Music Question: what are the best otherwise-unavailable B-side of all time? That is, what are the best rock songs ever initially released only as the B-side of a single (i.e. not available on the full record). I have eight candidates in mind:
1. Strawberry Fields Forever, The Beatles. This is probably the winner. The Beatles had begun recording for what became Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, but Capitol records was interested in having a single, stat. So they took the first two tracks recorded for the album — Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever — and put them on what they called “a double A-side.” And then left them off of the new album. It’s amazing to imagine what Sgt. Pepper could have been if you put those two songs on it and, say, dumped Within You, Without You. There are many other Beatles candidates, since they often left singles off their albums. One that comes to mind is the up-tempo version of Revolution, which appeared originally as the B-side to the Hey Jude single.
2. Yellow Ledbedder, Pearl Jam. I can remember sitting at a friend’s house in like 1993 or 1994 when someone walked in with the Jeremy single on cassette import. This made no sense to me, because I think everyone in the room owned Ten. It was the first time I had consciously encountered a B-side that was not from the LP.
3. Raw Ramp, T. Rex. This is probably my favorite T. Rex song. It’s on the back of the Bang a Gong (Get it On) single off of Electric Warrior. If you buy Electric Warrior now, it’s included as a bonus track.
4. Pink Cadillac, Bruce Springsteen. This was the back of the Dancing in the Dark single in 1984. I don’t think there’s any question that it is the better song on the single. Evidently, it was cut from Born in the U.S.A. to make room for I’m Going Down. I would probably have chucked Working on the Highway.
5. Highway Chile, Jimi Hendrix Experience. The back of the The Wind Cries Mary single.
6. Hey Hey What Can I Do, Led Zeppelin. It really is shocking that this wasn’t put on Led Zeppelin III. It was just the back of the Immigrant Song single. I think it’s in my top 5 favorite Zepp songs.
7. Into the Groove, Madonna. I would guess that most people think this is on the soundtrack to Desperately Seeking Susan. Nope, it’s the back of the Angel single from Like A Virgin.
8. Sweetest Thing, U2. The back of the Where the Streets Have No Name single. Probably a good thing it was left off The Joshua Tree; it doesn’t really sound like the rest of that album.
Other candidates?
great post. I agree w/ your #8 but in the U2 category I might have gone with “Satellite of Love,” the B-side to “One” from 1992. Why? A) that was when Bono could sing, and it sounds damn good. B) Maybe it’s not the best cover anyone’s ever done, and maybe it’s not even the best cover U2 has done, but the great thing about covers is that they get you exposed to new music — and this song introduced me to Lou Reed, whose songs basically changed my life. 🙂
For those of us of a “certain age”, Rod Stewart’s Maggie May was originally a B-side. Also, from the disco era, Gloria Gaynor’s anthem, “I will survive” was packaged on the flip side…….
You’re definitely right, but I’m pretty sure both of those songs were on the full-length LP. Which disqualifies them for my list. Pbbbsttt!!!! But it is amazing to think that the artists/record companies in both of those instances didn’t see the potential of those songs.
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