B-Side: A Flipsided History of Pop

by Andy Cowan, Kid Acne (Illustrator)

Overview

Pop music would be a different beast without the B-Side. Music history is riven with songs deemed throwaway that revolted against their lowly status and refused to be denied. Be it rock'n'roll’s national anthem (‘Rock Around The Clock’), disco’s enduring game-changer (‘I Feel Love’) or hip-hop’s most notorious dis track (‘Hit ’Em Up’), all three started life as the so-called ‘lesser’ track on releases primed for maximum chart impact. But the B-side has done much more than make stars of Bill Haley, Donna Summer and 2Pac.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781915316141
Publisher:	Headpress
Publication date:	06/06/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
File size:	16 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Andy Cowan graduated from cut-and-pasting photocopied fanzines Only A Rumour and White Lie in his teens to theeditor/publisher of Hip-Hop Connection – the world’s first rap monthly, where his interviews included Public Enemy, Ice Cube and 50 Cent. He has contributed to podcasts, documentaries, museum exhibits and worked extensively as a music metadata specialist. Andy has freelanced for The Independent, Flame Tree, Music Week and Q, among others, and is MOJO magazine’s jazz columnist. He has been a B-side obsessive since he first started buying singles in 1978.
Kid Acne is a UK-based artist, illustrator, print-maker and emcee.

Editorial Reviews

"Andy has brought his own style to this original concept. It reads beautifully – his slick and finger-snapping style is perfect for the wide subject covered. He writes with perceptive detail, and is never boring, his flowing text delicately laced with humorous opinion. The subject of the B-side is long overdue, and in the current age of streaming his incredibly diverse selection is made for the keen Spotify user. An important and outstanding work." – Colin Larkin, founder and editor-in-chief, the Encyclopedia of Popular Music

"My love affair with the B-side stretches back to first getting the music bug as a kid. Listening to the flip immediately after the A was a given and I subsequently discovered a whole raft of audio nuggets. Andy’s book is a wonderful trawl through its history and a welcome opportunity to discover many I missed first time around in the topsy-turvy rush of beatdom." – Gary Crowley, broadcaster and DJ

"Like the very phenomenon it celebrates, Andy Cowan’s celebration of the B-side is truly fascinating, amounting to no less than a parallel history of pop itself." – Pete Paphides, author of Broken Greek

From the Publisher