B-side

In recorded music, the terms A-side and B-side refer to the two sides of 7 inch vinyl records on which singles have been released since the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song (the one that the record producer hopes will receive radio airplay and become a "hit"), while the B-side, or "flipside," is secondary.

Significance

B-side songs are released on the same record as a single to provide extra "value for money". There are several types of material commonly released in this way:

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• a different (sometimes instrumental) version of the A-side
• another song from the same album, which the record company does not want to release on its own
• a song not considered good enough for the album
• an acapella (voice only) version of the same song
• a song that was stylistically unsuitable for the album
• a remix
• an acoustic version of the same song

Since both sides of a single received equal royalties some composers deliberately arranged for their songs to be used as the B-sides of singles by popular artists, thereby making a fortune literally off the back of the A-side. This became known as the "flipside racket".

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On a few occasions, the B-side became the more popular song. This was usually because a DJ preferred the B-side to its A-side and played it instead. Then the B-side would in a sense become the A-side, by virtue of being the preferred side. Examples:

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• Oasis - Some Might Say/Acqueisce
• Gary Glitter - Rock and Roll Part 1/Rock and Roll Part 2
• Salt-N-Pepa - Tramp/Push It
• Gene Vincent - Woman Love/Be-Bop-A-Lula
• Cliff Richard - Schoolboy Crush/Move It
• Kylie Minogue - Giving You Up / Made Of Glass (became a massive hit in Australia)
• Kraftwerk - Computer Love/The Model
• Garbage - Subhuman / #1 Crush (became a Modern Rock #1 when remixed later)
• Rod Stewart - Reason To Believe/Maggie May
• The Living End - Second Solution/ Prisoner of Society
• XTC - Grass/Dear God
• Feeder - Seven Days In The Sun/Just A Day

Even more rarely, both sides of the single would become hits. This feat was done repeatedly by some artists. Examples:

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• Elvis Presley - Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog
• The Beatles - Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever
• Fats Domino - I Wanna Walk You Home/Walking To New Orleans
• Creedence Clearwater Revival - Down On The Corner/Fortunate Son
• Richie Valens - Donna/La Bamba
• Queen - We Are The Champions/We Will Rock You
• Feeder - Seven Days In The Sun/Just A Day

The flip side of a single does not necessarily contain B-side material. A single containing two songs of normal quality is referred to as a "double A-side". In reference to this convention, Marvin the Paranoid Android released a "double B-side" single in 1981. In rare occasions there are even triple A-side singles, such as "What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted"/"You'll Never Walk Alone"/"Saturday Night At The Movies", the 1996 triple A-side #1 UK single by Robson and Jerome.

Related Topics:
Flip side - Double A-side - Marvin the Paranoid Android - 1981 - 1996 - Robson and Jerome

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On some reissued singles the A- and B-sides are by completely different artists, or two songs from different albums that would not normally have been released together. These were sometimes made for jukeboxes, as one record with two popular songs on it would make more money.

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