B-Side: Difference between revisions

The single is usually denoted as "A-side b/w B-side", the b/w standing for 'backed with'.

 

 

 

Unscrupulous publishers used to cheaply buy the rights to B-sides of songs they predicted to be hits. Since the B-side got 50% of the airplay royalties, the publishers would clean up.

 

 

[[Omnipresent Tropes|Ubiquitous throughout]] the music industry, so examples should be parodies subversions or otherwise noteworthy.

 

 

 

* Radiohead's B-sides are popular among fans for their strangeness and experimentation; "Kinetic" features a looped, backwards, slowed-down vocal part.

* The Protomen released a white vinyl record roughly one year prior to releasing their Act II CD with the single "Father of Death". The other side contained a remixed version of "No Easy Way Out" from Rocky IV.

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJRO0guayb0 Eye of The Lens] by The Comsat Angels could have been their biggest hit in the early 80's, had it been included on an album.

* Self's "No B-sides": The back story is that Matt Mahaffey of Self was streaming one B-side (more accurately "outtake") from forthcoming album ''Ornament And Crime'' a day until the album's release date. When the anticipated release date came and the album didn't, the song for the day was "No B-sides", a catchy, jingle-like number where Mahaffey informed fans that there weren't any b-sides left, the album was delayed by record label issues but was still going to come out, and if anyone pirated the streaming songs in mp3 form, he would personally [[Groin Attack]] them. Now that ''Ornament And Crime'' is a [[Missing Episode]], the song is a mild [[Funny Aneurysm Moment]].

 

== B-side compilations ==

* [[Radiohead]]'s ''My Iron Lung EP'' contains outtakes from the early stages of "The Bends" sessions. The only exception is Creep (Acoustic) which was a B side in the Pablo Honey era.

* [[Elton John]]'s ''Rare Masters'' collects his B-sides from 1968 through 1975 along with a few soundtrack recordings and other rarities.

* ''Alternative'' by [[Pet Shop Boys]] collects their B-sides from 1986 through 1994.

* ''Shits & Giggles'' by the Kleptones is a 2010 compilation of Kleptones b-sides from 2004 to the present day. The catch is that, as a mash-up artist, all of his albums have been released online for free and they've never had a proper "single". Also, [[Crowning Music of Awesome|it's damn good]].

* The Used's ''Shallow Believer''.

* [[Manic Street Preachers]] has ''Lipstick Traces'', featuring their B-sides from 1989 to 2002.

* [[Suede]]'s ''Sci-Fi Lullabies'' is reckoned by many critics to be the equal of their better studio albums.

* [[Oasis]] has ''The Masterplan'', which contains many classics and fan favorites like "Acquiesce" that were never featured on their studio albums.

* [[Green Day]]'s ''Shenanigans''.

* [[The Pixies]]' ''Complete 'B' Sides''.

* ''Miscellaneous T'' by [[They Might Be Giants]] collects b-sides from their first two albums.

* [[REM]]'s ''Dead Letter Office'', a collection of B-sides from their first four albums. Later editions would also include the out-of-print ''Chronic Town'' EP in it's entirety as bonus tracks. A deluxe version of ''In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003'' also included a disc of B-sides.

* Disk 4 of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' box set "Playback" consists of B-sides.

 

 

== Double A-sides ==

* Razzy Bailey also had two #1 singles with double A-sides: "I Keep Coming Back"/"True Life Country Music" and "Friends"/"Anywhere There's a Jukebox". "Midnight Hauler" also went to #1, with its b-side "Scratch My Back" reaching #8 soon afterward.

 

* [[Boney M]] originally released "Brown Girl in the Ring" as the B-side to "Rivers of Babylon". Once "Rivers of Babylon" had become a hit and was slipping down the charts, they asked radio stations to start playing "Brown Girl in the Ring" instead — and then released that as the A-side of a single, with the B-side — what else? — "Rivers of Babylon". Effectively, many people ended up buying the same record again but upside down.

* The song "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" (by "[[Fake Band|Steam]]") was written for the purpose of being the inferior B-side song for a number of A-side songs. It became a hit, while most of the A-sides were forgotten.

* "Move It" by Cliff Richard and the Drifters and "Shakin' All Over" by Johnny Kidd and the Pirates (the first British rock record and rock number 1, respectively).

* "How Soon Is Now?" by [[The Smiths]] was first released as a B-side and only later given a proper single release. This is commonly cited as the reason for its comparatively poor chart performance.

* Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" was originally the B-side to "Substitute."

* [[Oasis]]'s "Acquiesce" started out as the B-side to "Some Might Say". Such was its popularity with fans that it became a single itself a few years later (natch, it was as the lead-off single from ''The Masterplan'', a collection of B-sides).

* [[Red Hot Chili Peppers]]' Soul To Squeeze was the B Side to both "Give It Away" and "Under The Bridge" in 1991. In 1993 it appeared on the ''Coneheads'' soundtrack and was [[Breakaway Pop Hit|released as a single]]. Many people thought it was a new song, which was why the song was a hit.

** Some Beatles albums managed to have the A-side ''and'' the B-side end up as #1 hits.

* "Incense And Peppermints" by The Strawberry Alarm Clock. "Birdman Of Alkatrash" was its original A-side, but radio DJs preferred the flip-side instead.

* An abridged version of "You Can't Always Get What You Want" was the B-side of [[The Rolling Stones]]' "Honky Tonk Women". When the full version was released on ''Let It Bleed'', it became just as popular.

* "Dear God" is one of [[XTC]]'s most well-known songs, but it originally was the b-side to their single "Grass". Once it started unexpectedly getting radio play, it not only got it's own single, but it also was added to the album ''Skylarking'', replacing the album track "Mermaid Smiled". The most recent reissue of ''Skylarking'' includes both, though: "Mermaid Smiled" is in it's original place on the album, while "Dear God" is included as a bonus track.

* [[Elvis Costello]] & The Attractions' cover version of Brinzley Shwarz's "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding", which came to [[Covered Up|cover up]] the original. Not only was it originally a b-side, but it wasn't even a B-side to an Elvis Costello single - it first appeared as the B-side to "American Squirm", a single by Nick Lowe, who wrote "...Peace Love And Understanding".

 

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[[Category:Music Tropes]]

[[Category:B Side]]