Beatles History - Beatles Singles That Flopped - and it’s not what you think!

[@tagoldich]

These aren't truly Beatles' singles; they're album tracks that record companies tried to milk more money out of.

[@liskorea317]

Exactly

[@the_guitar_trooper]

@@tagoldich To be completely accurate, yes, they were singles because they were on a 45. The point is, if they had been the A-side in the U.S., they would have done much better, possibly even number one.

[@TonysMusic1974]

They weren't singles. They were B-Sides.

[@richardsobieck9660]

@@TonysMusic1974 Many of those records scored #1 on BOTH sides due to play requests

[@TonysMusic1974]

@richardsobieck9660 which shows how GOOD they were. This guy thinks a B-side charting low is a bad thing.

[@angieallen4884]

If I Fell is one of my favorite Beatles songs! And all of the songs were familiar and brought back memories.

[@luiszuluaga6575]

I wasn’t even born when this song was released, but I loved it years later when I was old enough to appreciate music at the ripe old age of five. 😅

[@mymansionabove]

I remember buying Beatles 45 rpm recordings and thinking both the A and B sides were great and should be hits. That’s just how talented and prolific the Beatles were. Other bands put junk songs on the B side!

[@gianni1646]

Absolutely!❤

[@markgraham2312]

Excellent piece. I Should Have Known Better is my favorite Beatles song.

[@TonyLovell]

"There's a Place" is a song that I, as an American fan, only discovered long after the demise of the band. What an amazing song.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thanks for watching!

[@8176morgan]

Its one of my favorites as well.

[@gpxo11]

This song takes me back to grade school when it came out-that ethereal feel of the harmonica intro-I will always remember shortly afterwards the metallic blue Beatles lunchboxes and the cartoon show where this song was featured in one of the episodes.

[@zanti4132]

As I recall, these so-called B sides still got significant airplay during Beatlemania. The AM stations were so anxious to play anything by the Beatles, a recording of John blowing his nose probably would have gotten significant airplay. Considering how both the A and B sides were so familiar to everyone, it seems pretty arbitrary to designate one of them the B side - you may as well call the 45 a double A-sided single, as was done with other Beatles recordings (for example, "Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever"). Clearly, the main reason these singles didn't sell as well as A sides is because Beatles fans already owned the singles when they were B sides.

[@randyfreeze789]

I would argue that any song that makes the charts is not a "flop."

[@the_guitar_trooper]

If a band produced several singles that didn’t bust through the top 50, the record companies would quickly lose interest.

[@liskorea317]

@@the_guitar_trooper Reaching #40 on the charts is considered a minor hit. At least it was in the 70's.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

@ Hi! yeah, you’re right. These were all in the bottom 50 in the U.S. , which was unfortunate, because they would have easily been in the top 40’with more exposure.

[@lionheartroar3104]

Great channel. Thank you sir. Gives me new connections to many of my favorite songs.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Welcome aboard! Please share with your friends!

[@NDFlyFisher]

Great video. There’s A Place is one of my favorite Beatles songs.

[@DerGlaetze]

Same here!

[@RichardSchaefer-zx9ig]

I'd have to guess the Hard Days Night singles didn't chart higher was because everyone purchased the LP. I was 11 in 1964, w two sisters 10+12, and we had the album. Can't remember who purchased or was gifted.

[@ScottRock-mr6qk]

I don't give a damn about what the rest of America or the world liked or didn't like about these songs except "There's a Place." I don't know that one. BUT, I LOVED ALL OF THE REST. And still do.

[@johnsain]

What about the chart position of..."You Know My Name (Look up the Number)?......I think it may belong here.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

In spades. Never charted. Surprise. LOL. Of course, by that time, B-Sides were not being charted separately.

[@jasona9]

I’ve always liked IF I FELL 🎶 more than AND I LOVE HER 🎵. Still, both are classics!

[@jls4382]

This is one of the reasons why I could never get wound up about the charts! At least three songs mentioned here are real big favorites of mine. Lack of radio time (or lack thereof) was also why bought very few singles and saved up my pennies to go straight for the albums-- too much great music you could never hear otherwise! Thanks Trooper!

