ARE YOU BI LIKE VINYL & CASSETTES? LEARN ALL ABOUT THE B SIDE

 But first... a hi-fi joke:- 

The world’s leading expert on European wasps walks into a record shop and asks the assistant “Do you have ‘European Vespidae Acoustics Volume 2? I believe it was released this week.”

“Certainly,” replies the assistant. “Would you like to listen before you buy it?”
“That would be wonderful,” says the expert, and puts on a pair of headphones.

He listens for a few moments and says to the assistant, “I’m terribly sorry, but I am the world’s leading expert on European wasps and this is not accurate at all. I don’t recognise any of those sounds. Are you sure this is the correct recording?”
The assistant checks the turntable, and replies that it is indeed European Vespidae Acoustics Volume 2. The assistant apologises and lifts the needle onto the next track.

Again the expert listens for a few moments and then says to the assistant, “No, this just can’t be right! I’ve been an expert in this field for 43 years and I still don’t recognise any of these sounds.”  The assistant apologises again and lifts the stylus on the Garrard SP25 Mk3, to the next track.

The expert throws off the headphones as soon as it starts playing and is fuming with rage.  “This is outrageous false advertising! I am the world’s leading expert on European wasps and no European wasp has ever made a sound like the ones on this record!”

The manager of the shop overhears the commotion and walks over.  “What seems to be the problem, sir?”  “This is an outrage! I am the world’s leading expert on European wasps. Nobody knows more about them than I do. There is no way in hell that the sounds on that record were made by European wasps!”

The manager glances down and notices the problem instantly.  “I’m terribly sorry, sir. It appears we’ve been playing you the bee side.”

Tish- BOOM!

Hope you all liked the funny, but what is the B (or Bee) side?  Well, the A-side and B-side are the two sides of both phonograph records and cassettes with these actual terms being printed on the labels of bi-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company intends to be the initial focus of promotional efforts and radio airplay.  The B-side (or "flip-side") is a secondary recording that typically receives less attention, although some B-sides have been as successful as, or more so than their associated A-sides.

Use of this language has largely declined in the 21st century as the music industry has transitioned away from analog recordings towards digital downloads and streaming so poor snowflakes may well be unaware of this arcane (older than 5 years)  concept. 

Interestingly, in South Korea, term B-side carries a more expansive definition in the K-Pop industry referring to all tracks on an album that are not marketed as title tracks, ah kre, boshintang!