The60sShop’s Top Twenty Forgotten B-Sides

Courtesy of Kent, here are the results of the Top Twenty Favorite Forgotten B-Sides. Please note the copyright infos as specified below. Thanks go to Kent for permission to print the results on this page

To subscribe to THE FORGOTTEN HITS MAILING LIST just send an email to The60sShop@aol.com and ask them to PUT ME ON THE LIST!

A complete rebroadcast of THE TOP 20 COUNTDOWN … along with ALL of the interviews from THE DAVE THE RAVE SHOW … is in the works for Thanksgiving Weekend. Stay tuned to these pages for more information as it becomes available.

PLEASE NOTE: The FORGOTTEN HITS / FAVORITE, FORGOTTEN B-SIDES Countdown is Copyright 2007, KENT KOTAL / FORGOTTEN HITS PUBLICATIONS and may not be used without our express written permission. We ARE, however, willing to work with ANY of the other jocks on the list who may be interested in putting together some type of radio programming special of their own spotlighting not only these TOP 20 HITS but many of the OTHER titles nominated in this exclusive, extensive series.

20. THE ONLY LIVING BOY IN NEW YORK by SIMON AND GARFUNKEL

A primo cut from their BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER album, this track also made the B-SIDE of 1970’s CECILIA single … and it earned 311 of YOUR votes to come in at #20 in our FAVORITE, FORGOTTEN B-SIDES / FORGOTTEN HITS Exclusive Countdown!

19. L-O-V-E by NAT “KING” COLE

When this record was first released, it TOTALLY tanked. Delegated as the B-SIDE to the long-since-forgotten “hit” I DON’T WANT TO SEE TOMORROW back in 1964, L-O-V-E crapped out at #81 on the BILLBOARD Chart. (It never even MADE the CASH BOX Chart!!!) But today, thanks to its use in SO many movies, television series and commercials, it JUST may be NAT “KING” COLE’s best known track (second only to RAMBLIN’ ROSE perhaps.) L-O-V-E earned 337 of your votes to come in at #19.

18. THE LEGEND OF PAUL REVERE by PAUL REVERE AND THE RAIDERS

One of those great “story” songs (kinda like CREEQUE ALLEY by THE MAMAS AND THE PAPAS), this record tells the tale of PAUL REVERE AND THE RAIDERS and their rise to the top of the charts. Originally the B-SIDE of their 1967 smash HIM OR ME, WHAT’S IT GONNA BE … and then included on their first GREATEST HITS LP … THE LEGEND OR PAUL REVERE has LONG been a fan FAVORITE … and it earned 339 of your votes to come in at #18 in this VERY special countdown.

#17. SOOKIE SOOKIE by STEPPENWOLF

A GREAT track by STEPPENWOLF, this was originally released as the band’s first DUNHILL single … and it went absolutely NOWHERE!!! In fact, it never made the charts at all! But then BORN TO BE WILD caught fire (or would that be MARS BONFIRE) and STEPPENWOLF became one of the earliest and best-loved hard rock bands. SOOKIE SOOKIE was re-released as the B-SIDE of their SECOND Top Five Record, MAGIC CARPET RIDE, in 1968 … and it’s obviously one of YOUR FAVORITES, too. It earned 351 of your votes to come in at #17 in our FAVORITE, FORGOTTEN B-SIDES Poll.

#16. LIVING LOVING MAID by LED ZEPPELIN

As pointed out during the broadcast of our countdown Saturday Night, it’s not too often that you’ll find a LED ZEPPELIN song ranked alongside something by NAT “KING” COLE!!! But you guys voted for THIS one 352 times and that was good enough to earn the B-SIDE to LED ZEPPELIN’s breakthrough hit WHOLE LOTTA LOVE the #16 spot in our very special countdown.

#15. LONG DISTANCE RUNAROUND by YES

If we called the PRESTON RITTER - California Fires / FURVUS EVANS - Hurricanes segment of the program “The Disaster Hour”, then it was only fitting that we acknowledged THIS part of the countdown as the “Classic Rock” segment. Thanks to a flurry of votes right near the end of our series, LONG DISTANCE RUNAROUND snuck past LIVING LOVING MAID and SOOKIE SOOKIE to come in at #15 with 358 of your votes. It’s an FM Radio Staple … and probably as well known as ANY of YES’ biggest hits … but it was ORIGINALLY the B-SIDE of 1972’s ROUNDABOUT single.

