“Common People,” “Country House,” “Alright”-the same hits are always centered in any remembrance of Britpop. Great songs, for sure, but they aren’t the whole story. For starters, there’s also “Underwear,” “One Born Every Minute,” and “Je Suis Votre Papa Sucre,” some of the B-sides on those singles.
Outside of niche corners like the Sub Pop Singles Club, 45s have become an anachronism, but they were still important to the music business in the ’90s, and even more so in Britain than in America. While the singles section at your nearby Tower Records in America may not have been much larger than a few racks in a corner, in the UK they took up considerable floor space in the HMV and Virgin Megastores (RIP). The price of CD singles in Britain back then also ranged anywhere from two to four pounds, sometimes even five, which in today’s dollars would be a considerable price for only a few tunes.
That meant that behind every editions of a single with different B-sides on each disc. That meant a band might be responsible for coming up with as many as six different tracks to support one A-side. Needless to say, these were glory days for pointless remixes.
