Surfing

Whether you heed the "Surf's up!" call when the sun hits the sea, or just wish you could, here's a tide to ride without leaving your seat. The bigger the wave, the bigger the rush — Pearl Jam's grunge-y rock riffs get your juices pumping and set the stage for jumping on that "Big Wave." Once you're in the spin, go with the flow even if it turns you "Upside Down" like Jack Johnson, surfer dudedom's king of mellow-groovin' acoustic rock. A sunny outlook is Step One to surf Nirvana, so let the carefree reggae lilt of Bob Marley's "Three Little Birds" chirp its cheery message in your ear.

Reach the beach with more surfing sounds in Next Steps

For that good-time groove that sets the surfboards bopping, pump some classic rock or get a funky jam going — it's all good, as long as the sunny-day summertime sounds abound. Roll up on G. Love's smooth-but-rockin' "Ride" for some funky bass slapping and laid-back rapping. Like to get loud with the surfing crowd? Let the hard-rock stomp of Soundgarden's "My Wave" pound your cares into the sandy ground. And the cloudiest day on the calendar can open up into a surfer's delight when the Allman Brothers' country-twangin' "Blue Sky" hits that Southern rock sweet spot and lets the sunshine in.

Dig into some surfside reggae in Deep Cuts

After that last wave rolls in, hang on the beach and chill out reggae-style, soaking up that deep groove and mellow mood. Lie back and bake under the sun with the steady roots rhythms of Third World's slow-burning fireball "1865 (96° in the Shade)." Hear the ocean softly kiss the shore on the instrumental "Surfing," as veteran reggae guitar-wrangler Ernest Ranglin plucks his strings with all the sweetness of a summer day. Warm up with a little West Coast one-drop from punky reggae rebels Long Beach Dub All Stars, who like to lay out in "Rosarito" and tap into some tequila while their buddies are busy hanging ten. Who says surfers have to have all the fun?

When the time comes to head for the seashore, and the surfboards start slapping the waves, the picture's not complete without a soundtrack. It doesn't matter if you're boogie boarding, body surfing, or just sitting back and watching the action from under your beach umbrella — you need those solar-powered sounds to put you in the mood. Remember, it's all about the groove, and from fatback funk to deep-diving reggae and hotter-than-Hades hip-hop beats, this is your one-stop sonic surf shack. Whether you move to the punk-ska swagger of 311 or the summery SoCal hip-hop/funk/rock stew served up by Fishbone and Ozomatli, there's no better time and place to start surfing through some tunes than here and now.