Back To School Songs

There’s no way to stop it. Summer is going to end, school will start, and you will have to wave one last fond farewell to your days of sweet, sweet freedom. But, hey, it’s all good — your buds will be there, your favorite daydream hottie will be waitin’ in homeroom and, now, you’ve got our Back To School Basics to send you off in high sonic style. Use our tunes to tell it like it is, whether you’re feelin’ all anti-establishment (Eminem’s “Brain Damage”), conducting an extra-credit anthropological study (Neon Trees’ “Girls and Boys In School”), or enlisting Katy Perry to help you finally bag the “Teenage Dream” that eluded you last year.

Even Arcade Fire is “Ready to Start,” so hit the halls and head to your next Back to School set, in Next Steps.

Feeder still can’t get over the fact that “Summers Gone,” but for Big Boi & Cutty, back to school means back to the gym for the homecoming-dance rug-cutter “Shutterbugg.” Hip-pop delinquent Young MC is starting off the semester by getting some one-on-one time with the “Principal’s Office,” while Kanye West is making the best of it and steppin’ out some serious “School Spirit.” Back in class, Van Halen are paying close attention to a different kind of educational experience on “Hot for Teacher,” and reggae-rap pep squad Nas & Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley get the kids going as the season kicks off with “As We Enter.”

It’s gonna be a long year — find more back-to-school study aides in Deep Cuts.

Sure, summer’s over, but “back to school” means a new beginning, a fresh start with a whole world of possibility on the scholastic road ahead. No wonder Belle and Sebastian are feeling full of the spirit on “We Rule the School.” Grunge godfathers Nirvana may be screaming about no recess on their free-verse rock grinder “School,” but alterna-cheerleaders Sleigh Bells are only too happy to stomp some marching-band beats on “Tell ’Em.” And while They Might Be Giants are getting a quirky lesson in earth science on “Why Does the Sun Shine?,” the White Stripes are still ambling happily to class with their new bestie on “We’re Going to Be Friends.”

Summer was sweet, but all good things must come to an end, and at least you’re not alone — everyone has to go back to school sometime. So while space-case rockers Muse study up on an astrophysics lab partner in “Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever),” the Vampire Weekend prep squad is busy mapping out the “Campus” in order to avoid a certain painful someone, and 3OH!3 is angling for some groundbreaking extracurricular activities in the form of “My First Kiss (feat. Ke$ha).” The Ramones give it an “R!” with the punk-pop cheer “Rock ‘N’ Roll High School,” as artistic type Beck lets loose with some intramural intensity on the “Threshold” of the new year, and yearbook staffers Weezer make sure to record it all for a look back to wistful school-daze “Memories.”