What does b-side mean?
 

Hey, I'm wondering what does b-side mean
I've often heard "I prefer b-side of some band" etc.

It means "next to".

When singles were released on vinyl, the single was on the A side and some other song would be on the B side. B sides tended to be things like quirky tracks that didn't make it onto the album or remixes or whatnot. So when people talk about liking B sides, they usually mean they like the artist's less well known material.

Thanks for making me feel old.

My first record I owned (in 1966, I was 8)

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(not my initials on the jacket or record)

Means flip the ****in record when the a sides done.

The song on the A-side was normally considered the more saleable song by somebody - the company, the artist, or both. Often the idea would have been to release the single as a teaser; people would buy the single, decide they liked it and consider buying the album. Hence, there was probably resistance to putting the best of the remaining songs on the B-side, if they wanted to leave something in reserve to get people to buy the album. Nilsson made fun of this custom by putting the song "Buy My Album" on the B-side of one of his single releases - I am not sure which.

Occasionally though the B-side would be something more interesting and experimental than the A-side, especially if the artist was involved in the choice of song. There would have been less pressure from the execs on what was acceptable, since the A-side was supposed to be the selling mechanism.

There are a few examples of the B-side becoming the hit, to the surprise of the musician and the label. When Bob Lind was about to release his first single, there were four songs in the can, and there was discussion about what should be the single. Lind said "I don't care which one you release as long as it's not Elusive Butterfly. That's the worst one." The other guys agreed, and chose "Cheryl's Goin' Home" for the A-side; however, in the hope of later releasing a follow-up single, they put "Butterfly" on the B-side so the other two songs would both be available at a later date.

The story goes that the single enjoyed moderate success until a DJ, apparently uninentionally, played the B-side on radio instead of the A-side. The station was deluged with inquiries asking what was that fantastic song, and in a short time "Elusive Butterfly" was a huge world-wide hit, No. 1 in several places. His one and only hit.

This is a Double A-side, though, right? Like those were both huge singles so I can't see Day Tripper being classed as a B-side.

Sometimes singles were classified as double-sided. Very often, they were released as an A-side and a B-side, but then reclassified as a double-sider after the event, when it became clear that both songs were popular and were getting airplay. The Beatles had a number of these: Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby, Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever, Hello Goodbye/I Am the Walrus, Ob La Di, Ob La Da/While my Guitar Gently Weeps, and others.

Means flip the record or you aint hearing ****.

It's liking the road less traveled — music-wise.

The first 45 I bought was for the song on the b-side, Ruby Tuesday.
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