#14. THE BOAT THAT I ROW by LULU

Yet another one of those songs that began its life as the intended to be the A-Side of the record. This NEIL DIAMOND composition (HE recorded it as a B-SIDE, too!) fell to the back burner the minute the film TO SIR, WITH LOVE opened and became a box office hit. Disc Jockeys and Radio Station Programmers flipped the record over and soon LULU’s version of the title track became one of the BIGGEST hits of the year, circa 1967. THE BOAT THAT I ROW is still a FAN FAVORITE, however … it earned 364 of your votes to come in at #14.

#13. EVERYDAY by BUDDY HOLLY

There were a NUMBER of songs that received THIS sort of reaction during the course of our lengthy series: “EVERYDAY was a B-SIDE?!?!?” Yep, it’s true … as well known as it is today, where it’s considered to be one of the crown jewels of the BUDDY HOLLY song catalog, it never even charted when it was first released as the flipside of BUDDY’s PEGGY SUE single back in 1957!!! YOU awarded it 368 votes and that was good enough for a #13 showing in this special countdown.

#12. 409 by THE BEACH BOYS

THE BEACH BOYS carved a career out of Surf Tunes and Car Tunes … and this was one of the best!!! During our DAVE THE RAVE broadcast, one of our callers mentioned that he was sick and tired of hearing SURFIN’ SAFARI twenty times a day (a common complaint with our readers regarding the lack of creativity in oldies radio programming today). So WE decided to flip the record over … and 409 scored 369 of your votes! Again, it’s now considered to be a BEACH BOYS Classic … but back in 1962 it charted for EXACTLY One Week and fizzled out at #76!

#11. THE END OF THE WORLD by HERMAN’S HERMITS

NOONE-atics Rejoice!!! PETER NOONE and the Boys came in at #11 with the flipside of their 1965 Chart-Topping Hit, I’M HENRY THE VIII, I AM. (Coincidently, DAVE THE RAVE is seeing PETER NOONE perform live in Lakewood, New Jersey this Friday Night … in fact, he’s emceeing the event … and FRANNIE and I will be catching up with PETER on Saturday Night out here in Elgin, Illinois!) PETER couldn’t call in Saturday Night because he was onstage in Niagara Falls, but sent me an email to explain that he NEEDED to perform because “I still have 27 years to go on my mortgage”!!! (LOL) And believe me, the fans LOVE him!!! THE END OF THE WORLD earned 373 of your votes and just missed making The Top Ten.

#10. I’LL FEEL A WHOLE LOT BETTER by THE BYRDS

This BYRDS classic was a consistent vote earner throughout the competition. It held steady and wound up with 389 of your votes to crack The Top Ten. Today you’re just as likely to hear THIS record as you are to hear its A-Side, ALL I REALLY WANT TO DO, a record that originally competed with CHER’s version back in 1965.

#9. THE WARMTH OF THE SUN by THE BEACH BOYS

One of only TWO acts to place TWO records in THE TOP 20 B-SIDES FAVORITES Countdown, here are THE BEACH BOYS again with one of their prettiest ballads. Whether it was written the day of, the day before or the day after the JFK Assassination, THE WARMTH OF THE SUN remains one of their most heart-felt tracks and 392 of you liked it enough to name it as one of YOUR FAVORITES. Originally the flipside of their 1965 Hit DANCE, DANCE, DANCE, it’s AMAZING to look back now and see that THE WARMTH OF THE SUN never even made the charts back then. But it SURE is one of your FAVORITES today!!!

#8. WE WILL ROCK YOU by QUEEN

Although DAVE THE RAVE kidded around about not wanting to play this song, there is NO denying its popularity … not only with our readers but with music fans in general. Rarely a day goes by where you don’t hear THIS one … whether it be on the radio, at a sporting event or in a movie or television commercial … WE WILL ROCK YOU truly has become a Rock Anthem! (And who DIDN’T go out and buy it when it was first released back in 1978???) Although it was nearly ALWAYS used to segue into the A-Side Hit WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS, WE WILL ROCK YOU never officially charted upon its original release. Once again, it may be the more popular side of the single these days, and it earned 394 of your votes in this special FAVORITE, FORGOTTEN B-SIDES Poll.

#7. PLAY WITH FIRE by THE ROLLING STONES

A GREAT early ROLLING STONES track, PLAY WITH FIRE was originally the B-SIDE of their 1965 single, THE LAST TIME. It’s another one of those tunes that charted on its own for exactly one week, peaking at #96. (DIDJAKNOW that legendary producer PHIL SPECTOR played guitar on this track???) With 402 of your votes, it placed MUCH higher in our B-SIDES Countdown … where it comes in at #7!

