Time to Play B-Sides

Some of the songs on the b-side of Supremes' singles in the early 1960s, though I no longer remember which went with which a-side. "Whisper You Love Me, Boy" is one of them.

The greatest B-side of all time:

r1, it was the B-side of "Back in My Arms Again."

"I'm in Love Again," the b-side of...

..."Stop in the Name of Love"

"I'm So Glad," by the Supremes.

Siouxsie & The Banshees - Are You Still Dying Darling?

A perfect Datalounge hymn.

Murder by Numbers, by The Police. It was the backside of Every Breath You Take and not included on the vinyl album Synchronicity (made it onto CD I believe). Great, dark song that was creepy in a different way from Every Breath

Beth was the b-side of Kiss' Detroit Rock City

I like this one almost as much as "God Only Knows."

Sometimes Like Butterflies was the b-side to Love Is in Control, the 1982 record produced by Quincy Jones.

Butterflies was co-written by Donna Summer, but it didn’t even make the album, which is a mystery to me because it was better than almost all the other songs on it.

It got a little extra attention when it was covered by Dusty Springfield a few years later, but it’s an unfortunate recording with Dusty in terrible voice.

The original is gorgeous and Donna Summer is in peak form.

B-Side? Single? Why don't you answer your door? I'm sure the Fuller brush man is calling.

"Under the Ivy", the B-side of "Running up That Hill", is beautiful.

Thank you, r13. I had never heard that song before.

I used to flip my Dancing Queen 45 over and continue my solo dancing queeniness with That's Me.

I think my parents shut the door to the den not only to muffle the noise but to avert their eyes to the spectacle of gayness that their ten-year-old son had become.

The "B" side of Martha and the Vandellas Nowhere to Run: Motoring.

Speeding from the Go-Go's

Blondie's The Tide Is High was backed by the tragic tale of Suzy and Jeffrey.

I love that one, r17.

One of the first singles I bought was Pat Benatar's "Heartbreaker" and I loved the weird B side, "My Clone Sleeps Alone."

Almost ANY of the Pet Shop Boys b-sides, the majority of which would put some artists' major output to shame. Too many to name just one song.

OP, I see you quoting Blue Oyster Cult in your thread title.

17 Days- Prince. Can’t remember what it was a b side to.

That reminds me, R22 - "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?" is a great song. I was surprised to learn that it was first released as the B-side of "1999".

Took a while, r21.

I'm burning, I'm burning for you.

Right back at you, baby!

"Can You Get It When You Want It", the b-side of "The Night Chicago Died".

Side B of Season In The Sun was Put The Bone In, which I found funny as a 9 year old, and still do.

Also, "Erotic City", b-side of "👁 Would Die 4 U"

Wasn't Prince a homophobe?

The b-side to Stevie Nicks' Stand Back was the non album song Garbo. Love it.

"I can't understand all the things people say. Am I black or white? Am I straight or gay? Controversy."

"Have you ever been so lonely That you felt like you were the only one in this world? Have you ever wanted to play with someone so much You'd take any one boy or girl?"

~Lyrics by Prince

How about some G-sides instead, R12?

The follow up to Harry Chapin's song Taxi called "Sequel" had a b-side I always liked called "I Finally Found it Sandy".

Pet Shop Boys, "Shameless" (B-side to "Go West")

This became sort of legendary as it was never released on an album, only as the B-side to the "Immigrant Song" 45 RPM single. Only quite a few years later did they finally put it on a CD reissue of an album, and even then they put it on the wrong one. Sort of a forgotten stepchild which has remained popular with fans.

“Inspiration” was the B side to “Maybe Love Will Change Your Mind” by Stevie Nicks in 1994.

I love it, even if she didn’t write it.

‘Baby, I’m a Big Star Now’, Counting Crows.

This track was released only on the U.K.-exclusive single version of the minor hit ‘Hanginaround’. The song later made it to a promo compilation CD by Geffen, but again this only saw a U.K. release for some reason so U.S. listeners didn’t hear it for years.

As I understand it from megafans of the band, ‘Baby, I’m A Big Star Now’ has very rarely made it to setlists either, with only a handful of reported performances ever.

It’s better than the A-side, and arguably as good as or better than the other lead singles from the album THIS DESERT LIFE. It is unmistakeably Crows with its jaunty booming piano & rollicking guitar, but also has what I describe as a ‘Revival’ quality not found in many of their other releases.

