The death of b-sides

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Vern, May 17, 2015.

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  1. Vern

    Vern Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    London
    With physical single releases being no more and all for a while now, I just released that there aren't really opportunity anymore for bands to release b-sides bar the odd vinyl release.

    This is actually a bit of a sad state of affairs! It's always satisfying getting extra recordings by those bands you love.
     
  2. Schoolmaster Bones

    Schoolmaster Bones Poe's Lawyer

    Location:
    ‎The Midwest
    Last edited by a moderator: May 17, 2015
  3. Vern

    Vern Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    London
    Yes, but it's not nearly as commonplace anymore, for example getting up to 4-5 new songs with a single.
     
  4. Gaslight

    Gaslight ⎧⚍⎫⚑

    Location:
    Northeast USA
    Not really following - I can cite several digital download EP's that come to mind, with B-sides / extra tracks / whatever we call them now. It still happens.

    And we still see vinyl EP releases as well, again not in great numbers but it still occurs. CD singles are a different matter....I haven't seen one of those in a while.
     
  5. jeatleboe

    jeatleboe Forum Resident

    Location:
    NY
    "B Sides" are only truly "B Sides" on vinyl records.
     
  6. zen

    zen Senior Member

    The new version of "b-sides" would be those bonus tracks found on deluxe editions.
     
    OobuJoobu, FJFP, ARK and 10 others like this.
  7. Schoolmaster Bones

    Schoolmaster Bones Poe's Lawyer

    Location:
    ‎The Midwest
    Yes. This seems to be the standard practice for artists who aren't very big on physical media.
     
    FJFP and onionmaster like this.
  8. Summer of Malcontent

    Summer of Malcontent Forum Resident

    The very first item listed on your link kind of proves the OP's point:
    "Limited edition of 100 copies produced by 'The Vinyl Factory' for the 2014 annual Record Store Day Secret 7" Series.

    Each sleeve is different and unique containing different artwork from various artists from around the world.

    "We take 7 tracks from 7 of the best-known musicians around and press each one 100 times to 7" vinyl. We then invite creatives from around the world to interpret the tracks in their own style, resulting in a one-of-a-kind sleeve for every 7”"

    There's one available to buy, for 150 pounds, and guess what? It's a one-sided re-release of a song from 1972. It doesn't even have a b-side!

    The days of artists recording and releasing entire parallel albums in the form of b-sides does seem to be well behind us. For example, the three singles released from Blur's Modern Life Is Rubbish in 1993 came with a couple of dozen non-album tracks across all the formats. The released outtakes from their new album amount to one, and it's a limited edition A-side. There's been a quiet sea change in this area in the past decade. As late as 1998, Bjork released 'Alarm Call' commerically in 9 different formats (6 x 12", 3 x CD). Total number of singles released from her latest album? Nil. And Bjork is an artist who's been much more productive than most on the singles front in the past decade, even if a lot of those releases are limited edition or otherwise hard to get.
     
  9. Mr Bass

    Mr Bass Chevelle Ma Belle

    Location:
    Mid Atlantic
    I understand what the OP is talking about but digital has really made a sea change in music fans' perceptions and expectations. As posters above mentioned, extra tracks, outtakes, concert versions etc have overwhelmed the simple homespun pleasure of dear old Granpa's B sides. :magoo:
     
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  10. Raunchnroll

    Raunchnroll Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    The trend of adding extra additional material to a 'single' is consistent with the general cultural thrust desiring more bang for the buck.
     
  11. ranasakawa

    ranasakawa Forum Resident

    The last great 'B Side' I remember was Neil Young - Interstate
    When you could still buy CD singles regularly
     
  12. wolfram

    wolfram Slave to the rhythm

    Location:
    Berlin, Germany
    I can't say I miss them too much. As an album buyer, I was always a little bothered by having to buy a single of a song I already own, just to get the b-side. I much prefer the new system of additional tracks that you can download seperately.
     
  13. hominy

    hominy Digital Drifter

    Location:
    Seattle-ish
    I miss the 90s-early 2000s era of singles. You could collect an entire album's worth of songs with the B-sides from another. Sometimes more tracks than were even on the album proper and at times better than the album itself!
     
