It's Hunky Dory In The White House

Do you remember, your President Nixon? (Well he started it!)

Rolling Stone has a neat item in the latest edition of the magazine entitled: Obama’s Secret Record Collection. (Issue 1071 – February 5, 2009)

Today’s Times newspaper in the UK précised the piece down to this paragraph for those of you wanting a quick gist: “Swinging President Obama is being urged to update the White House?s collection of vintage vinyl. The library, including LPs by the Sex Pistols and David Bowie with the presidential seal on each sleeve, was sent to the basement by the Reagans. A treasure trove for Sasha and Malia to discover.”

However, for those of you needing more, the Rolling Stone piece was a little more informative, so here’s an excerpt from it:

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“During the waning days of the Nixon administration, the RIAA, the record companies’ trade group, decided the official White House Record Library should include sound recordings as well as books. In 1973, the organization donated close to 2,000 LPs. The bad news: The selection was dominated by the likes of Pat Boone, the Carpenters and John Denver. In 1979, legendary producer John Hammond convened a new commission to update the list for the hipper Carter administration. “They felt they needed to redress some of the oversights that might have taken place the first time around,” says Boston music critic and author Bob Blumenthal, who was put in charge of adding 200 rock records to the library.

At the commission’s first meeting, Blumenthal brought up Randy Newman’s thorny dissection of Southern culture, Good Old Boys, to determine what restrictions the panel might face. “That was exhibit A,” Blumenthal says. “And I was told, ‘Oh, the president loves that album! Go ahead!’ ” So Blumenthal and his advisers ? including Paul Nelson, then Rolling Stone’s reviews editor ? compiled a list to reflect “diversity in what was going on in popular music.” They picked the Kinks’ Arthur for its “theme of empire,” and Blumenthal snuck in favorites like David Bowie’s Hunky Dory.”

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As to whether Obama will liberate the collection from the White House basement, (where the Reagans banished it to) remains to be seen.

However, considering Hunky Dory is the album that Changes first appeared on, it seems likely that Obama already has his very own well-worn copy. (01.22.2008 SNIPPET: DAVID BOWIE INSPIRES US PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES & 03.04.2008 NEWS: AF PERFORM HEROES AT BARACK OBAMA RALLIES IN OHIO & 07.24.2008 NEWS: BARACK OBAMA ENTERS TO THE SOUND OF BOWIE & 09.22.2008 NEWS: BARACK OBAMA HOOKED UP TO ANOTHER BOWIE TUNE & 11.05.2008 NEWS: OBAMA WINS & 11.06.2008 NEWS: BOWIE OBAMA T-SHIRTS DOING GOOD BUSINESS)