Rollerskating

What's the hottest thing on wheels? It's you, baby! You've known it since the first time you hit the rink, laced up those skates, and rolled out into that circular stream of free-flowin' fun. And when the Average White Band's prime slab o' Scottish funk "Pick Up the Pieces" poured out of the PA, or Eddy Grant's reggae popper "Electric Avenue" charged your boogie-skatin' battery, there was no other place in your sweet, young life you'd rather be — now, getting back there is as easy as enlisting dance queen Shannon to "Let the Music Play," and hopping on the krazy krautrock party train of Kraftwerk's "Trans Europe Express."

Glide into Next Steps for more roller skating greats.

We make it easy to roll back the years to a time when pioneering hip-pop cuties L'Trimm rapped out an ode to "Cars That Go Boom," but your prime set of wheels were still the ones tied to your feet. When you got your smooth groove on to the likes of Bill Withers' "Lovely Day" and you could easily spend all Saturday night working your skates into an electric slide with the Time and a steamy "Jungle Love." Tunes like Andrea True Connection's disco demand "More, More, More" made it seem like the good times would never end — with Roller Skating Next Steps, they don't have to.

Deep Cuts keep 'em coming.

R&B belter Johnny Gill offers up a funky-fresh ode to an essential skating component, "The Floor," while mad '80s scientists Dead or Alive get to the heart of basic rink physics with "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)." Young M.C. deploys fresh-faced party rap to motivate even shy roller babies to "Bust a Move," even as advanced boogie masters heed the Godfather of Soul's command to "Get up Offa That Thing" and show their stuff. And Vaughan Mason and Crew give a shout-out as "roller skaters celebrate," 'cause they finally have their very anthem in the slinky disco drive of "Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll."

It's our Rollerskating Essentials, our sonic salute to the United Skates of America and the freewheelin' folk who'd rather glide through life than stick to that tired, old walking thing. We're talkin' your very own classics here, whether you were wearing dolphin shorts and a satin jacket while you took your corner crossovers to the sounds of Lipps, Inc. and "Funkytown," or workin' the neon leggings and a whole lotta mousse while Nu Shooz generated some synth-pop excitement with "I Can't Wait." If you were a tried-and-true rink rat just waiting for the mellow tones of Tommy James and "Draggin' the Line" to announce a couples skate, or a street-skate devotee "on the move" with your peeps to the sounds of McFadden & Whitehead's "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now," these are still the tunes to let the good times roll.