#6. IF I FELL by THE BEATLES

Here we go again … IF I FELL was a B-SIDE?!?!?!?? And, even if it was, how on EARTH can we consider it to be FORGOTTEN??? Well, it meets our criteria to qualify for this contest. In order to be eligible for this series, a record had to be the B-SIDE of a National Top 40 Hit Record … but could NOT have been a Top 40 Hit on its own. Incredible as it may seem, IF I FELL only peaked at #53 when it was first released as the B-SIDE to AND I LOVE HER. Both songs are from THE BEATLES’ first motion picture, A HARD DAY’S NIGHT and today, BOTH are considered BEATLES Ballads Classics. That love, popularity and familiarity were enough to push THIS track over the 400-vote mark … IF I FELL comes in at #6 in our special countdown with 442 of your votes!!!

#5. ALWAYS ON MY MIND by ELVIS PRESLEY

Despite a TON of last-minute ballot-box-stuffing (I think somebody put the word out to The ELVIS Fan Club that some of his B-SIDES were eligible for voting as FAVORITE, FORGOTTEN B-SIDES … in one day, we received somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 votes for both ALWAYS ON MY MIND and WOODEN HEART!!!) Those votes weren’t quite enough to help WOODEN HEART make THE TOP 20 … with 292 total votes, it came in at #26. But ALWAYS ON MY MIND had been receiving votes all along throughout this series … and that wave of last minute ballot-box-stuffing boosted it up to 451 votes … and the #5 spot in our special countdown.

#4. BORN ON THE BAYOU by CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL

Yet another “surprise” B-SIDE. It seems that you hear BORN ON THE BAYOU ALMOST as much as any other CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL hit … but the truth is that THIS one never charted on its own either!!! (Perhaps its downfall was being stuck on the back side of PROUD MARY … there was NO denying what the HIT side of THAT single was!!!) It’s a GREAT track … another Classic Rock classic … and the oldies stations continue play it quite a bit, too. YOU guys awarded it 454 of your votes … and that was good enough for a #4 showing in our final countdown. (It’s nice to see that JOHN FOGERTY has once again embraced his CCR roots … not only is his new CD titled “REVIVAL” but one of the tracks is called “CREEDENCE SONG”!!!)

#3. SUMMER WINE by NANCY SINATRA and LEE HAZLEWOOD

We pointed out during THE DAVE THE RAVE SHOW Countdown … and several times throughout this series … that The Top Three finalists were in The Top Three for the ENTIRE duration of this series … although they would periodically change places with one another (and all THREE of these tracks ranked as your #1 FAVORITE at one point or another), they NEVER fell out of The Top Three. This tells me that we have got the INDISPUTABLE FAVORITES right here at the top of the chart. SUMMER WINE was the flipside of NANCY’s solo hit, SUGAR TOWN, a Top Five smash back in 1966. Once SUGAR TOWN started to make its way back down the charts, deejays flipped the record over and SUMMER WINE began a chart run of its own, eventually peaking at #49. Even DAVE THE RAVE had to admit how GOOD this sounded when we played it again Saturday Night. It’s a GREAT track … and absolutely one of your FAVORITES!!! Coming in with 482 votes, SUMMER WINE nails down the #3 spot in this very special countdown.

#2. I SEE THE LIGHT by THE MUSIC EXPLOSION

This song held down the #1 Spot longer than ANY other title in the countdown. (Sure, it periodically rotated positions with #1 and #3 … but in TOTAL days spent occupying the top slot, THIS one wins hands down!!!) It wasn’t until a last minute wave of votes that it was unseated from its reigning position. THE MUSIC EXPLOSION would NEVER have been considered a One Hit Wonder had LAURIE RECORDS simply released I SEE THE LIGHT as their follow-up single … it has “Top Ten Hit” written all over it!!! Finishing second 532 votes … one of only TWO songs to crack the 500 vote barrier … we tip our hats to THIS FAVORITE, FORGOTTEN B-SIDE!!!

#1: I’LL GET YOU by THE BEATLES

It didn’t open up a big enough lead to win this thing until the last ten days of the competition … but with 565 final votes, THE BEATLES ended up taking THE FAVORITE, FORGOTTEN B-SIDES Crown!!! (How on earth did THIS record not chart back in 1964 when CAPITOL, VEEJAY, TOLLIE, SWAN, MGM and ATCO RECORDS combined to place THIRTY BEATLES sides on BILLBOARD’s Top 100 Charts?!?!?) And this is an example of EARLY BEATLES at its finest … a pure pop, sing-along classic.

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