I’ve extolled the virtues of B-sides before, and the reasons why are pretty simple: While the A-side of any single is the big seller, the accompanying track/s will, by nature, be something either a little bit different (to show a different look) or there to please the fans, or even an early version of a song yet to come.
BiSH‘s first release was “Hoshi ga Matataku Yoru ni,” but their first actual by-the-gods single was “OTNK,” aka the song with the video with the food orgy in the basement and fighting the giant mecha crab thing on the beach set to lyrics that are literally about penis. You know, a BiSH song.
“OTNK” did pretty well, and it was a launching-off point that would get them to FAKE METAL JACKET a few months later and major label support and what could be a very long, disappointing Road to Budokan. It’s a cool, heavy, pirates-meet-power-metal song.
The B-side, though, is “NO THANK YOU,” and you could argue for quite a long time over which is not only the better song, but the better BiSH song and which would have been better to add to FAKE METAL JACKET.
This is why buying the stuff is important, kids: Nobody ever makes videos for the B-side.
