10 Great Rock Music Singles That Never Appeared On An Album
Just because they were never on an album, that doesn't mean these songs are excellent.
Back when people actually paid money for music, singles were a great way to draw attention to an upcoming album.
The classic way to sell LPs was to release a hit single, have it play on the radio to drum up some interest, and then tell people to buy the album that the single was on. Did the rest of the album have to be good? Not at all!
It's safe to say that most famous rocks songs have appeared on albums over the years, but that isn't true of all of them. Before we get on with this list, there are a few ground rules to go over.
Firstly, this will be a list of singles that did not originally appear on an album, although some of them did end up on special or extended editions of records released years after the fact.
Secondly, anything that would appear on a compilation or an unofficial release still counts. The only criteria is that they weren't originally featured on an artist's studio album. Everything else is fine.
With that out of the way, let's discuss some of the biggest and best non-album singles of all time.
10. Lights Out - Green Day
For their 2009 album 21st Century Breakdown, Green Day selected the song Know Your Enemy as the lead single. The song, which was a simple punky rock track, is a fan favourite amongst the group's fans, but how many of them bothered to flip the single over and see what was on the other side?
Metaphorically, of course. Actual physical singles hadn't been popular for a long time by 2009.
Know Your Enemy had two B-sides. One was called Hearts Collide and the other is the subject of this entry, Lights Out.
At just two minutes and 16 seconds, there isn't much of Lights Out, but it crams a lot of action into a short space of time. A frantic burst of power chords and Billie Joe Armstrong sounding a bit cross, the track is punchy and to the point, like all good punk-inspired music should be.
Lights Out never made it to 21st Century Breakdown, nor any other Green Day studio release for that matter, which is a shame as it could have easily found a home there.
There were 18 songs on that album, for crying out loud, surely there was room for one more?