording, though the original recording of Show Boat might compete for the title. Out in left field are “Poeme Electronique,” a recording of what was essentially a giant sound sculpture built for the 1958 Brussels Exposition, and Switched-On Bach, the pioneering 1968 record of Bach as interpreted by Wendy Carlos and the Moog synthesizer. And then there are the more recent entries, like Jimi Hendrix’s Are You Experienced?, Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life, and the youngest recording on the list, Sonic Youth’s Daydream Nation.

Sonic Youth may well turn out to be the Velvet Underground of the next century. As a money-making proposition, the band has earned its keep, but commercial success has been fleeting. And yet the band’s musical credentials have almost never been in doubt, not even when they make major missteps (NYC Flowers and Ghosts?) or embark on wild projects with little hope for mass appeal (Goodbye 20th Century, Silver Session for Jason Knuth—recorded as a tribute to a fan who committed suicide in 1998). And just like the Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth have been frequently cited as an influence. With their place as elders of the alternative rock scene all but assured, it’s not surprising that Sonic Youth have been honoured by no less than the Library of Congress; what’s surprising is that the Library of Congress caught on so quickly.