A's, B's, CD's & ......

Vinyl records or “singles“ marked the ‘50‘s.
Record labels randomly picked which song was pressed on the A-side and B-side then encouraged radio stations to play the “A’s” to boost charts and sales.

Not till 1968 did the total production of albums bypass 45’s and double-sided hits were almost gone by the ’70’s.

As album sales soared, the B-side became the non-album, non-radio-friendly, instrumental versions or simply inferior recordings.
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A’s and B’s vanished once cassette sales boomed in the '80's. (Later the CD's (compact disc) would steel the market.)

Cassette singles tried recording one "A" song on each side of the cassette, duplicating the 45’s A/B‘s. One flaw, the fast forward button and the song of your choice.
Enter CD’s and the A/B side took on new meaning; Its "B-side" was the "bonus" tracks or "coupling" tracks on a CD single.

Sometimes the B-side won out because of listeners, air time and DJ choice.

Gloria Gaynor‘s "I Will Survive was originally the B-side of "Substitute".

Doobie Brother‘s "Black Water" was originally the B-side of "Another Park, Another Sunday".
Rod Stewart’s "Maggie May “ was originally the B-side of "Reason To Believe"),
and
The Champs‘ "Tequila" was originally the B-side of "Train to Nowhere".

Even more rare when both side of the single Queen's "We Are the Champions" and "We Will Rock You" became hits. Released as a double A-side in 1977 and then "Fat Bottomed Girls/Bicycle Race" in 1978.

The Beatles one-two punch --- the double “A’s” in 1965 with two hits on one single, " Day Tripper"/We Can Work It Out,"
"Yellow Submarine" ,"Eleanor Rigby", "Strawberry Fields Forever" ,"Penny Lane", and "Come Together" , "Something" and
The Beatles' Rarities , a collection of B-Sides, non-album EP tracks and foreign-released recordings. The album was originally included in a 1978 boxed set of studio Beatles albums. Then released as a stand-alone album the following year.


Prince's three disc set The Hits/The B-Sides of which one of the three discs was devoted entirely to B-sides (released 1993)


Elvis Presley's 1956 "Don't Be Cruel" on the same single with "Hound Dog"; the side B, was done in retrospect because both sides became chart hits independently of one another.



Occasionally double-A-sided singles target different audiences. In the late ‘70’s, Dolly Parton released several double A-sided singles, the A-side to pop radio, and the B side to country, including "Two Doors Down"/"It's All Wrong but It's All Right" and "Baby I'm Burning"/"I Really Got the Feeling".


But if you are a true OGR-er, your collection includes these and more and maybe a few 8-Tracks and 78's.

Ciao for Now! "see ya on the radio."