[@stephenvanwoert2447]

I did the same thing with buying albums. I was 16 in 1964. I divided my small allowance between The Beatles and my H-O model train hobby.

[@thehighllama8101]

On the other hand, She's a Woman, a B-side, charted at #4 on Billboard. I always found that curious. Why? Because it's kind of forgotten in comparison to songs like If I Fell and I Should Have Known Better, which were often played on oldies radio when I was growing up in the late 70s, early 80s. I don't think I ever heard She's a Woman played once on the radio except when my local radio station would have one of those Beatles A to Z marathons.

[@gmb858]

Dave Dexter, the record executive at Capitol Records, didn't like the Beatles, didn't believe in them, was jealous that a breakout phenomenon wasn't from the US. He constantly butchered the album cuts and their carefully planned sequence on the British versions. Capitol America took album cuts from British versions and engineer them together so they could produce more albums to sell. Given the attitude the Beatles were dealing with, it's almost amazing that Capitol American promoted their music at all. And that tells us a lot about the power of the songs that were smash hits...almost in spite of Capitol.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Well said. Capitol missed a fair amount of early sales by shunning the group in those days.

[@harrymaciolek9629]

I’m happy just to dance with you was my favorite song from a Hard Days Night.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

I like it too. McCartney And Lennon flipped it off as basically a throwaway to get George more exposure in the movie. In Paul’s words, it was a ‘formula song’.

[@eddiemac911]

These were not Beatle singles Just album tracks. If they had been released before the albums they would have been no1

[@the_guitar_trooper]

@ Thanks for the view, Eddie! To be completely accurate, yes, they were, by definition of being on the B-side of a record, singles. AND Your point is exactly on target - if they had been on the A-side, they would have at least made top ten, if not higher, in my opinion.

[@robertpayne9009]

Thanks!

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thank YOU, Robert!

[@garyp9142]

I didn't know they were singles . Great job Once again

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Hi, Gary! Thanks, man!

[@carp68]

Brilliant as always. Thanks!

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thanks again!

[@williardbillmore5713]

I don't get it. Isn't the B side on the other side of the A side and thus sell the exact same number as the A side? Hot one hundred must have used some other criteria to determine a song's chart position other than pure sales. Radio play number and frequency? Requests from the public? Critical acclaim? Marketing strategy?Does anyone know the exact formula they used for where to place a song on the charts? I mean who can say which side the public bought a single record for? You couldn't buy and listen to just half a record. I know there were times when I have bought a single because I liked the B side better than the A side. Or the B side helped me decide which A side I bought. It was a package, right? I was much more likely to buy a single record if I liked both sides than if I only liked the A side and hated the B side.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

The hot 100 is an amalgam of sales and record play frequency. There are many in the industry that don’t really like the way it works. B-sides were charted separately in the early and mid 1960’s. Wordpress has an excellent history of the chart. billboardchartrewind.wordpress.com/2021/11/23/the-day-the-billboard-hot-100-singles-were-forever-changed-2/

[@gianni1646]

Oh come on. You notice Dionne Warwick was right down there at 74 on the chart? At the end of the day, all Beatles’ song are “number one” in our hearts! Plus, in my opinion, Americans were being loyal to Elvis at the time. Radio stations were playing “battle of the bands” with Elvis and the Beatles. And, Elvis always won. And I was getting kicked out of school for having “long hair”! 🙄 Guitar Trooper, you’re the best. See you in the next one, Gianni❤

[@GordonRoland]

All four were favorites for me. Abundance of riches!

[@ronaldvalerio]

B-eatles is a band where the B-side is as good as it's a side

[@RockinRichy]

Loved it first hearing, likewise with "I'll Get You," another stellar and sublime b-side. The boys were in a frolic roll.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thanks for the view Richy!

[@roytee3127]

Serious question: how are the rankings on the charts calculated? I always naively thought that it was by record sales. But the B side of a record sold exactly as many copies as the A side. Number of times a song is played on the radio? But back in those days, that information would have been hard to collect.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

All that I can say for sure is that the Billboard Hot 100 ranking included a significant portion of the algorithm as radio air play. After that gross assessment, I’m clueless. Hey- Look it up on Google and let us know what you find!

