School's Out

Whether you just finished your first year of high school or or you're feeling the sweet relief of putting Year 13 behind you, there's nothing — absolutely nothing — like the last day of school. Since the Essentials crew is completely psyched about the summer break, we've compiled the perfect soundtrack to celebrate that final bell . . . and, of course, the packed December beaches and delirious sense of freedom that goes with them. We've got Katy Perry's Snoop-assisted homage to "California Gurls," Alice Cooper's anthemic celebration of your sprint away from the gates, "School's Out," and the Pixie Stick-pounding pop of "Shut Up and Let Me Go," a rallying cry for the closing minutes of class if there ever was one. Now, if you want something to play as your best friend's car peels out of the parking lot, our Next Steps section keeps the good times coming with everything from Kylie to Eminem.

"School's out for summer/school's out forever." Indeed, it is, which means it's time to stop worrying about final exams and start focusing on nothing but the sun-baked months ahead. That'll be easy once you hit play on the following crowd-pleasers. As free-ranging and eclectic as a well-spun radio dial, we're talkin' about a veritable hit parade of rock (Metro Station, Paramore), rap (Pitbull, Flo Rida, Eminem), and pop (Kylie, the Veronicas), with dashes of psychedelic ska-punk (Smash Mouth), and R&B (Usher) thrown in for good measure. Our Deep Cuts stars are straight outta the A-list, too, so don't blame us — actually, do blame us — if you're singing along straight through September.

With song titles like "Hot in Herre," "Island in the Sun," and "Temperature" spread across our School's Out Deep Cuts, can you tell what's on our mind these days? Just like you, oh freshly freed prisoners of homework, we can't stop thinking about summer, summer, and more summer. So you know what? Turn off that air conditioner and yank your windows wide open. We've got a slew of certified jams to kick out — some rockin' ("Zero," "Seventeen") and some chilled ("I'm Yours," "Beautiful"), with not even a second of filler in between.

Few two-word combos are sweeter than class dismissed, especially when the phrase is slung to signify the start of our southern hemisphere summer. For some of you, that means school's really out forever, and if it isn't, well, let's just pretend that homework, detention and revision all belong to the past, shall we? Which won't be too hard when you're cranking cuts like P!nk's "So What," No Doubt's "Hey Baby," and MGMT's "Kids." From Kid Cudi to Carrie Underwood, from Katy Perry to Cobra Starship, these are the School's Out standards that'll make a whole pool party sing. Now if only we could make summer holiday last until next April. Hey, maybe next year.