Madonna & Whitney Houston albums were big sellers and they had B-sides too, and so did George Michael, Janet Jackson, Prince, Sting, Phil Collins, Sade & other acts. B-sides did not affect album sales. A lot of people didn't buy albums in the 1st pace and only wanted the song on the radio. That's why Greatest Hits/Best Of's have been popular all this time. They're for people who were not really interested in an artists albums, just the songs they remember from the radio. Same for those K-Tel albums in the 1970s & 1980s and That's What I Call Music in the modern era or those Time-Life CD sets of old hits sold on infomercials.Nit having a b side would have been stupid.. his albums were top sellers because he did what he did.. and did it well
This thread has nothing to do with album sales or albums at all. It's about singles charting. B-sides are on singles, and albums have nothing to do with singles charting. Mike could have put Carousel on the B-side of one of the singles from Thriller instead of an instrumental version of Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' or Get On The Floor from a previous album or a song from The Wiz. Carousel still hasn't been released other than a snippet from the version of Thriller with the Quincy Jones interviews. As far as not recording a exclusive B-side, that is not unique to Mike. Most singles didn't have them, they just had another track from the same album or an instrumental or a part 2. Part 2's were common with James Brown singles. So Mike didn't do anything special there. There's also the case of single versions being different from the album versions like No One Is To Blame by Howard Jones. If you bought Howard's album, you couldn't have gotten version that was played on the radio. Also the long version of Billie Jean was only on the maxi single, so if you bought the Thriller album or the 45 of Billie Jean, you got an edit.And Michael out sold them all.. of course it was a thought out choice by Michael to do it that way.. Michaels top 3 selling albums sold more than madonna highest selling album... which was a complication album anyway.. and whitney, her top selling album was a soundtrack and ran to the top because of one song.. not because of a b-side.. it was the "and iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii will always love youuu" that did it lol
And also consider how many "A-side" tracks there were on Michael's albums.. imagine taking some of those away for a B level song.. f that!
If selling the most makes something the greatest, then McDonald's must be the best food in the world and Coca-Cola the best drink. If I like the music, how much it sells does not make it sound any better or worse. It's just statistics to talk about. It's why I don't get upset about records being broken. It doesn't really mean anything, most people do not read Billboard or follow the charts. Big sales doesn't even necessarily mean an artist will make a lot of money. Look at what happened to TLC, they had a bad contract and a manager ripping them off.^ I like that post..
I'll say I fall into it big time with Michael though.. I think (for me) it comes from the drive Michael had to outsell, out perform, and out do.. when growing up watching a man seek out to be the biggest/best and become that - it becomes hard to separate the pride when it comes to that.
I love that he has the best selling album, that hea done huge things by numbers.. it is a measurement of success to me and something solid that solidifies his greatness... on paper!
It's an mj fan thing for sure.. thays why all the biggest selling fan bases fall into it and argue.. elvis is bigger, Beatles are bigger. Michael is bigger.. cuz they all used the same psychology behind it
Mike remade Come Together though, which was a B-side to Something. So apparently he didn't think that was a lesser song, like you think exclusive B-sides were throwaway songs. Also The Beatles didn't generally release songs from their albums as singles, they were songs specifically recorded for singles. Although it was kinda different in the USA because Capitol Records chopped up the original British albums, so the UK & USA albums were mostly different.We do know that what's not considered b sides now would have simply been considered b side right? Take the bad album for example.. a side being something like TWYMMF and b side being Liberian girl.. just an example.. he was adamant about only releasing songs that were great in his eyes. He stated that! That said, he would not pick some song he scratched being given to the public instead of the others..
Don't like remixes eh? Then how come there is a video of Mike singing along to the remix for R. Kelly's Ignition? :rofl:I'm only using what he himself said.. if you want to debate it, debate him.
We both know how record labels can push things on artists.. Michael has also mentioned how he doesnt like remixes.. he has a remix album and worked on remixes for thriller 25.. that doesnt change the fact he didnt like remixes.