Why a Billy Idol record had a side 6

I wrote about the Billy Idol album "Whiplash Smile" back in 2011. And in the course of my discussion about the varied musical styles on the album (as well as the fact that I'm one of the few people who seem to like it), I said a few things:

Take a listen to the songs on "Side Five" of Whiplash Smile. The punker and the rocker start with "Worlds Forgotten Boy"....Move on to "Side Six," and just imagine Idol playing "Don't Need a Gun" or "All Summer Single" sandwiched between some Ramones and Pistols songs - he'd be booed off the stage.

Side Five? Side Six?

Uh, yeah.

(From 45worlds.com)
Perhaps Idol had admired the band Chicago in his youth.

Whatever the cause, Idol was clearly building a numbered collection, in which each side of a record (these were the days of records) was numbered sequentially. I also owned Idol's follow-up, "Charmed Life," and recall that this album had numbered Sides 7 and 8. However, the predecessor to "Whiplash Smile," "Rebel Yell," definitely had Sides 3 and 4.

(From Voluptuous Vinyl)
Here are the track listings for these two albums alone:

Side 3
Rebel Yell
Daytime Drama
Eyes Without A Face
Blue Highway

Side 4
Flesh For Fantasy
Catch My Fall
Crank Call
(Do Not) Stand In The Shadows
The Dead Next Door

Side 5
Worlds Forgotten Boy
To Be A Lover
Soul Standing By
Sweet Sixteen
Man For All Seasons

Side 6
Don't Need A Gun
Beyond Belief
Fatal Charm
All Summer Single
One Night, One Chance

Side 7
The Loveless
Pumping On Steel
Prodigal Blues
L.A. Woman
Trouble With The Sweet Stuff

Side 8
Cradle Of Love
Mark Of Caine
Endless Sleep
Love Unchained
The Right Way
License To Thrill

When examined in that perspective, the Billy Idol song collection displays a distinct evolution as the songs, always somewhat dark, get progressively moodier and darker.

And now that I'm writing this post, I have one of the "Side 6" songs stuck in my head - "Beyond Belief" (distinctly different than the Elvis Costello song with the same name).



In fact, I just added this song to my "Middle-Aged White People Microwave Music" playlist (over 100 songs and still growing).

Announcing the playlist "Middle-Aged White People Microwave Music"

Yes, I'm curating a new playlist with the name "Middle-Aged White People Microwave Music."

This may be a surprise to some of you, who know that my playlists usually have names like Emu201803f-aaaa.

Well, it all started with Hollister.

Usually I create my own playlists, but of course Spotify and its advertisers really really want me to listen to the playlists that they create. So one evening Spotify informed me that my good friends at Hollister had created a playlist called "Teen Party."



Because obviously I would have great interest in a playlist called "Teen Party."

Amused by the suggestion, I actually listened to the playlist, but quit when the second song played was the new Taylor Swift remake. (Or reboot.)

I began wondering if Spotify had a playlist that was more appropriate for my age bracket, and although Spotify's powerful corporate sponsors didn't have such a playlist, Brandon Johnson did.



Johnson began working on this playlist in December 2016, and was adding songs as recently as this month. Obviously that's a different method from how I usually work; I'll usually create a playlist, and then create another one a few days or a couple of weeks later. In fact, about a week ago I started working on a playlist with the imaginative name Emu201804c.



Well, while I've really liked listening to my Emu201804c playlist over the last week, I liked Johnson's playlist also, and decided to combine the two.

The result? "Middle-Aged White People Microwave Music."



I don't know if Brandon Johnson's aunties and uncles and grandmas would necessarily groove along to Flash and the Pan. In fact, I doubt my aunties and uncles would groove to it either. But hey, I like it.

And I'll probably keep on working on the playlist. As I write this, there are currently 59 songs on the playlist, with 4 hours and 37 seconds of music. That's about half of Brandon Johnson's list, but as I said I'll possibly add stuff.

Perhaps I'll even add stuff from "Teen Party."

But not the Taylor Swift song.