#343 - SIDE TWO VERSUS SIDE ONE

Ever since compact discs came out in the mid-1980s, the concept of SIDE 1 and SIDE 2 on an album sort of fell by the wayside. And with this new quantum leap in technology, the entire process of consuming music began to transform.

By the late 80’s and early 90’s, CD sales began outselling vinyl records and cassette tapes, due in large part to convenience and technological innovation, as vinyl records (albums) were limited to a maximum of 20 minutes or so per side and cassette tapes maxed out at around 30 minutes per side. But prior to compact discs, consuming music was (at a minimum) a two-step process which involved inserting the cassette into your tape deck and pressing play or placing the album on your turntable and dropping the needle to begin your music enjoyment experience.

With the advent of compact discs, the maximum recording space jumped to 74 minutes, far exceeding the limitations of records and tapes, and bonus: you didn’t have to flip anything over and repeat the process as all of the album tracks were included on one side (so to speak) as one complete, seamless work that systematically eliminated the technologically imposed intermission which required ejecting the cassette or removing the stylus from the album and flipping it over to SIDE TWO, as a CD version of an album quickly became a singular entity devoid of one side or another and just became one complete work (think Reign In Blood on cassette, where both sides are repeated).

In the case of a near perfect album, sides didn’t really matter, but what we’ve come to notice over the years is that SIDE TWO would sometimes be superior to SIDE ONE. Granted, this is not by any means an exact science nor is it always a guarantee, but many of the finest albums in metal history have a SIDE TWO that is much better than SIDE ONE. So, with that in mind, we invite you to JOIN US as we go through a few of our favorites to determine whether or not there is any validity to the claim that SIDE TWO IS BETTER THAN SIDE ONE.

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Show Notes:

(00:01): “That’s how Indian people say ‘windows’…”/ #foodtruck / “Was it a chicken truck?”/ “The mac and cheese had kimchi in it…”/ #seoulman / ***WARNING: #listenerdiscretionisadvised *** / #DirtyMonkeyBananaPeanutButterWhiskey / “I left my liquid up there…”/ ***WELCOME BACK TO THE METAL NERDERY PODCAST!!!*** /

“At this point it’s the Ides of March (roughly)…this might be after that…” (NOTE: The Ides of March falls on March 15) / #BewareTheIdesOfMarch / “It’s almost 311, y’all…”/ Beach Boat Rotation / #WuTang / “Did you have to say that?”/ “Gentleman Snatch…it’s all about the cockney…” / “Just curious…seeing what’s adjacent and what’s not…”

(06:22): ***PATREON US AT patreon.com/metalnerderypodcast *** / “They’re gonna get laid and drained, thusly.”/ ***SOCIAL MEDIA US at #metalnerderypodcast on #YouTube #Instagram #Facebook #TikTok and EMAIL US at metalnerdery@gmail.com and VOICEMAIL US AT 980-666-8182!!!*** (“It’s very anticlimactic when there’s no voicemail…”)

(09:10): “I say, I declare!” / #FoghornLeghornASMR / #TheDocket METAL NERDERY PODCAST PRESENTS: SIDE TWO VERSUS SIDE ONE – WHICH IS BETTER?

“We’ve found several albums where side two was better than side one…this is for the vinyl and cassette folks out there, pre-compact disc and pre-streaming…”/ #VanHalen

“Let’s look at Women and Children real quick…” / #WaitWhat? #markthetime / “Maybe when they’re doing the tracking…they’re warming up on side one…”/ “Make every album like a #Nike swoosh…”/ “That is one of the biggest arguments between producers and bands: tracking.”/ “One more Van Halen…”

(13:53): #Metallica / #Phenomenomenomenal / “That’s an interesting idea…not only a remastering thing but what if they re-tracked?”/ “That makes it the better side…”/ The perfect 10/10 album / “Side 3 is where Side 2 started on the cassette…”/ “Notice how I didn’t shit on the mix at all…” (“But you still had to mention it…”)

(17:52): #AC/DC / “Ooooh…now it’s gonna get ugly…”/ “I’m sorry, that’s how they sound, dude…”/ #wokeASMR / “It’s not Power Age, it’s Powerage…according to them…”/ #markthetime / “I always liked that cover…it’s very classic…”

(22:14): #BlackSabbath / “Side 2 is more of a vibe and a feel…”/ “Paranoid, I think Side 2 has got it…”/ “And there’s that…”/ “No more Sabbath, huh?”/ “It’s kind of a different vibe on Side 2…if you can’t pick a side, it’s kinda everything…”/ “Don’t you think the vibe is completely different (from Side A to Side B)?”/ “I think everything else makes up for ‘Am I Going Insane? (Radio)’…”/ (Side preferences and potential tracking adjustments according to us…) / “It’s scary Disney…”

(26:53): #Slayer / “Have I told y’all the weird thing about my phone?” / “Either I’m in some serious spiritual trouble or my phone’s like ‘Listen to more Slayer’…”/ “Mine’s stuck in alphabetical order so if music starts playing on it’s own (It’s Coldplay?)…”/ “I’ve got some #SlayerHotSauce in bound…”/ Pre-ordering tickets for Metallica at The Sphere / #TheSphere / “That makes the #KISSArmy look like a militia and a couple of rednecks in Idaho…”/ “You can get in both days…”/ “It’ll be like The Chevy Show of concerts…”/

#FOMO (fear of missing out) / “Pre-Buy…it’s curious, btw…” (“I’m not even listening to you…”) / “So far your little theory is not panning out there, tough guy…”/ “I’ve just proven that men are just dumb idiots with dicks…”/ “If it’s close enough: Side 1.”

(34:34): #IronMaiden / “Why not have the title track be your opener?” / “What would you swap out with ‘Invaders’…?”/ “More deep cuts on side 2 though…”/ “Revelations, this one!”/ “That ain’t right…”/ “On the tape, it’s side 3 & 4 (of the album)…”/ “That’s a guitar player’s wet dream, that one…”/ #WTFASMR / “My scientific method was not quite as scientific as I thought…it’s kinda like Just Talkin’ Shittah but it’s very specific…specific Shittah…”

(40:37): #PanterA / “In fairness, when I started buying Pantera, it was compact discs…”/ #seriously / “I started with tapes, but when I got to CD’s, all the side 1/side 2 shit just faded out the window…”/ “Well, I guess my little theory didn’t pan out quite like I thought it would…”/ #futureshowideas / “Progressive metal singers that Bill would like…”/ “Bands that are WAY better LIVE than their recorded stuff…”/ “We could call that Vol. 1 of Matt was wrong…that’ll be a long volume…multiple volumes…”/ “It’s time to go home and get some bed…”/ “Bed head or bed poon…bed butt…”/ THANK YOU FOR JOINING US!!! / #untilthenext #outroreel