[@raynelson6575]

I don't quite understand the A-side/B-side thing. If you buy the A-side you get the B-side as well. How can you count who's buying a record for the A-side vs the B-side. I get that the A-side is generally the one counted. I also don't quite get double A-sides for the same reason.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

The Hot 100 chart is a derivative of sales plus radio play. In the seventies (I forget the exact date) they stopped tracking B-sides separately.

[@ChristopherElli-cc1ly]

A sides were a way for record companies to tell DJs what side to play.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

@ Quite concise!

[@DesertScorpionKSA]

If I Fell has a lot of chords in it. I used to play this song all the time and it's more complicated than people realize.

[@andrewwhesketh5896]

None of these were mainline singles released in the UK.

[@tommyzai7038]

If I Fell is one of the best songs ever. It's lovely. There was a lot more competition back then. Nowadays, that song would be #1 for a few years. I don't think B-Sides should count . . .

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Ya. The first time I heard it was in the movie at the movie house on Piccadilly Circus in 1964 - about a week after the premiere.

[@jaelge]

I could never get up a lot of steam for There's A Place. The melody doesnt seem to go anywhere. It provides the tension required of a melody but doesn't provide relief.

[@louislamboley9167]

@@jaelge I had the same issue with Hold me Tight. The hook was particularly weird to follow.

[@jaelge]

@@louislamboley9167: Right, it does seem to be all over the place. Almost impossible to play, even with the chord diagrams. A little too busy and seems to lack direction, (if that makes sense). Still love the boys´ vocals though.

[@BDUBZ49]

Is this the same video from last week?

[@the_guitar_trooper]

yeah. - I had to correct a factual error on the original upload and so had to delete it and re-post.

[@8176morgan]

None of those '64 American B side singles were ever released by the Beatles. Only "A Hard Day's Night" was released as a single on the A side but it had "Things W e Said Today" on the B side and I am sure would have gotten a lot higher than #53 on the American charts if it has remained as the B side to a global #1 hit .

[@Russell-rc6qq]

And all these songs were issued on huge number 1 albums... I have always said Beatles B sides were far better then most A sides of other artists.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

That is a popular view, yes.

[@stephenvanwoert2447]

Capital Records wanted to squeeze every penny out of American Beatlemania teens. After selling us the 45s, they put the same cuts on LPs. And not only that, they had fewer total cuts per album, usually 11: 6 on front, 5 on back, compared with British albums, at least 12.

[@alanr4447a]

Then these weren't really "singles that flopped" at all! They were just B-sides on singles that went to #1, #2, #12, and #25 (well, that last one wasn't so much; Capitol saturated the market by releasing three Beatles singles in the space of a week, probably hoping to recapture the feat the Beatles had achieved in April of holding THE TOP FIVE SPOTS!). Calling them "singles that flopped" is just CLICKBAIT.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

As you wish. Thanks for watching!

[@josephblue4135]

I love all of them - especially If I Fell. I still don't understand the numbers game.

[@jeff196330]

Loved your video and subscribed. B-Sides are not flops

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Hey! Thanks a million for the sub, Jeff!

[@glennanderson6052]

Remember when the AM radio played we love you Beatles

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Oh Yes we do!….

[@louislamboley9167]

I never bought any Beatles 45's. But I did buy all their albums.

[@jaelge]

We never were big 45 people in my household either. Hey Jude was one of the few 45s we ever had floating around, as I recall.

[@louislamboley9167]

@jaelge The small 45 turntable was what you needed to play 45's. The ones where you stack them. They also had only mono and poor sound quality. When people started to buy the larger turntables with stereo the 45 became problematic since you couldn't stack them.

[@jaelge]

@@louislamboley9167: My family was big on music, way back to the 78RPM days (way before my time) and there were tons of albums in the house growing up. Mitch Miller, Sinatra, Opera, Classical, Jazz, Al Jolson, literally every genre. We even had an album with all the marching military tunes on it. (pretty awesome). 45s just never seemed to come into play around there.

[@Mick_Ts_Chick]

I wonder if the fact that the UK was a big market for singles had any part in this? Here I feel like singles were just the bait to get you to buy the LP. Releasing songs on 45 that weren't on an album was a UK thing. Just spitballing. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Anyone on here from the UK and wants to weigh in on this?

