Published March 26 2015
Sometimes all of the knowledge music execs have that should give them the know-how to spot a hit record, doesn’t prevent them from missing a hit from time to time. That’s how B-side songs become unexpected hits. ‘Cos did you know that Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” originally was a B-side? In fact, according to rumours, Gloria herself called a radio DJ and told him to play “I Will Survive” instead of her Righteous Brothers’ cover “Substitute”. Within no time DJ’s preferred the empowering “I Will Survive” and turned that into the classic we know.
Another well known story of a B-side turned hit is Rod Stewart’s “Maggie May”. This was originally the B-side for “Reason To Believe”.
Queen’s “We Will Rock You” was also a B-side to “We Are The Champions”. Though, in this case, it’s a bit hard to state here that the B-side has become more popular than the A-side. Both songs did very well and are classics today.
But in some cases, it’s not the original version of a B-side song that finds it’s way to the charts. Tina Turner placed an unreleased track on the B-Side of “Typical Male”. The track, “Don’t Turn Around” in her version is not a track one would really notice, but Aswad’s reggae version, released later, made it to the charts with the greatest of ease.
Tina Turner’s “Don’t Turn Around” was a hit for Aswad:
Another B-side that turned into a massive hit was a song called “Love Hurts”. Originally tucked away as a B-side to an Everly Brothers single. When the Scottish rock band heard it, the lead singer actually hated the song and didn’t really wanted to do it. Good thing he did anyway, because their version of this song was their biggest hit.
