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The Lost Art in Singles and B-Sides


dylanlioncourt
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I miss physical singles.  I miss going into a music store and thumbing through her singles and albums.  I also remembered always checking out the Billboard Charts in the 80's/90's as well. 

For me, the 12 inch Maxi Single of Open Your Heart really stands out to me. At the time, I hadn't seen 12 inch singles yet, so imagine me freaking out seeing an album size of the single.  I remember being confused what it was.  This was late '86 and by summer of '87, I had collected most of her 12 inches. I remember visiting my grandparents, who lived in a bigger city and finding many more. I still kick myself not getting the Gambler 12 inch.  But I had so much money, and I sacrificed that one for the more popular singles of the time. 

 

Great topic by the way. 

 

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2 minutes ago, MarXus said:

I miss physical singles.  I miss going into a music store and thumbing through her singles and albums.  I also remembered always checking out the Billboard Charts in the 80's/90's as well. 

For me, the 12 inch Maxi Single of Open Your Heart really stands out to me. At the time, I hadn't seen 12 inch singles yet, so imagine me freaking out seeing an album size of the single.  I remember being confused what it was.  This was late '86 and by summer of '87, I had collected most of her 12 inches. I remember visiting my grandparents, who lived in a bigger city and finding many more. I still kick myself not getting the Gambler 12 inch.  But I had so much money, and I sacrificed that one for the more popular singles of the time. 

 

Great topic by the way. 

 

That must have been a joy! I had only a few record shops down here that closed as I got closer to 18. I was able to see most of the Confessions singles, some American Life and HC before they closed down. Most of the time it was the albums until I began Ebay shopping and bidding and bought a lot in those wholesale lots for a fair price.

Going out of town, I did see a number of them that look great in person. "Rain" for one. It was stupidly priced and I wanted it for the "Up Down Suite" mix. I've also seen some Erotica singles along with more of her 90's work. It's always like finding treasure going through the M's of a record shop and finding Madonna goodies. Though sometimes you see very bad bootlegs like with a bad LQ cover and featuring the hits and you have songs like "Spanish Lesson" or some album track that wasn't a single. The Open Your Heart image on the single is iconic!

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Yeah, we had two popular music stores in our local mall in the 80's.  One of them closed by the early 90's and the Sam Goody lasted well until the late 90's, if I recall.  We had a Best Buy come in at some point which put that store out of business.  I believe they bought the chain out. 

I also recall our downtown local small record shop was open in the 80's and early 90's.  I still recall getting both the Who's That Girl and I'm Breathless soundtracks there when they first was released.  In fact, the store called me a couple of days before the I'm Breathless was supposed to be out on shelves, asking if I was interested in a copy early.  I recall thinking I was the only one in the world to hear that soundtrack first. LOL!  

Another time that stands out for me is when I went to the mall early to pick up Bedtime Stories album and finding the Limited Edition on display as well. 

Miss those times, but I will admit that the internet really brought a lot more rare songs and remixes to us fans.  So I'm not complaining too much. I remember being a downloading fool on the infamous peer to to peer networks like Napster and Limewire.  It was so cool to find all these rare DJ mixes that you would never find at stores. 

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Given all the unreleased material, we really got shafted when it came to b-sides. Certainly, each TB single onwards could have had a non-album track b-side quite easily. After all, money was spent recording the songs, and at the very least, they would have been b-side quality. Instrumental b-sides would have been better than album tracks. 

Given writers on b-sides earned the same as the a-side writers, as long as it was a Madonna co-write it shouldn't have mattered to her much what song was on a b-side. 

In terms of artwork, you can't beat a physical release, especially on 12" when the picture sleeve was particularly nice. I generally thought that Madonna was up there when it came to good picture sleeves. The Look Of Love is a particular favourite, and Express Yourself. 

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1 hour ago, IamZod said:

Given all the unreleased material, we really got shafted when it came to b-sides. Certainly, each TB single onwards could have had a non-album track b-side quite easily. After all, money was spent recording the songs, and at the very least, they would have been b-side quality. Instrumental b-sides would have been better than album tracks. 

Given writers on b-sides earned the same as the a-side writers, as long as it was a Madonna co-write it shouldn't have mattered to her much what song was on a b-side. 

In terms of artwork, you can't beat a physical release, especially on 12" when the picture sleeve was particularly nice. I generally thought that Madonna was up there when it came to good picture sleeves. The Look Of Love is a particular favourite, and Express Yourself. 

Well, B-sides were typically an album track, either from the current album or a previous album from most artists. 