[@louislamboley9167]

@@jaelge Same here. I used to listen to 78's of mostly big bands and blues. We had a great set of the Mikado by Gilbert and Sullivan. I had more 45's of Elvis , Del Shannon, the Everly Bros, Bobby Rydel, Duane Eddy, Marty Robbins, the early stuff.

[@drewn4344]

I don't recall "From Me to You" being on any Capital Records Album, just a 45 who's side B was "Do You Want to Know a Secret."

[@the_guitar_trooper]

The1964 Capitol album release that contained “From Me To You” was a Canada-only LP named ‘Twist and Shout’ catalogue # T-6054. The American singles were VeeJay #522 “From Me To You” / “Thank You Girl” and then Veejay #581. “Please Please Me” / “From Me To You”

[@drewn4344]

@@the_guitar_trooper OK. I was only 4 years old at the time. Didn't know how to read yet.

[@JoeM390]

I don't understand how a song on Side A can hit #1, but the song on Side B reaches only something like 44. They're both on the same physical record!! Both sides got the same amount of radio play where I live. How do they know why the customer bought the 45 record?

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Kookoo isn’t it? The B-side stats came from both sales and radio play frequency. It had to have been the broad spread low play frequency that affected the B-side stats.

[@geoffreylee5199]

They were prominent in the movie.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Yep. Nothing obscure about those pieces.

[@michaelhiatt7377]

Where's "I'm down?"

[@hansvanlint1680]

Suggestion, adjust the videocamera ('s) to be more in focus in the foreground instead of the background. In this video the background is sharp and your face is blurry. Hopefully this tip was helpfull...?

[@the_guitar_trooper]

I know what happened. Autofocus was off. It was on zone focus and centered on wrong zone.

[@Vinyl_Dave]

We're not all in the U.S.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

There was no intent to isolate you. I had to make it succinct for linearity purposes.

[@gpxo11]

I disagree with the reasonings of B sides for his choices-as the B sides hitting the charts no matter where they land is a reflection of how popular the group was and the single as a whole. There are two singles released in 1964 that I consider to be flops but there is a reason, the first is Roll Over Beethoven/All My Loving which was on the Capitol Of Canada label-not all US markets carried the Capitol Of Canada label thus Roll Over Beethoven reached position #68 and All My Loving #45. Their biggest flop was the song Why (with Tony Sheridan) on the MGM label-reaching only #88 since the song was recorded before the Beatles breakthrough 3 years earlier and it featured Tony Sheridan with the Beatles in the background with vocals-thus not getting much airplay or push from the label.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thanks for the great post!

[@georgesmith1144]

These were all Album tracks in the U.K. also hits by other Groups.

[@halweiss8671]

I’ve listened to them since Ed Sullivan, and I don’t have any Beatles’ songs that I hate, but there are few I don’t care for or I am ambivalent about. Some of those were covers they did for the BBC.

[@notmyrealname6150]

Hard to believe the Beatles had flops.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Well, yeah, but qualified as compromised due to marketing usage

[@genebates700]

Most of the songs he's citing as "flops" were actually the B-side of the song released as a single. They weren't intended to get much air play or to even make the charts at all. So, rather than this being a video about Beatle failures, it's actually a celebration of their greatness.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Bingo!

[@kenanderson8506]

The same thing almost happened to bohemian rhapsody, that was the B side.

[@brushez]

I didn't thank that B sides charted at all ,

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Back then they did. Billboard stopped the practice later and just charted the A-sides

[@gtwfan52]

It's funny. The three songs from Hard Day's Night were my favorite songs from that album.

[@alpha-omega2362]

so you had the album , so why go buy the singles? that explains why the singles didn't chart... but the album sure did..

[@amb2745]

Billboard and Cash Box charted A-sides and B-sides as separate entries. Record World did not chart B-sides of singles. Had Billboard and Cash Box only charted singles by their A-sides, then The Beatles singles would have been looked at by their A-side offering. BTW, you missed one Beatles single that had it's A-side and B-side on opposite sides of the Billboard Singles Charts. Help!/I'm Down was released in July, 1965. Billboard charted Help! as going to #1 on their charts, while the B-side I'm Down, only got as high as #101.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Hi, and THANKS for the view! Yep, “I’m Down” is another prime example.

