I have narrowed down the 27 tracks on the Golden Record to just 10 songs:

  1. Georgian S.S.R., chorus, “Tchakrulo,” collected by Radio Moscow. 2:18
  2. “Melancholy Blues,” performed by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven. 3:05
  3. “Johnny B. Goode,” written and performed by Chuck Berry. 2:38
  4. India, raga, “Jaat Kahan Ho,” sung by Surshri Kesar Bai Kerkar. 3:30
  5. “Dark Was the Night,” written and performed by Blind Willie Johnson. 3:15
  6. Mexico, “El Cascabel,” performed by Lorenzo Barcelata and the Mariachi México. 3:14
  7. China, ch’in, “Flowing Streams,” performed by Kuan P’ing-hu. 7:37
  8. Beethoven, Fifth Symphony, First Movement, the Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, conductor. 7:20
  9. Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F. First Movement, Munich Bach Orchestra, Karl Richter, conductor. 4:40
  10. Java, court gamelan, “Kinds of Flowers,” recorded by Robert Brown. 4:43

I chose these pieces based on a relatively loose set of criteria, as I ultimately went with my initial feelings when listening to each piece. However, I wanted to ensure that at least half of the songs I picked had voices singing in them, as opposed to just instrumental music, as I think this is an important layer in communicating who humans are as a species. I also tried to balance my selection of intense, powerful pieces, such as Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, with softer, more natural sounding tracks, such as Flowing Streams. Another goal I had was to reflect a broad range of sounds in my selection, from the polished feel of Bach, to the gruffer sounds of Blind Willie Johnson, to the upbeat music of Lorenzo Barcelata and the Mariachi México. I also only included songs that were longer than two minutes, as I wanted each piece to be substantial considering I could only include 10 tracks. Finally, I wanted to ensure that I chose pieces from a wide range of cultures to give a more holistic sample of the music that planet Earth has to offer. This last criterion was difficult, as the Golden Record was clearly created based on a white, Eurocentric perspective. I wonder what pieces that the countries and cultures represented on the Golden Record would have chosen to represent themselves. I suspect that their choices would differ from those reflected on the Golden Record.