If Counting Crows can afford to bury a song like this and never play or re-release it, they must have done well for themselves...

r36 I still can't get over the fact that they were still making 45s in 1994.

When did cassingles become a thing? Did that last more than a couple years?

Here's the piano version of 17 days by Prince. It's really good.

I thought the majors stopped issuing them in 1985, R38.

Vinyl's never really gone away-even when I dropped a pile on my first CD player (1984), I didn't think they were set to replace LPs. I still purchased mostly vinyl throughout the 80s. The earliest CD releases were all imported and expensive, and made from master tapes intended for analogue playback. It wasn't a great deal all around, honestly. So...vinyl.

PVC has outlived all the other media intended to replace it-vinyl's dead, long live vinyl.

LOL, picked that up right away, R21. But I don't recall the B-side of "Burning For You".

I thought they stopped making them before 1970, R41. But I found out different when I discovered the internet. I have no idea when they went away, really. "Hey, Jude" was my last 45.

The B-side of the Carpenters hit "Superstar" was "Bless The Beasts and the Children" , a Stanley Kramer movie title theme.

The B-side of Jason Donovan’s “Too Many Broken Hearts” was the - imho - even better “Wrap My Arms Around You,” which might’ve been the hit in the US that the A-side wasn’t. It didn’t get an album release until decades later.

The Greatest Love Of All (Whitney Houston)

Cold Hearted (Paula Abdul)

[quote] still purchased mostly vinyl throughout the 80s. The earliest CD releases were all imported and expensive, and made from master tapes intended for analogue playback. It wasn't a great deal all around, honestly. So...vinyl.

I took a CD paper insert booklet to a concert at a college in 1988 where a friend was on the hosting committee, knowing I might have a chance to meet the band (10,000 Maniacs) and get them to sign it.

When Natalie Merchant signed the insert for In My Tribe, which I had already owned on vinyl but got for free on CD from the record company as a college paper music writer, she said "Oh, you have the CD. The record company just sent me a CD player but I haven't used it," or something like that.

Of course now I wish I'd had her sign the LP sleeve!

Some of Bowie's B-sides surpass some other artists' A-sides

In the US, ABBA's "Angel Eyes" was definitely the flip side of the "Voulez-Vous" single. Some discographies now say it was a double A-side, and it may be true that in Europe both songs were radio and sales hits, but it was never the hit side over here. It's a gem.

R48, I am in the US and I remember Angel Eyes being played on the radio back then. Voulez Vous was definitely the more popular of the two though.

The Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues” was the b-side of “You Make Me Real”. I don’t recall the latter song.

The B side to Billy Joel's "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" is the very lovely "Through the Long Night".

Gees, “Into the Groove” owns this thread!

The b side to “Push It” (The Instumental) is SO much better than the A side. It removed that completely wrong annoying synth bass part. It sounds so much better than the single.

Kurt Cobain loved the b side to “Whip It” its called “Turn Around” and its great power pop punk. Nirvana played it live sometimes.

I think it's true that vinyl 45s continued longer than they otherwise would have because lots of jukeboxes could play nothing but 45 records.

CD jukeboxes were expensive and were phased in by vendors and venues, but lots of places that owned their players wanted some current hits to load into the machines well into the 1990s.

Some of those late vinyl singles with original picture sleeves (and, better yet, also jukebox slot inserts) is worth good money.

I Will Survive was the "B" side, till they flipped it.

I still have all my 45s from the seventies and early eighties!

I never play them, though. But I can’t seem to dispense with them either.

What was the original A-side of I Will Survive?

"Asleep" by The Smiths (the B-side of "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side")

"Some of My Lies Are True" by Huey Lewis and the News

I can't remember any. I stopped buying singles when The Beatles appeared.

Elton John almost always put non-album cuts on the B-side of his singles. The flip side of Philadelphia Freedom was his live duet with John Lennon of I Saw Her Standing There.

In 1973, Elton put out Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting. WFIL, the leading pop station in Philadelphia, had a disc jockey George Michael who didn't care for the song, so he played the flip side (Whenever You're Ready) constantly. So much so that everyone in Philly thought it was the A-side. When the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album came out later that year, I was mystified why Saturday Night was on it, but "A-side" Whenever You're Ready wasn't. Disc jockeys had a lot of clout back then.

Believe it or not "How Soon Is Now" by The Smiths, which originally was the b-side to "William It Was Really Nothing". At least half of the Smiths singles have b-sides that are contenders to have been a-sides.

Wow, that's my favourite Smiths song R62.