[@RichardRenzetti]

These are still great songs.

[@jayondrums21]

If they are B sides then the Beatles obviously did not mean for or expect them to chart. So what is your point?

[@the_guitar_trooper]

The point of the video is: These songs were buried as single B-sides and could likely have done top ten if they had been A-sides.

[@aaronreeves8376]

All fantastic songs!

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Yeah. What a waste, right? They would have probably done at least top 10 in the U.S. if they had been the A-side!

[@buzzsmith8146]

GT, this is not a big deal, but is this a repeat of yesterday's video? 🤔

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Yes. I had to re-upload because of a factual error in the original.

[@sdgakatbk]

Well this is a little deceptive. The Beatles were known for having 2 sided hits. And other bands like CCR had some too. If these were the A side or had something that was more like filler for the other side, then they would be true flops. I think you might be able to add some Beatles songs to this list as it stands. What about the single Penny Lane with Strawberry Fields Forever on the flip side? Also, there was Hey Jude on one side and Revolution on the other.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Hi! The point of the video was that a song got buried as a B-side single and probably would’ve done a lot better if It was an A-side. As long as you brought it up, the outlying quality of the Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields record was that it was issued as a double A-side in the UK rather than an A and B. I don’t know exactly how they figured that, but that was the moniker that they used.

[@cryotasticshitposting]

I'm pretty sure the term "single" refers to both sides of the 45, so that would technically mean that these songs were successful.

[@frankbarbaro4363]

Do we need this ?

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Yes. It is essential

[@TonysMusic1974]

Dude - "If I Fell" was the B-SIde of "And I Love Her." It wasn't a Single. "I Should Have Known Better" was the B-Side to "A Hard Day's Night" "There's A Place" was the B-side to "Twist And Shout" and "Happy Just To Dance" was the B-SIde to "I'll Cry Instead." They weren't singles. Click Bait Nonsense.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

I hear ya - but by the industry definition, if it’s one band on one side of record, it’s a single.

[@TonysMusic1974]

@the_guitar_trooper no it's not. That has NEVER been the definition of a single. The word itself means "ONE." Single. One song. This is an awful video and if you seriously think that B-sides should be considered singles you should delete your entire channel. The fact that they had B-sides chart says more about how GOOD those songs were.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

@ as you wish. If you have some time, look up RIAA definition.

[@richardsobieck9660]

Don’t feel sorry for the B side. Those songs made just as much money as the hit side due to record sales There was always much wrangling to get ones songs on the B side for that reason. George’s songs were often rejected for that reason as well as the exposure. Like wise the Monkee’s fought those same battles.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Good point!

[@brianferris8668]

What was the point of all that?

[@the_guitar_trooper]

The songs were good enough to have done much better as A-sides

[@seerofallthatisobvious1316]

The Beatles? They seem nice... very clean.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Yes. Very clean.

[@davefriedman4641]

Un my opinion, there's a place is an incredible song. should been a verse and bridge longer and an a side

[@stephenkennedy8305]

Yeah and most bands would love song in the bottom 100.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Good point

[@BillWalters-iz3tv]

Excellent B sidey

[@BillWalters-iz3tv]

Sorry I meant B sides

[@the_guitar_trooper]

And they were !

[@Slotnikoff]

Here is what America's average teeny-boppers thought of 'A Hard Days Night' and its B-side 'I Should Have Known Better" back in 1964: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rKOzoKxqdtSerKM

[@patricklewis7636]

Well, they all kinda stank. Not every song was a winner, especially the early stuff.

[@alexandrebenois7962]

None of them is a "real" single. The Beatles themselves didn't choose them.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Good point, but there is an industry definition of a single and these qualify exactly. Google RIAA definition of a single.

[@RavenThom]

All flip sides of hits

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Ummmm. Yeah. All B-sides. The thing is, they probably would have done much better if the were on an A-side!

[@brianharris7243]

What happened to them..a nice little rock and roll band...

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Age and development….

[@stephenvanwoert2447]

And what happened to that world when we were young and shining with hope?

[@kencory2476]

Well, this video flopped, for me.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Awww, shooot! Thanks for the view anyway!