A-side and B-side and Related Topics

The Beatles

English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

Main entrance at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios, pictured 2007)

McCartney, Harrison, Swedish pop singer Lill-Babs and Lennon on the set of the Swedish television show Drop-In, 30 October 1963

The Beatles arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport, 7 February 1964

The Beatles performing on The Ed Sullivan Show, February 1964

McCartney, Harrison and Lennon performing on Dutch TV in 1964

The US trailer for Help! with (from the rear) Harrison, McCartney, Lennon and (largely obscured) Starr

The band at a press conference in Minnesota in August 1965, shortly after playing at Shea Stadium in New York

San Francisco's Candlestick Park (pictured in the early 1960s) was the venue for the Beatles' final concert before a paying audience.

Front cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, "the most famous cover of any music album, and one of the most imitated images in the world"

The Beatles, known as "the White Album" for its minimalist cover, conceived by pop artist Richard Hamilton "in direct contrast to Sgt. Pepper", while also suggesting a "clean slate"

American soul musician Billy Preston (pictured in 1971) was, for a short time, considered a fifth Beatle during the Get Back sessions.

Apple Corps building at 3 Savile Row, site of the Let It Be rooftop concert

Starr and McCartney introduced the video game The Beatles: Rock Band at the 2009 E3 convention.

A Höfner "violin" bass guitar and Gretsch Country Gentleman guitar, models played by McCartney and Harrison, respectively; the Vox AC30 amplifier behind them is the model the Beatles used during performances in the early 1960s.

Martin (second from right) in the studio with the Beatles in the mid-1960s

The Beatles in 1967; clockwise from left: Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr

The sessions initially yielded the non-album double A-side single "Strawberry Fields Forever"/"Penny Lane" in February 1967; the Sgt. Pepper LP followed with a rush-release in May.

The Rolling Stones

English rock band formed in London in 1962.

Blue plaque commemorating Jagger and Richards meeting on platform 2 at Dartford railway station in Dartford, Kent on 17 October 1961

The back room of what was the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond, London, where the Rolling Stones had their first residency starting in February 1963

The Rolling Stones at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Netherlands in 1964, from back to front: Wyman, Jones, Richards, Watts and Jagger.

The Rolling Stones members Keith Richards, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts at Turku Airport in Turku, Finland on 25 June 1965.

A trade ad for the 1965 Rolling Stones' North American tour

Mick Taylor is, in part, responsible for the Stones' new sound in the early 1970s. Replacing Brian Jones in 1969, Taylor's onstage debut with the band was in Hyde Park, London on 5 July 1969, two days after Jones' death.

Ronnie Wood (left) and Jagger (right) in Chicago, 1975

El Mocambo where some of the live album Love You Live was recorded in 1977

The Rolling Stones performing in December 1981

Richards and Wood during a Stones concert in Turin, Italy in 1982

Multiple platinum award for their 1994 album Voodoo Lounge, on display at the Museo del Rock in Madrid

Richards in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil during the Voodoo Lounge Tour, 1995

Jagger in Chile during the Voodoo Lounge Tour

The Rolling Stones in 2008 (from left to right: Watts, Wood, Richards, Jagger) at the Berlin Film Festival's world premiere of Martin Scorsese's documentary film Shine a Light

Stage set for the 50 & Counting tour at the Prudential Center, New Jersey on 13 December 2012

The Rolling Stones performing in Hyde Park, London on 13 July 2013. They were joined on stage by Mick Taylor.

The Stones in Cuba in March 2016. A spokesman for the band called it "the first open air concert in Cuba by a British rock band".

The band's plane in Amsterdam in October 2017 during their No Filter Tour

The Stones post show at the London Olympic Stadium in May 2018

A copy of "Micawber", Keith Richards' signature Telecaster model, in the Fender Guitar Factory Museum

A Vox Teardrop guitar as used by Brian Jones, on display at the Hard Rock Cafe in Sacramento, California

Overhead shot of the Stones concert at Washington–Grizzly Stadium in Montana, October 2006. The Stones have had the highest-grossing concert tour three times.

The Rolling Stones store in Carnaby Street, London, 2012. Merchandise has contributed to the band's record-breaking revenues.

Runway (pictured in 2012) first appeared in Stones' concerts in 1981

In 1967, they had the double-sided hit "Ruby Tuesday"/"Let's Spend the Night Together" and experimented with psychedelic rock on Their Satanic Majesties Request.

