Sure, let’s take a look at The Beatles and that little gem “Her Majesty” that sat on the back of the Sgt. Pepper single. Even though it’s only 23 seconds long, it shows how they were already thinking about hidden tracks and playful packaging. The band used that bite‑size experiment to push the boundaries of what could be a B‑side, and it later influenced the whole “secret track” trend of the ’80s and ’90s. Compare that to Radiohead’s “Weird Fables” on the B‑side of “Paranoid Android.” That instrumental cue, with its swirling synths, fed directly into the sonic textures of their later albums, especially “Kid A.” In both cases, a B‑side wasn’t just filler; it was a sandbox that let the band test new ideas that would ripple through their future work. So if you’re mapping influence, look at the B‑side as a mini‑studio: a place where a band can try something off‑beat, then see if that flavor sticks when it pops up in a full album. It’s a quiet yet powerful way to shape a trajectory.