Every single you bought had two sides, and you were supposed to care about only one of them. The A-side was the hit, the reason the record existed. The B-side was the afterthought on the back, the throwaway, the song the label did not expect anyone to flip over for. Except sometimes people flipped it over anyway, a DJ played the wrong side, and the afterthought became the thing everyone remembered.
A B-side is the song on the reverse of a vinyl single, historically treated as the secondary track behind the promoted A-side. In the 80s, several B-sides broke that rule entirely. "How Soon Is Now?" by The Smiths and "Erotic City" by Prince both started life as B-sides, then earned so much radio and club play that they became better known and more beloved than some of the A-sides they were buried behind.
What a B-side actually was
The format goes back to the seven-inch single. One song got the promotional push, the video, the radio campaign, and that was the A-side. The flip carried a B-side, often a lesser track, an instrumental, a live cut, or a song the artist liked but the label did not think could sell. For most singles, the B-side really was filler, and nobody minded.
But a B-side was still a fully released, playable song, and that gave it a chance. If it was good enough, and if the right DJ or club found it, nothing about being on the "wrong" side could stop it. A few 80s B-sides took that chance and ran.
How Soon Is Now: the B-side that outshone the single
The clearest case is The Smiths. In August 1984 they released "William, It Was Really Nothing" as a single, and tucked onto the 12-inch B-side was a hypnotic, tremolo-drenched track called "How Soon Is Now?" The band's producer, John Porter, had actually wanted to hold it back for a future A-side, sensing it was too strong to waste. It went out as a B-side anyway.
It did not stay buried. Night-time British radio latched onto it almost immediately, and by that autumn it was one of the most-requested songs on the request shows of DJs like John Peel, Janice Long, and Annie Nightingale. The demand was so strong that it was finally given its own UK single release in 1985, reaching number 24. Today "How Soon Is Now?" is one of the most famous Smiths songs of all, and far better known than the single it originally hid behind.
Erotic City: Prince's back-side smash
Prince did something similar in 1984. The B-side of his number one hit "Let's Go Crazy," from Purple Rain, was a raw, sleazy funk track called "Erotic City." As a B-side it was never a Hot 100 single in its own right, but it did not need to be. Black radio embraced it, and it became a massive club record, joining its own A-side at the top of Billboard's dance chart.
Decades later, "Erotic City" is a Prince staple that DJs still reach for, its synth hook copied and echoed across pop and hip-hop. It has completely outgrown its back-of-the-record origins.
The honest bottom line
Most B-sides deserved to be B-sides. For every "How Soon Is Now?" there were thousands of forgettable flip sides that nobody ever needed to hear twice, and romanticizing the format ignores how much of it really was filler. But the exceptions matter, because they prove the charts and the label were not the final word. A great song planted on the wrong side of a single could still climb out, carried by DJs and dancers who did not care which side the label called the hit. Sometimes the best song on the record was the one nobody was supposed to notice.
FAQ
What is a B-side? A B-side is the song on the reverse of a vinyl single, traditionally the secondary or lesser track behind the promoted A-side. It was still a fully released song, so a strong B-side could occasionally become popular on its own.
What is the most famous 80s B-side? "How Soon Is Now?" by The Smiths is one of the most famous. It began as a B-side on the 1984 single "William, It Was Really Nothing" and became more beloved than the A-side after radio demand forced its own single release in 1985.
Was "Erotic City" by Prince a B-side? Yes. "Erotic City" was the B-side of Prince's 1984 number one hit "Let's Go Crazy." Despite being a B-side, it earned major radio and club play and became a lasting Prince favorite.
Why did some B-sides become hits? Because a B-side was still a real, playable release. If DJs, radio request shows, or dance clubs championed a strong B-side, its popularity could outgrow the A-side regardless of how the label had positioned the single.
Did a B-side ever become a bigger song than its A-side? Yes. "How Soon Is Now?" is now far more famous than "William, It Was Really Nothing," and "Erotic City" outlasted many A-sides of its era, showing that B-sides sometimes eclipsed the songs they were meant to support.
Are older songs sometimes B-sides too? Yes. "Tainted Love," a huge 80s hit for Soft Cell, was originally a 1965 B-side by Gloria Jones that flopped before being revived, another case of a back-side track finding its real life later.
Part of our guide to 80s One-Hit Wonders. See also Tainted Love.
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