Library of Congress preserves a little piece of Hell by integrating the original soundtrack with the original Loss in the national registration register. The album of demon-slaying tracks is joined by several other notable additions to the docket in 2026, like Weezer’s self-titled debut album (colloquially known as “The Blue Album”), Taylor Swift’s “1989,” Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It) and the original “Mambo No. 5.”
“Doom” was created by Bobby Prince, an independent composer who has worked on many id Software games and who also composed Lossthe rival of the 90s Duke Nukem 3D. The soundtrack takes clear inspiration from metal bands, but also dabbles in techno and ambient music throughout its tracklist, creating an eclectic soundscape to tear apart the haters. The fact that it all fits together is also impressive in itself: all of the music from Loss was written before the game had completed the levels to play through, according to Prince.
“Despite the limitations of 1993’s sound card drivers, Prince composed the perfect accompaniment to destroy the game’s riffs and slay demons to hell and back,” writes the Library of Congress. “Taking advantage of his knowledge of MIDI, Prince even ensured that the sound effects he created could cut through the music by assigning them to different MIDI frequencies.”
With the Loss soundtrack and the other 2,026 inductees included, the National Recording Registry now includes 700 titles, spanning multiple genres and formats. You can listen to a playlist of all the titles added to the registry in 2026 by following a link to your streaming service of choice on the Digital Media Association website.