Library Of Congress saves Public Enemy
The Library of Congress announced the latest additions to The National Recording Registry. These are the sound recordings deemed valuable enough to American history that Congress funds their preservation into perpetuity. 500 years from now — assuming humans are still around — these are the sounds that people will know from our time.
So what did they select this year? Neil Armstrong on the moon, Dwight MacArthur, Woodrow Wilson, Fred Astaire, Al Jolson, Vladimir Horowitz, John Coltrane… Indeed many of the most influential sounds and voices of our time
…and Nirvana! and Public Enemy!
Really this isn’t that surprising; one of the first items named back in 2000 was Grandmaster Flash’s “The Message.” But it’s still incredible to try to imagine earthlings in another millenium trying to make head or tail of “911′s A Joke,” “Burn Hollywood Burn” or “Lithium.”
Why Fear Of A Black Planet? My hunch is that this album represented the commercial and legal pinnacle of sampling as an art form before it all was forced underground. (We’ll have to count on illegal-art.org to take care of the rest.) Also, Public Enemy’s ‘Black Nationalist’ message will probably seem more consequential to future historians than Paul’s Boutique‘s or 3 Feet High & Rising‘s content.
But is it worth it if people can’t hear the originals? Will future listeners even understand that these songs were built off of other recordings if those other recordings aren’t preserved, too? Today’s MP3 is highly dependent on Isaac Hayes samples. Does this make Public Enemy more historically important than Issac Hayes?
If I have been able to see further, it was only because I stood on the shoulders of giants. — Isaac Newton
What do you think? Drop me a comment!
2004 National Recording Registry
The full registry to date
[Soundtrack]
Public Enemy – By The Time I Get To Arizona.mp3
(Yes, I know this is the wrong album, but the peculiarly 1991 political content — Chuck D’s anger at then-Arizona Governor Even Mecham’s refusal to ratify Marting Luther King Day — should prove plenty confusing to listeners in the year 2525.)
Public Eneny, in my opinion were the most important rap group of the late 80s early 90s. They helped make hip hop mainstream while not just singing about cars, champagne and girls. Their political lyrics are just as important now as they were then. “Will future listeners even understand that these songs were built off of other recordings if those other recordings aren’t preserved, too?” Maybe, maybe not. Most music fans think the white stripes for example have an original sound. People in general dont realize that the music of today, hip hop, rock, etc is rehashing of old music. You can make the arguement that there are only so many chords, and so many arrangements… Sampling is an important part of music history. Sampling became a tool for expression, just like any other form of music. De La Soul being sued by the Turtles for example is a major turn in music history. The National Registry will never be complete. You can argue for a ton of artist to be documented there. “But is it worth it if people can’t hear the originals?” People need to educate themselves about music. The problem is most people dont care. Why do you think Brittney Spears or 50 cents or whoever sells millions of records? Your average person just dont doesnt have a personal relationship with music, and they have no need to go back and find the original sample or idea that may have been used or copied. I could go on and on…you get my point . Tom
I agree wholeheartedly that Fear Of A Black Planet is a very important recording. Let me (re)state the reasons I thought this was a interesting, but imperfect pick:
1) As an example of sampling, it’s pretty great and if that’s what the Library was seeking to preserve, they’ve probably picked one of the Top Three ever. Personally, if we were looking for an apex or an epitome, I’d vote Paul’s Boutique.
2) PE’s political stance is/was deeply important, for sure. But it is/was deeply out of the mainstream. As a half-Jew (full disclosure), there’s not a lot of question in my mind that there is a lot of anti-semitism on this record. On the other hand (and as I subtly point out in the illustration for this entry), Al Jolson in blackface was also part of the Library’s selection this year. As far as political import combined with sampling, I’d take Fight The Power or Apocalypse 91 over Fear Of A Black Planet. Fight The Power absolutely epitomized what was going on in 1989, and Do The Right Thing was a really important look into the racial climate of that year. On a more broad palette, Apocalypse 91 addressed slavery, current events and black political activism in a more direct way; I’d take Can’t Truss This over any of those, a truly majestic modernistic work about the lingering effects of slavery. Fear has some truly terrible tracks (Reggie Jax, Meet The G That Killed Me); the hit rate is much higher on Nation Of Millions and Apolocalypse. Fear doesn’t even represent (by far) the best of PE.
1a and 2a) In terms of cultural historic import, to me Paul’s Boutique tells an extremely compelling story about the Jews’ indoctrination, adaptation to, adoption of and diaspora through mainstream American culture, more so than does Fear Of A Black Planet, which likely represented (and still represents) the views of a niche of a minority population.
So if I’m in the Library panel, I’m rolling with Paul’s Boutique In Brooklynnnnn.
I hope if they continue to select sample-based music that perhaps they do so as “paired selections” to show the richness, complexity and importance of the art of sampling. When 3 Feet High & Rising gets selected, hopefully the original Turtles track will at least be added as an appendix. Or god forbid, Biz Markie and Gilbert O’ Sullivan.