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Bee Gees, Ramones, Pink Floyd Among Those Preserved By US Library Of Congress

Dan Condon

A (largely) Aussie disco classic makes the cut amongst just 25 recordings.

The US Library of Congress has added 25 new recordings to its National Recording Registry for preservation and Brisbane's own Bee Gees are amongst those on the list.

Sounds that have a certain cultural, artistic and historic importance are added to the registry, meaning the punk rock of Ramones and the disco of the Bee Gees sits next to Former US President Dwight D. Eisenhower and a rendition of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1.

Saturday Night Fever, the soundtrack to the 1977 of the same name, saw the Gibb brothers pen eight of the 16 tracks and perform six of them. It stayed at the top of the Billboard charts for 24 straight weeks upon its release and remained on the Billboard charts for 120 weeks. It has sold over 15 million copies in the US to date.

Have a listen to some of the sounds that have been preserved by the Library Of Congress this week. It will make for some fantastic weekend listening, we reckon.

The full list of sounds is as follows.

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1. After You've Gone Marion Harris (1918)
2. Bacon, Beans and Limousines Will Rogers (Oct. 18, 1931)
3. Begin the Beguine Artie Shaw (1938)
4. You Are My Sunshine Jimmie Davis (1940)
5. D-Day Radio Broadcast George Hicks (June 5-6, 1944)
6. Just Because Frank Yankovic & His Yanks (1947)
7. South Pacific Original Cast Album (1949)
8. Descargas: Cuban Jam Session in Miniature Cachao Y Su Ritmo Caliente (1957)
9. Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 Van Cliburn (April 11, 1958)
10. President's Message Relayed from Atlas Satellite, Dwight D. Eisenhower (Dec. 19, 1958)
11. A Program of Song Leontyne Price (1959)
12. The Shape of Jazz to Come Ornette Coleman (1959)
13. Crossing Chilly Jordan The Blackwood Brothers (1960)
14. The Twist Chubby Checker (1960)
15. Old Time Music at Clarence Ashley's Clarence Ashley, Doc Watson, et al. (1960-1962)
16. Hoodoo Man Blues Junior Wells (1965)
17. Sounds of Silence Simon and Garfunkel (1966)
18. Cheap Thrills Big Brother and the Holding Company (1968)
19. The Dark Side of the Moon  Pink Floyd (1973)
20. Music Time in Africa Leo Sarkisian, host (July 29, 1973)
21. Wild Tchoupitoulas The Wild Tchoupitoulas (1976)
22. Ramones Ramones (1976)
23. Saturday Night Fever The Bee Gees, et al (1977)
24. Einstein on the Beach Philip Glass and Robert Wilson (1979)
25. The Audience with Betty Carter Betty Carter (1980)