A b-side was originally known as the song on the flipside of a
12" or 7" vinyl
single that backed the A-side, but wasn't the song promoted or received the radio
play. Today CD singles have b-sides along with remixes,
even though ironically CD singles only have one side that is used. With CD singles dying a slow death today, b-sides are becoming a rarer commodity. B-sides were originally used to make a
single worth the buyer's money and to get fans to buy the singles along with the album it came from.
B-sides are usually songs that do not appear on the actually album that the A-side appears on, ocassionally it does. The b-side song was usually determined not to fit in with the overall
sound of the album or it was considered not good enough to be on the album or just plain leftover tracks, so hence it's usage as a b-side. B-sides have often gotten a reputation of being filler and sub-par,
even though a good majority of the
time b-sides are better than a lot of the album tracks, and in some cases, better than the A-side.
