Today, you are a member of… Swinging on the B Side
Side A or Side B, members? Before 1948, when RCA invented the 45 rpm 7 inch single as a way to one up Columbia Records’ 12 inch vinyl LP, 78 rpm shellac recordings were so fragile that jukeboxes didn’t flip them; rather if you had a double sided hit (like Benny Goodman did in July of 1935 with ‘King Porter Stomp’ and ‘Sometimes I’m Happy’) juke owners simply bought two copies, making Side As cash-money primary and Side Bs, gravy at best, throwaway at worst. This legacy mutated through the vinyl era, with Side As retaining their high profile while Side Bs developed an underground ‘non-radio friendly’ feel – instrumental, outtake or experimental compositions sought out by the curious. Of course today, the A Side / B Side distinction exists only in the realm of trope, since optical media have gone completely one-sided (or no-sided). But this week, why not make like the King of Swing and get back with your double-sided nature since stomping around o