Harrison at the White House in December 1974

George Harrison

English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles.

Harrison's place of birth and first home – 12 Arnold Grove

Harrison at a Beatles press conference in Amsterdam in 1964

Harrison (left) and Ringo Starr (right) performing at the King's Hall in Belfast, 1964

Trade ad for Harrison's "Bangla Desh" single

Harrison leaving the Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam, and signing an album for a fan, February 1977

Harrison and Eric Clapton performing "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" at the 1987 Prince's Trust Concert in London

The entrance and gatehouse at Harrison's Friar Park estate. In December 1999, he and his wife Olivia were the victims of a knife attack by an intruder.

Ravi Shankar, who taught Harrison the sitar (taken in 1969)

Harrison's Harptone L-6 acoustic guitar, which he played at the Concert for Bangladesh

George Harrison sculpture in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Harrison, with Hare Krishna devotees Shyamasundar Das and Mukunda Goswami, in Vrindavan, India, in 1996

Harrison and Pattie Boyd lived in Kinfauns in Surrey from 1964 to 1970

Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr on arrival in New York City at the height of Beatlemania, February 1964

Close-up of Harrison from the Beatles statue at Pier Head, Liverpool

"George Harrison" Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles

"Something" became his first A-side when issued on a double A-side single with "Come Together"; the song was number one in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and West Germany, and the combined sides topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States.

Strawberry Fields Forever

Song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney.

Entrance gates at Strawberry Field, near Lennon's childhood home in Woolton, Liverpool

"Strawberry Fields Forever" was one of the most technically complex recordings the Beatles ever attempted. The song was recorded entirely on a Studer J37 four-track machine.

A 1960s-era Mellotron, similar to that used on the Beatles recording

The Beatles filmed their promo clip for the song around a large tree in Knole Park in Kent.

Lennon with a horseshoe moustache in 1967

McCartney, Harrison, Starr and Lennon pouring paint over the piano–harp construction. Journalist and broadcaster Joe Cushley describes the clip as "the mad music professors' outdoor seminar".

Beatles standing behind a tree and a broken piano–harp construction

Heavily graffiti-ed gatepost sign at Strawberry Field – with the word "Forever" added in acknowledgement of the Beatles song

It was released on 13 February 1967 as a double A-side single with "Penny Lane".

Let's Spend the Night Together

Song written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and originally released by the Rolling Stones as a double A-sided single together with "Ruby Tuesday" in January 1967.

Released in the United Kingdom as a single on 13 January 1967, "Let's Spend the Night Together" reached number three on the UK Singles Chart as a double A-side with "Ruby Tuesday".

Penny Lane

The barber shop (pictured in 2018) formerly owned by Harry Bioletti, who is referred to in the song as "a barber showing photographs / Of every head he's had the pleasure to know".

Street view of Stratford, east London, in 2008. Stratford's Angel Lane filled in for Penny Lane in the Beatles' promo clip.

The clip's closing scene, in which the Beatles drink tea at an outdoor table and are presented with their guitars

Streetscape showing the Penny Lane roundabout (centre left) and shops in 2018

"Penny Lane" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released in February 1967 as a double A-side single with "Strawberry Fields Forever".

Vanilla Ice

American rapper, actor, and television host.

Vanilla Ice performing at InfoCision Stadium in Akron, Ohio, August 2018

MC Hammer performing with Vanilla Ice in July 2009

"Play That Funky Music" was released as the album's first single, with "Ice Ice Baby" appearing as the B-side.

Ice Ice Baby

Hip hop song by American rapper Vanilla Ice K. Kennedy and DJ Earthquake.

Vanilla Ice based the song's lyrics upon the South Florida area in which he lived.

"Ice Ice Baby" was first released as the B-side to Vanilla Ice's cover of "Play That Funky Music", but the single was not initially successful.

Acquiesce

Song by the English rock band Oasis, written by Noel Gallagher.

The song originally appeared as a B-side to Oasis' first UK number-one single, "Some Might Say", on 24 April 1995.

Something (Beatles song)

Song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1969 album Abbey Road.

Harrison identified Ray Charles as one of his sources of inspiration for the song.

Harrison and Boyd in the "Something" film clip

James Brown's recording was Harrison's favourite cover version of "Something".

Two weeks after the album's release, the song was issued on a double A-side single, coupled with "Come Together", making it the first Harrison composition to become a Beatles A-side.