A quickfire A-Z of 500+ flips, B-Side shows the format’s covert role in revolutionising pop. By Andy Cowan. Cover and spot illustrations by Kid Acne.
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Pop music would be a different beast without the B-Side. Music history is riven with songs deemed throwaway that revolted against their lowly status and refused to be denied. Be it rock’n’roll’s national anthem (‘Rock Around The Clock’), disco’s enduring game-changer (‘I Feel Love’) or hip-hop’s most notorious dis track (‘Hit ’Em Up’), all three started life as the so-called ‘lesser’ track on releases primed for maximum chart impact. But the B-side has done much more than make stars of Bill Haley, Donna Summer and 2Pac.
Whether it was the Beatles, the Kinks and the Yardbirds in the 60s, Elton John, the Who and Queen in the 70s, Depeche Mode, the Cure and Prince in the 80s, or Oasis, Pulp and Radiohead in the 90s, the B-side allowed many of the world’s greatest artists freedom to experiment with no commercial constraints in an age where physical product ruled the roost.
A quickfire A-Z of 500+ flips, B-SIDE is the first serious examination of the format’s covert role in pushing the musical envelope. Best read with one eye on YouTube and one ear on a streaming service, its revelations will prick up the ears of music fans of all persuasions.
Introduction
Inclusion Criteria
‘1963’ to ‘£. s. d.’
‘A Bitch Iz A Bitch’ to ‘Anytime, Anyplace’
B-Sides About B-Sides
‘Baby I’ve Got It’ to ‘Butterfly Collector’
‘Can-I-Bust’ to ‘Cut Across Shorty’
Dub B Good To Me
‘Daddy Cool’ to ‘DWYCK’
‘Early 1970’ to ‘Everything’s Alright When You’re Down’
‘Fantastic Life’ to ‘Funnel Of Love’
Going Backwards
‘Gambling Barroom Blues’ to ‘Grown Up Girls’
‘H.A.A. (Here’s Another Asshole)’ to ‘Housepower’
I Wanna B Like You
‘I Am A Cliché’ to ‘It’ll Be Me’
‘Jack The Ripper’ to ‘Just Passing’
Karaoke And B-Yond
‘Keep Your Lamp Trimmed And Burning’ to ‘King Tubby Meets The Rockers Uptown’
‘La Bamba’ to ‘Lyrical Rundown’
Mind Your Language
‘Made Of Glass’ to ‘My Standard Break From Life’
‘Never Gonna Let You Go’ to ‘Nowhere At All’
‘Oh I Apologize’ to ‘Over The Rainbow’
Party Time
‘The P Is Free’ to ‘Put The Bone In’
‘The Rabbit Got The Gun’ to ‘Running Thin’
‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’ to ‘Sweet Intuition’
To B Or Not To B
‘TV Baby’ to ‘Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps Please’
‘Unchained Melody’ to ‘Urge For Going’
‘Vacuum Cleaner’ to ‘Vigilante Man’
‘The Wagoner’s Lad (Loving Nancy)’ to ‘Wrath Of Kane’
You Can’t B Serious!
‘Yellow Ledbetter’ to ‘Your Love Is Wonderful’
‘Zing Zing – Zoom Zoom’
Acknowledgements
Index
Title: B-SIDE
Subtitle: A Flipsided History of Pop
Author: Andy Cowan
ISBN: 978-1-915316-13-4
Street Date: July 6, 2023
Category: Music
Retail Price: UK £17.99 / US $25.95
Binding: Paperback
Size: 216mm x 140mm
Pages: 400
Illos: 100+ record labels plus line art by Kid Acne
As the trade paperback, except the special hardback edition is on higher quality paper and features colour throughout.
This special NO-ISBN hardback is exclusive to this website. Because it carries No ISBN number, this edition of the book is off the grid in as much as it doesn’t appear on any database, in any library, cannot be ordered through mainstream bookshops or online retailers.
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