Public Enemy

All summer long, NPR's Melissa Block has been asking musicians, listeners and a novelist about their favorite summer songs and what kind of memories they evoke. During those conversations, Block has been flooded with memories of her own. She and Madeleine Brand pick their own summer songs.

Every generation has its own soundtrack. The Silent Generation (people born in the '20s and '30s) had big band and swing. Baby Boomers (born in the '40s and '50s) had rock and soul. Generation X (born in the '60s and '70s) had grunge and hip-hop. On this edition of All Songs Considered, we look back at the defining music of those generations and ask what the soundtrack is for the current generation, Generation Y (or Millennials).

Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley of the trip-hop group Portishead talk with All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen about their new album, Third and share some of the songs that have influenced their work over the years. Hear selections from Third, along with music from Jimi Hendrix, Public Enemy, Kraftwerk and British actor and singer Noel Harrison.

Glenn Miller's "In the Mood," Edward R. Murrow's wartime broadcasts from London and Public Enemy's influential hip-hop album Fear of a Black Planet are among the recordings added to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry.

Political music is most commonly thought of in terms of lyricism: artists saying something. But some of the most powerful music comes from a sound of political fervor and change that transcends words. Hear five of hip-hop poet Saul Williams' favorite songs — tracks in which the music itself calls for change.