Music Monday: When the B-Side > A-Side

humor, lessons learned, music 1 Minute

The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company intends to be the initial focus of promotional efforts and radio airplay and hopefully become a hit record. The B-side (or “flip-side”) is a secondary recording that typically receives less attention, although some B-sides have been as successful as, or more so than, their A-sides. (Wikipedia).

This post will share a few of those instances of when the B-side turned out to be more popular than the A-side.

  • “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor (originally the B-side of “Substitute”)
  • “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice (originally the B-side of “Play That Funky Music”). I’ve only heard of the A-side
  • “I’ll Be Around” by the Spinners (originally the B-side of “How Could I Let You Get Away”)
  • “Maggie May” by Rod Stewart (originally the B-side of “Reason to Believe”) – two great songs
  • “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley & His Comets (originally the B-side of “Thirteen Women (And Only One Man in Town))”
  • “We Will Rock You” by Queen (originally the B-side of “We Are The Champions”) – two great songs
  • “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)” by Green Day (originally the B-side to “Brain Stew/Jaded”)

I thought I’d share one of the pairings where I never heard of the A-side, to see if it is obvious that someone messed up when they chose the A-side over the B-side.

Here’s the wonderful Time of Your Life from Green Day, which to me is one of their most well-known songs.

And here is the song that was on the A-side, one I’ve never heard of. After listening to it, I thought it wasn’t too bad, but it wasn’t as good as the B-side…

I guess someone at the record company just didn’t have the ear that I have for what makes a hit record…

sources:

 

Published by Jim Borden

A 60-something guy trying to figure out the world, and his place in it. Happily married for 40-plus years, three wonderful sons. Accounting teacher, fitness enthusiast, blogger, reader.

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48 thoughts on “Music Monday: When the B-Side > A-Side”

  1. It’s a guessing game as to what people will like. As a one-time music director of a radio station, I had to guess which tunes would become hits, so we could get a jump on other stations, by playing them early. Sometimes I got it right, other times not so much.

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  2. Quite an interesting post, Jim. I remember owning a few 45s where the B side was the better song. Sometimes we were lucky to get a record where both songs were great. Slightly off-topic, but I’ve always had a fascination with one-hit wonders. It would almost seem more discouraging to have one hit and never reproduce it than never have one song that struck gold.

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    1. yes it was nice to get two hits for the price of one. My research showed a few records like that:

      Hey Jude and Revolution by the Beatles
      You Can’t Always Get What You Want and Honky Tonk Women by the Rolling Stones
      Proud Mary and Born on the Bayou by CCR
      Don’t Be Cruel and Hound Dog by Elvis

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  6. Nice post. I always thought Jeff Beck’s “Hi Ho Silver Lining” was a nasty drunken singalong. But if you flip it there’s a thunderous instrumental called “Beck’s Bolero” featuring Keith Moon and half of future Led Zep.

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  7. I can’t believe someone at the record company didn’t think Good Riddance should be the A-side: it seems so obvious now. All I can suggest is that it is less a typical Green Day song than the one they went with. There are some impressive mistakes in that list, aren’t there!

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      1. It is, and the video is fantastic. My favourite album of theirs is American Idiot, in particular Boulevard of Broken Dreams, which has another great video to go with it.

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  8. Interesting side note -When a 45 sells…back in the day….no matter which was the A side, the writers and producers on both sides got an equal royalty. This is why, especially when new artists released 45’s, the B side was often “written” by the manager – great way to earn income!

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  10. I think Brain Stew should have gone down the drain …the B side was definitely the better track as has been the case a few times as you highlighted but who can second guess Joe Public and get it right all the time.

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  13. Interesting. I remember liking some songs from the B sides more than the A side, too. Sometimes I wondered what made them put the songs in a specific order. Usually, the ones at the top were the best, but sometimes they saved the best for last. I saw patterns where I wanted to see them while in reality – like you – my musical likings just might differ from those of focus groups’ participants.

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  15. Our high school marching band plays brain stew all the time. When my daughter was in band, every time I picked her up at the end of practice, all the brass would be playing it. Eventually, the director let it be an official band song and they played it in the stands during breaks in play. I actually prefer it to Time of your Life, but really, I’m happy whenever Green Day comes on.

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