How can you tell the difference between...
 

... an a-side and a b-side? I'm stumped...

what do you mean ? I'm confused

I don't think there really 'is' a difference. the artist/management team just decides which songs are a-sides and which are b-sides :P

one could argue there's a difference in the quality of the songs on some cases , but that's subjective anyways.

A b-side for me is a song (not instrumental or remixes) that isn't included in an original album.

^ yeah. and that was probably what Winterkill was asking.

I though this was like a 'deeper' question on the differences between b-sides and a-sides :P

A-side usually refers to the single that is promoted and played on the radio or (sometimes) the only song on the single that is made into a PV.

Example: Amuro Namie's single "WANT ME, WANT ME". WM, WM is the A-side song and "Handle Me" is the B-side song.

Sometimes a single will be double A-side like w/ Amuro Namie's "GIRL TALK/the SPEED STAR". Both songs recieved radio play and both also had PVs.

Also, alot of the time B-side songs aren't present on the artist's studio albums. But like Halla said, there's not really much a difference.

Is that what you were asking?

Pretty much, yeah. I guess none of these things are actually certain. Ayu's "Will" was a b-side. No PV, but it was included on (miss)understood. Thanks, guys. ^_^

Will wasnt a b-side.

Two of us/ever free/LOVE~since 1999~ to name a few are b-sides

b-sides are orignal mix songs that never made into the albums.. most american singles has them and one more example, all morning musume singles has b-sides.

There has been a thread on this in AHS. Search around, I think you'll still be able to find it. :)

I always consider STEP you an A side and is this LOVE? a B side. Whichever song gets the most attention (and or comes first in the title) does it for me.

ROFL Halla! I <3 you x33 always thinking outside the box :hug

just becuase a song didn't have a PV doesn't mean it's not an A-side :) but yea, you got it! ^^-

since both are in the title, they really both are A sides.

Ai Otsuka - Natsu Sora = B Side
Ai Otsuka - Neko ni fuusen = A Side
For an example.
Natsu Sora never made it to an original/official album... or for the fact, not at all.

^yep. same with the Planetarium single; drop. was the b-side while Planetarium was the a-side. and since i'm talking about ai, both SMILY/Biidama were a-sides.

Sometimes a-sides won't make it to an album: "LOVE~Destiny~" from ayumi hamasaki, "the SPEED STAR" + "Did U" from namie amuro, and "Under The Moon" from Do AS Infinity are all a-sides that didn't make it for an album. (later on "LOVE~Destiny~" made it to A BEST and "Under The Moon" made it for "Do The A-Side", proving they indeed are a-side songs even though the first didn't make it for LOVEppears and the later didn't make it to "TRUE SONG")

The concept is indeed subjective, but some things can be concluded by default:

-If the song made it to an album, it is an a-side, unless the album has a bonus extra, which could be considered either an a-side or b-side
-A song that doesn't make it to an album isn't necessarily a b-side
-Extremely experimental, bonus tracks and cover songs are usually, but not always, b-sides. That's because b-side was the other side of single vynils (in the past when there were no CDs) that usually carried extra songs like performances, interviews and bonuses, while the main tracks would be on the a-side of the vynil. If you have listened to a few old single vynils you'll know what that concept means.