James Rado Talks Hair's Legacy in Podcast Interview
(photo provided by Merle Frimark Associates)
Earlier this year, Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical was inducted into the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress. In conjunction with the induction, arts journalist Patrick Pacheco sat down with cocreator James Rado to discuss the score and legacy of the show.
Hair was created by Rado, the late Gerome Ragni, and the late Galt MacDermot. After the show's 1968 Broadway premiere, the original cast recording remained at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for 13 weeks, even garnering a Grammy in 1969 for Best Score from an Original Cast Show Album, and selling 3 million copies by December 1969.
Under the terms of the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000, the Librarian of Congress, with advice from the Library's National Recording Preservation Board (NRPB), is tasked with annually selecting 25 titles that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant," and are at least 10 years old. The Librarian also considers hundreds of nominations submitted by the public each year.
You can listen to the full podcast here.
