More Surprising “B” Side Hits

In the early days of Rock and Roll, bands made a record, labels released the record to radio stations, and radio stations made that single a hit. That means when the person at the radio station gets the vinyl, the physical single has an ‘A’ side then a ‘B’ side. Radio stations generally only played the ‘A’ side, rarely paying any attention to the ‘B’ side. There are however many examples of ‘B’ sides being the smash. Some of these songs will surprise you…

“Hey Hey What Can I Do,” by Led Zeppelin was the ‘A’ side to their classic “The Immigrant Song.”

What ‘B’ side smash propelled Bruce Springsteen in the 80s, and was not the smash “Shut Out the Light?” The ‘B’ side of this song was perhaps Bruce’s biggest seller, “Born in the USA.”

Sure “You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ is a great FM hit, but did you know that the ‘B’ side was a soon to be smash hit called “Honky Tonk Woman?”

“Hey Jude” is on everyone’s list as best Beatle Songs ever. Little did the world know that the flip or ‘B’ side, thrown on by the label to get the single out the door, would be “Revolution” a song that had its own success?

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