The B-side wins again

Ice Ice Baby was the B-side to the single release of Vanilla Ice’s cover of Play that Funky Music. It was also the first hip-hop single to top the Billboard Hot 100. Not long later it got turned over for an A-side re-release.

Speaking of re-releases, some tracks drop as a B-side and disappear until they get re-released years later. Take Green Day’s Good Riddance – this one gets played at graduations, weddings, retirement parties, funerals, you name it. It’s the band’s most commercially successful song. It’s been their live show encore since 1998. But it started as a B-side on the European release of Brainstew. It didn’t even make it to the record they were promoting! But by the end of the next year it was climbing the charts as its own A-side single.

Sometimes a B-side just needs a little push to get the recognition it deserves. Sometimes that push doesn’t come for more than 60 years. Back in 1958, Ritchie Valens released his single Donna. It ended up being his highest-charting song in his lifetime, peaking at number 2. Despite its chart performance, it’s mostly been forgotten today. The B-side, on the other hand, is considered one of the greatest songs of all time. It helped shape the next generation of rock and roll. Edmontonians have been asking for it to be played since 2021.