Library of Congress Defends National Recording Registry After Bill Maher's ‘New Rules' Jab
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Bill Maher questioned why the Library of Congress needs to enshrine songs by Celine Dion and Elton John in the National Recording Registry. - Credit:; Phil Dent/Redferns
Last week, the Library of Congress unveiled the 2025 additions to its National Recording Registry, which aims to collect recordings deemed 'culturally, historically or aesthetically important.' If you were Elton John, Steve Miller, Celine Dion, or the estate of the late Helen Reddy, you were probably thrilled. But one man, apparently, was not.
On last Friday's episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, the comedian and commentator made headlines with his much-awaited — and now much parsed, praised, or pummeled — recap of his and pal Kid Rock's visit to the White House to meet with Donald Trump. The segment received its share of blowback, head-scratching, and cheerleading. But in his 'New Rules' segment at the end of the show, Maher took a harder shot at the Library of Congress than he did at Trump during his segment on the trip.
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'Now that the Library of Congress has added to its registry of historical recordings 'My Heart Will Go On,' Fly Like an Eagle, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and 'I Am Woman' … really?' he cracked, citing some of the albums or singles included. 'This is the government's job? Making sure that future generations will be able to hear Elton John sing about 'hunting the horny back toad'? Besides I don't think these songs are in any danger of disappearing. I always hear them while I'm buying my $12 eggs at Ralph's.'
The segment got a laugh, but according to a source, the staff of the Library of Congress was surprised, to say the least. (Maher's music tastes do tend toward the boomer-ish, after all.) In a statement to Rolling Stone, the department simply reiterated its mission. 'The National Recording Registry is valuable in preserving and spotlighting recorded sound that has impacted our nation both historically and culturally,' it reads. 'Aside from celebrating popular tunes, it also draws attention to forgotten recordings that date back more than a century ago including beloved Hawaiian song 'Aloha 'Oe,' the first network broadcast from the Grand Ole Opry, Booker T. Washington's 1908 speech, 1888-1889 Thomas Edison recordings and much more. The Library of Congress is proud and honored to select 25 audio treasures worthy of preservation every year because it upholds our collective history and our wide-ranging culture.'
The first Registry, released in 2002, cited recordings by Bob Dylan, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, and Bing Crosby; last year's lineup included tracks or albums by Green Day, Perry Como, the Notorious B.I.G., Bill Withers, Johnny Mathis, Benny Goodman, and the Chicks.
In addition to the recordings Maher cited, the 2025 inductees include Davis' Bitches Brew, the Hamilton cast album, Amy Winehouse's Back to Black, Tracy Chapman's debut, Mary J. Blige's My Life, pianist Keith Jarrett's The Kӧln Concert, Don Rickles' comedy album Hello Dummy!, Chicago's debut (Chicago Transit Authority), the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans cowboy anthem 'Happy Trails,' Daniel Rosenfeld's soundtrack for the Minecraft game, and (no joke) the Microsoft Windows reboot chime. (Hey, it is an historic sound, although Apple's reboot could qualify too.)
We get that some of these recordings are already classics and don't necessarily need a government seal of approval, but here's hoping the DOGE bros don't start nosing around the Registry's lists.
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