The Beauty Of Vinyl 45 Singles

"The Beauty Of 45 rpm Singles"
Dr. Rox Remember When?
Article #173 July 2025
By: RLSchwinden aka MrZerr0

When I was a kid growing up in Sioux City a persoon was judged by their peers by how many vinyl records they owned. Now most people I knew came from megar means so when they heard a song they liked on the radio they usually bought the 45 Single first before buying the whole album, myself included. One I vividly remember was Queen's "We Will Rock You" I loved that song but did not have the $6.98 for the whole album, even though it was a great album, however I did have $1.29 for the single.

My whole life I have always loved music but did not have the funds to buy all the releases I loved, fortunately for me my Godfather Jim's friend Vince H. had a massive collection of 45s from the mid 60s, the music I think is the best time period and the music I love the best most of Vince's collection ended up with me in the mid 80s after finding the collection being stored underneath the stairs in my grandma Marge's basement... I know my sister Michelle loved her 45s collection as she reminds me of it all the time; Pat Benetar, Blondie, Prince, Queen, KIm Carnes etc. While my favorite 45s were: "Words" "Eight Days A Week" "Magic Carpet Ride" "Rock And Roll All Nite" "Name Of The Game". To date I own about 1500 Vinyl 45 Singles.

The RCA record company introduced the 7" 45 rpm Single on 31 March 1949. The format ran at 45 RPMs and was 7" in size, the diameter designed to hold 5:30 min. of music. Also 45 rpms ran faster with wider grooves for better sound than Columbia's 33 1/3 rpm "Long Player" (LP). Singles could be stacked on a RCA spindle adapter usually 10 at a time, but up to 14 and then there was the much recognizable single adapter first made in red and later in yellow, this accessory was dubbed "the Spider" by the industry.

The initial cost of a single MSRP was .99, dating back to the days of sheet music sales of a dollar a song. However the discount stores such as Woolco and K-Mart price was about .80 then there were the "Cut-Out" bins which I have been told titles sold as low as .10 each. The singles in this area would have a hole drilled through the label area, so they could not be returned to the manufacturer for full reimbursement.

From creation to 1968 all singles were mixed in true Mono from the master tapes. From 1969 to 1979 singles were Stereo mixes, however compressed to mono for AM Radio Stations.

When it came to recording songs for inclusion on a single, as told to me by several record producers, usually 3 tracks were recorded at a session the "A Side" the 2 others were for a "B Side" the throwaway was used as the "B Side" the better of the 2 was reserved for inclusion on the upcoming LP. An artist like KISS; the single versions were usually shorter "Edited" sometimes longer from the Master Tapes.

The 45 Single was the predominant format up until 1966 when buyers started to buy the entire album, the zenith of the Single was in 1974, where this was the year the most ever Singles were purchased by the public, this was driven by "One Hit Wonder" artists of the time. EX. "Seasons In The Sun" "Kung Fu Fighting" "Billy Don't Be A Hero" etc.

When the USA Stopped Vinyl production in Dec 1987 an Inde company, Collectibles on the East Coast was still producing 45 Singles almost specifically for Juke Boxes.
Interesting trivia up until about the year 2000 if a song was not released on a single it could not enter the BillBoard Charts, henceforth "Stairway To Heaven" was not on the BillBoard charts until downloading was tracked for charting.

Some artists (usually UK) the 45 single release was not included on the next album, but sometimes included on a "Greatest Hits" or "Best Of" Release. EX. The Kinks, The Beatles and T-Rex released over a dozen singles each, that were not included on an album at that time why, Ozzy himself had 9 Non-LP B-Sides and even Black Sabbath had 1 Non-LP single back in the day. It is of vital importance to point out that the internet was not made available to the public until about 1990 and file sharing about the year 2000 and YouTube was launched in 2005, so before all of this you had to buy a physical copy of the recording or record a borrowed copy. There was simply no way to download these Non-LP songs.

Which leads me to my favorite the Non-LP B-Sides. An artist such as The Monkees had 6 Non-LP songs. Some artists like Steppenwolf would have the A-Side from the current release and occasionally use a song from the previous album as the B-Side to promote their last album.

Today the term "B-Side" is grossly misused what people really mean is "Deep Cut" or what used to be described as "Filler Tracks" as a "B-Side" is truly the "Flipside" of a Single, Davy Jones even referenced the "Flipside" in his famous appearance on The Brady Bunch in Dec 1971.

Another fantastic feature of the 45 Single was the "Picture Sleeve" , usually a photo of the band, sometimes some kind of artwork to represent the song title. Let's remember back in the olden days before MTV in Aug 1981, there really was only 5 channels available on TV and again no internet, so if you wanted to see what your favorite artist looked like your options were, magazines, trading cards or 45 single's picture sleeves. To take it one step further sleeves in other countries could have been different for the same release.

And then of course there was the EP (Extended Play), Cassingle, CD Single, 12" Vinyl Single and the CD Maxi- Single formats, I believe I covered those in a past article. Here in Mr. Zer0's 55113 Roseville we have a Museum Case dedicated to all music and movie formats (because we are a Music Store), as my ex-gf was born and raised in East Germany, so she did not really understand all the formats and differences. So check it out when you stop in.

When I was working with WB and Universal record labels, when they were looking for new ideas for CD releases, I suggested they put out True "Greatest Hits" CDs with only the "A-Sides" the actual hits and then a "Complete Singles" CD containing all of the A and B Sides in their true Mono release form in order. The Rolling Stones released a Boxset like this in Aug 1989 in 2005 Herman's Hermits label released a 2-CD set of all of their singles in order front to back. My pitch to the record labels was "Look those fans bought the 45 singles, so that's the version of the song they remember hearing , some even turned the record over and played the "B-Side" and perhaps that song was not on any album Ex. 5 of the last songs to feature Jimmy Page with The Yardbirds were not released on an album, I am quite certain most Led Zeppelin fans, (and I have heard there are a few), would like to hear these Pre-Led Zeppelin songs with Jimmy Page.

I have a Gold Record Award single on Chelsea Records of the song "Daddy Don't Walk So Fast" by Wayne Newton autographed by Wayne himself. April 1972 #4 on the Billboard Charts, the flipside was "Echo Valley 6-8209" a hit for The Partridge Family.

In closing, I am completely dumb founded by the fact that I have written this "Music" Column for over 14 years, and every day of my life someone wants to talk to me about comics, trading cards and board games as well as video games, at least my store sells video games. I am not sure what part of "Music" they are missing because that's what my whole life has been about since I was about 10 months old...

You can hear MrZerr0's PsychoGello Show 8am Sundays on Radi0 WDGY AM740, Streaming, FM: 92.1, 103.7, 107.1. Since 2017. You can hear the last 90 Episodes of this show at www.MrZeroS.Com -Podcast. With my New Co-Host Mkat and my longtime Co-Host Missy Marrz. You Can find us on fb. You can hear MrZerr0's other Shows at www.MixCloud.Com under MrZeros "Evolation" for 32 Programs and Rick Burnette's "Hits And History" for 17 Programs.

Ok, that wraps it up, check back next month for a new installment .. MrZerr0

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