-Victor Willis, the lead vocalist and primary songwriter for the Village People, died yesterday at the age of 74, his wife announced in a statement this morning. The Library inducted "Y.M.C.A." into the National Recording Registry in 2020 and we caught up with him for a delightful phone interview. He politely recounted how he had written one of the most iconic songs in American pop music history. We reprint it today in honor of his passing.
Baseball, basketball, football, blues, jazz, rock, Hollywood, Broadway, comic books — what would the planet look like without the great spewing fountain of American pop culture? As celebrations for A250, the country's 250th birthday, get underway, the Library's vast holdings document the global impact of American films, television, theater, music, comic books and even fast food. That impact can’t be quantified — but much of it can be catalogued.
"Save the Last Dance for Me," first recorded by The Drifters in 1960, has long been a staple of American pop culture as a love song at weddings, anniversaries and countless other romantic occasions. It's been recorded by more than 500 artists over the decades. The Library recently acquired the collection of Doc Pomus, the legendary songwriter who wrote or cowrote "Dance" and many other hits ("Viva Las Vegas," "This Magic Moment"). The collection contains the invitation to the 1957 wedding reception for Pomus and actress Willi Burke on which he scrawled out "Save the last dance for me." The bittersweet irony -- Pomus had polio as a child, could not walk unaided as an adult and encouraged his bride to dance with others at the reception. The iconic song followed.
Nearly half a century after its release, The Go-Go's "Beauty and the Beat" is still the only Billboard No. 1 album by an all-female rock group who wrote and performed their own material. This year, the album joins the 2026 class of the National Recording Registry. We caught up with the group to talk about their roots in L.A.'s punk music scene and how it resulted in the album that made them pop-culture icons.
The 2026 National Recording Registry inductees were announced today, bringing everything from Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It),” Weezer’s self-titled debut “Weezer (The Blue Album),” José Feliciano’s “Feliz Navidad” and 22 other recordings into the Library’s catalogue that preserves the nation’s sound heritage. Also included: songs by Taylor Swift, The Go-Go's, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Pérez Prado, Ray Charles and Rosanne Cash.
The Library recently acquired the collection of jazz legend Gil Evans, an arranger and composer whose work, particularly with Miles Davis, helped reshape the art form in the mid 20th century. This story shows how the pair recorded "Sketches of Spain," their Grammy-winning 1960 album that is still considered a classic.
Library conservators recently made a startling discovery in a batch of decaying film reels -- a long-lost 1897 film by early cinema icon George Méliès. The French magician-turned-filmmaker's "Gugusse and the Automaton,” the first appearance of a robot on screen, has long been sought after by sci-fi fans and cinemaphiles. No one had seen it in more than a century when Library staff carefully unwound it. You can see it now in this post and on the Library's National Screening Room.
-This is a guest post by Deb Fiscella, a public affairs specialist in the Office of Communications. The Library and a national touring company are offering theatergoers a peek behind the curtain at the origins of one of Broadway’s most cherished musicals: “The Sound of Music.” In a first-of-its-kind collaboration, the Library and the national …
John Carpenter's "The Thing," the classic 1982 sci-fi/horror film, was voted by fans into the 2025 National Film Registry. One of the film's surprise stars was Jed, the part wolf/part dog who plays a key role in the movie's plot. Richard Masur, who played Jed's handler in the movie, recalls the joy and fear of working with such a "big, beautiful" but wild animal. Jed went on to other roles in Hollywood, playing the title character in "White Fang" and "White Fang 2."
