I think the issue of how much British (or other non-US) content is the
on the registry is an important topic for discussion. I am very mindful
of this as I consider the nominations and vote.
I think excluding British recordings wholesale would be a mistake as
there has been musical cross-fertilization via recordings between the UK
and the US for over a century and to eliminate those would ignore many
landmark recordings that happened to originate in the UK. We aren't
Canada (no offense meant to my Canadian friends) where we need to carve
out an American hour to make sure our music gets heard above the racket
from elsewhere.
Dark Side of the Moon was on the US Billboard charts for 1,630 weeks,
longer than any other record. For that reason alone I think it merits
inclusion on the registry, even if you hate the record. The registry is
for "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" recordings,
and DSotM meets the first two criteria handily, and ongoing debate about
the third criteria is OK with me.
I agree that the registry should primarily be American recordings. But
to ignore selected recordings made elsewhere by the Beatles, Bob Marley,
or even Pink Floyd--hugely significant records in American
culture--makes no sense either. The list is actually more representative
of American culture with a few imports on it.
Anyway, I'm not here to defend DSofM (I prefer the early records up
through Meddle!) but I did want to say this: your nominations count.
Please nominate what you think should be on the list and include the
reasons why (http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb/nrpb-nrr.html). If your
nomination doesn't get on right away, nominate it again next year. The
records that get nominated by the public year in, year out do get noticed.
David Seubert
ARSC NRPB Rep
On 3/21/2013 4:17 PM, David Lewis wrote:
> I am glad to see Chubby Checker make the list, even though his "The
> Twist" is merely a usurpation of Hank Ballard's 1958 which was made in
> Cincinnati, as the Chubster gets no love from the Rock Hall. They
> won't even let him keep his pop machine out in the parking garage. So
> if he is to be enshrined anywhere outside of his chart history and the
> hearts of his still considerable fan base, then the Registry is as
> good a place as any.
>
> But -- and it is MY OPINION, ok? -- to me "Dark Side" is the most
> bloated, overrated, overblown and dinosaurian choice that we could
> have made. Moreover, from the standpoint of a list of American
> recordings it is like rolling over like a dog that is kicked and
> saying "Okay, like you always tell us, you guys do this better. We
> admit it." No British registry would be so gracious in including
> American recordings unless it was an American recording made by a
> British artist.
>
> I felt the same way when Led Zeppelin got a Kennedy Center Honor.
> Shouldn't we reserve these limited slots for honoring American
> artists? Are The Beatles and these other British groups so freakin'
> great that we have to put them up first before The Modern Lovers, or
> The Bell Notes or King Solomon Hill? Do they really have to be in
> every list of great recordings? And I did not find the blurb written
> up for "Dark Side" convincing enough for inclusion. End of rant; pace.
>
> I was really VERY happy to see the Artie Shaw and The Ramones choices.
> Those were natural picks for the list. I appreciate Matt's suggestion
> that the inclusion of something "Dark Side" shows that we believe the
> Shaws and Ramones as equally important. But that seems to work more in
> theory than in practice; I'll admit, it's optimistic. I really don't
> think owing to the list that Pink Floyd fans will go forward, however,
> to discover how wonderful Tom Ashley is, despite the fact that the
> guys in Pink Floyd themselves probably already know.
>
> I have made many suggestions to the list, and at least one or two have
> been adopted in the past and I will be happy to continue to submit
> even if the electing body never agrees with another one. But I do hope
> we see some surcease in foreign kinds of choices; we should make more
> room for the homegrown stuff. Call me xenophobic.
>
> UD
> Lebanon, OH
--
David Seubert
Head, Special Collections (Acting)
Davidson Library
University of California
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9010
Tel: 805-893-5444
|