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My favourite memories are being 11 or 12 and going to HMV and Virgin Megastore in 1993-1994 and each time finding new CDs to buy. I think the first ones I got were the 'Justify My Love' and Rescue Me' Maxi-Singles and maybe 'Vogue'

iu-2.jpeg.4dcffba548a9c965b5cc2f6a450dea1e.jpegR-215218-1276952542.jpeg.jpg.f3177bbb0570d095a0e3c61cac9995a1.jpg

 There was something so exciting about buying CDs with a big 'IMPORT' sticker on the cover. I then discovered the Japanese EPs with 'Remixed Prayers' and remember nearly having a heart attack when I saw The Holiday Collection on CD. I NEEDED THAT CD! I'd become a fan after buying The Immaculate Collection so needed to have its counterpart with it's gorgeous maroon and gold cover.

iu.jpeg.f14f11111d737890b915765ba160b6a3.jpeg

I think the first 12" I bought was 'Vogue' as it's my favourite song, I've only recently started to collect vinyl again so have a few in my collection. I remember late 1994 getting the 'Secret' and 'Take A Bow' import maxi singles. I was fascinated at the different track listing and subtle differences with the artwork to the UK releases.

iu.png.a50adf6c3caa3982cfcc9f13cf0e2cbf.pngiu-1.jpeg.ff8e3cfc11b635ec8307cc25c41a3835.jpeg

Another CD single I remember seeing, albeit, rarely, was the Erotica Remixes CD with the gold border. Back then, it felt like every time I went to the music shops I discovered something new. Nowadays I'm collecting more vinyl as my CD collection is near enough complete. 

R-526961-1257264871.jpeg.jpg.c8eab23431fe73246914653fa92e1639.jpg

I really believe my love of collecting Madonna's music, in particular CDs, made me want to become a professional graphic designer at an early age.

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Guest Nobody Knows Me

The Erotica and Ray of Light singles singles had my favourite art work, specifically Bad Girl, Erotica, and Nothing Really Matters.

B9E4D410-D584-49EF-9487-2C0C4A0FCADA.jpeg

441DD63F-DC02-4328-B8B3-77945DE9274A.png

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Definitely a lost art!!  I have to agree about the Like a Prayer era through Erotica being some of the very best.  My best friend and I started collecting together, and I remember the thrill of discovering (at the time) cassette maxi singles (Justify My Love was my first).  And then we found Keep it Together on CD (I still have it, and I didn't even have a CD player at the time, lol.  And then we found a magazine called Madonna Into the 90s which had photos of a lot of the earlier single covers and thinking that I would never be able to find them.  Over time we discovered resources like record shows and Goldmine magazine, and slowly but surely building our collections from there...  Thanks for this thread, those were some wonderful days with some wonderful memories.  Feeling nostalgic now, lol!

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11 hours ago, IamZod said:

Depends on the artist. I can think of plenty of pop acts who tried a little harder on a fair few releases, certainly in the UK.

Yeah, but it's not like Madonna didn't include some different B-Sides that weren't on her albums or standard releases.  So I wouldn't make it like she was weak in that department when you are comparing to others. Most typically, when you look back on the history of most successful and commercial artists, it was pretty common for a B-Side to be an album track from a current one or previous.

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16 hours ago, MarXus said:

Yeah, but it's not like Madonna didn't include some different B-Sides that weren't on her albums or standard releases.  So I wouldn't make it like she was weak in that department when you are comparing to others. Most typically, when you look back on the history of most successful and commercial artists, it was pretty common for a B-Side to be an album track from a current one or previous.

She sure did love "I Know It" and "Ain't No Big Deal!" :laughing:

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On 1/29/2020 at 6:52 AM, rlittler81 said:

My favourite memories are being 11 or 12 and going to HMV and Virgin Megastore in 1993-1994 and each time finding new CDs to buy. I think the first ones I got were the 'Justify My Love' and Rescue Me' Maxi-Singles and maybe 'Vogue'

iu-2.jpeg.4dcffba548a9c965b5cc2f6a450dea1e.jpegR-215218-1276952542.jpeg.jpg.f3177bbb0570d095a0e3c61cac9995a1.jpg

 There was something so exciting about buying CDs with a big 'IMPORT' sticker on the cover. I then discovered the Japanese EPs with 'Remixed Prayers' and remember nearly having a heart attack when I saw The Holiday Collection on CD. I NEEDED THAT CD! I'd become a fan after buying The Immaculate Collection so needed to have its counterpart with it's gorgeous maroon and gold cover.

iu.jpeg.f14f11111d737890b915765ba160b6a3.jpeg

I think the first 12" I bought was 'Vogue' as it's my favourite song, I've only recently started to collect vinyl again so have a few in my collection. I remember late 1994 getting the 'Secret' and 'Take A Bow' import maxi singles. I was fascinated at the different track listing and subtle differences with the artwork to the UK releases.

iu.png.a50adf6c3caa3982cfcc9f13cf0e2cbf.pngiu-1.jpeg.ff8e3cfc11b635ec8307cc25c41a3835.jpeg

Another CD single I remember seeing, albeit, rarely, was the Erotica Remixes CD with the gold border. Back then, it felt like every time I went to the music shops I discovered something new. Nowadays I'm collecting more vinyl as my CD collection is near enough complete. 

R-526961-1257264871.jpeg.jpg.c8eab23431fe73246914653fa92e1639.jpg

I really believe my love of collecting Madonna's music, in particular CDs, made me want to become a professional graphic designer at an early age.

I have most of these in '12 inch and they look amazing! 

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