Ten B-Sides That Became As Famous As, Or More Famous Than, the A-Side Songs, According to Radio X

What happens when a single's "B-side" ends up nearly overshadowing the track it was meant to accompany? That's the question posed by the magazine Radio X, which has published a curious list of ten famous cases where the song initially relegated to the back of the record achieved even greater popularity than the A-side.

Here, then, are the 10 B Sides chosen by Radio X (full feature here).

1. The Smiths – How Soon Is Now?

Geoff Travis of Rough Trade felt it wasn't very representative of the Smiths' sound and released it as the B-side of William, It Was Really Nothing in August 1984; after being included on the compilation "Hatful Of Hollow", it was finally issued as a single in January 1985.

2. Queen – We Will Rock You

Released as the B-side of the equally triumphant “We Are The Champions,” it became one of Queen's most celebrated anthems; both songs were included on 1977's “News Of The World”.

3. The Stone Roses – Fool's Gold

Technically it was a double A-side, but the cover of the original 1989 release prominently featured “What The World Is Waiting For”: it was “Fool's Gold”, however, that went down in history.

4. The Beatles – Revolution

It came out on the flip side of “Hey Jude”, the first single Beatles released through their own Apple label: Lennon reportedly wanted to push it as the controversial A-side, but McCartney wasn't so convinced (calling it more famous than “Hey Jude” leaves us rather baffled, in any case, ed.).

5. Oasis – Half The World Away

Originally the B-side of “Whatever” in December 1994, it gained lasting popularity after being used as the theme tune for the British sitcom “The Royle Family”.

6. The Rolling Stones – You Can't Always Get What You Want

Now famous as the closing track of “Let It Bleed” in December 1969, it had already appeared five months earlier as the B-side of “Honky Tonk Women”.

7. Kraftwerk – The Model

In 1981, the track taken from the previous LP “The Man Machine” backed “Computer Love” on the B-side, but it won over the new romantic club scene to the point of flipping the single's hierarchy and reaching number one on the British charts.

8. Green Day – Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)

Written in 1994 and originally released on the flip side of the German edition of Brain Stew, it was re-recorded for “Nimrod” and by October 1997 had become one of Green Day's most beloved songs.

9. Underworld – Born Slippy.NUXX

The now best-known version of “Born Slippy” was found on the B-side of the original 1995 single; its inclusion on the “Trainspotting” soundtrack turned it into an A-side hit the following year.

10. The Cure – 10.15 Saturday Night

B-side of the debut single “Killing An Arab”, this portrait of suburban alienation ended up more celebrated than the lead track, especially once the latter became controversial and fell out of favor with the public.

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