  14. mooseman

    mooseman Forum Resident

    I always loved the b-sides going back in the 60's as a kid. I remember when I bought the Stones Jumping Jack Flash 45, the b side was Child Of The Moon.
    I loved collecting the b-sides on those new wave & punk records in the late 70's and 80's, they were great to have.
    Being a big Smiths fan, I looked forward to the eps with non album b sides. With downloads nowadays, it just doesn't feel like a b-side.
     
  15. Boris number 9

    Boris number 9 Forum Resident

    It's a dirty shame, and it should be against the law it should.
     
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  16. GreatKingRat

    GreatKingRat Well-Known Member

    Location:
    England
    Seeing as commercial singles were basically fazed out in the US by the 1990's, I don't think those in the US would miss them that much by this point. 7" singles have made a bit of a comeback there, but not really....? Often just album tracks, and at most

    In the UK, through the 90's into the mid 00's singles were great, especially when formatting became a thing to basically be abused to help sell more copies to get better chart positions. Back then, album promotional campaigns were much longer and bands would often be forced into the studio to record new material for b-sides months/year after the original album sessions - so you would see bands experiment a bit more, release less commercial sounding material and you'd see the evolution of a band between albums. You really don't get that anymore.
     
    OobuJoobu, Mark Wilson and Vern like this.
  17. scobb

    scobb Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sydney, Australia
    Yeh, I miss them (to a far lesser extent I also miss the "extended mix"). It gave artists the opportunity to release songs that didn't fit the album or just maybe weren't "polished enough".
     
    BigManRestless likes this.
  18. bcaulf

    bcaulf Forum Resident

    You're right about that. It's practically over whelming. Just about every single from Smashing Pumpkins Mellon Collie could have been albums in and of themselves (they all had seven or 8 b-sides. One of them is over 20 minutes long.)
     
    mooseman likes this.
  19. steviej

    steviej Forum Resident

    Location:
    Calgary, AB
    I may have an idealized version of collecting singles/b-sides in the 7" era, which seemed like a great treat for fans but...

    I grew up in the late 90s/early 2000s, at a time when even CD singles were tough to find in stores. It seemed mind boggling to me to have to pay $5-10 for five remixes of the same song, which was the predominant style of b-side at the time. Most bands were releasing 4-5 singles off every album, and each CD single for those singles usually had several versions released, with the two or three actual new-song-B-sides spread out among the different versions, and each one padded out with useless remixes.

    No wonder the physical single died out.
     
  20. Izozeles

    Izozeles Pushing my limits

    Uk 80's were the absolute, undisputed b side golden era. Smiths, Cure, Banshees and the like took the flip side to an still unmatched level
     
  21. GodBlessTinyTim

    GodBlessTinyTim Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    I say good riddane. The easier it is to collect an artist's complete works, the better.
     
    ARK likes this.
  22. carrolls

    carrolls Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dublin
    What the kids don't know can't hurt them. B Sides were great. They gave a different side of the band that was sometimes more "street" and because it wasn't getting radio play was sometimes a little more daring and less mainstream.
    More often it was just filler.
    No big deal to me because the bands currently releasing "singles" I don't get and will never get. If I was 16 I probably would, but I am not.
    Technology has moved on. The "B" side was a welcome quirk of the vinyl manufacturing process. Give the kids added value for their purchase. "Purchase" is the key word here. What percentage of kids pay for a single release from their favourite band these days?
    Does one kid download the single and let everyone else copy it onto their phone? I would have to say I believe so. An extra couple of bucks in their back pocket to buy a McDonalds or a Coke.
     
  23. scobb

    scobb Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sydney, Australia
    I think you're missing the point. Many of these songs would now be left on the cutting room floor and would never have been released at all so will never be part of a "complete" works.
     
    noyoucmon and mooseman like this.
  24. ascot

    ascot Senior Member

    Location:
    Wisconsin
  25. Schoolmaster Bones

    Schoolmaster Bones Poe's Lawyer

    Location:
    ‎The Midwest
    Earlier this year, I mastered a 45 for a local independent band - which involved two non-LP tracks on the B-side.

    So... you could say I'm contributing to the cause. You're welcome.
     
    troggy, gregorya and Classicolin like this.
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