Time To Play B-sides- to borrow the great line from Blue Oyster Cult. Starting this off with one of my favorites- ‘You’re My Favorite Waste Of Time” by Marshall Crenshaw. “You’re My Favorite Waste Of Time” was the b-side to Crenshaw’s only Hot 100 hit- “Someday, Someway” #36 in 1982 from his debut album. “You’re My Favorite Waste Of Time” at the time was only a b-side it didn’t make the original album. I love Crenshaw’s debut and at the time was reading in some rock mag about the b-side and how great it was. I can’t recall the magazine the comment was in- Cream maybe? So I went out and bought the 45 so I could hear this song. I wasn’t disappointed- it was worth the effort. It wouldn’t be until years later that “You’re My Favorite Waste Of Time” would be included in both the CD version of Marshall Crenshaw, The 9 Volt Years-battery powered home demos and curios 1979-198? and also on his This Is Easy: The Best Of Marshall Crenshaw. The 9 Volt Years has the demo version of the song- both versions are fantastic.
Crenshaw would later say he remembers writing it-“That’s one that I actually remember writing. I was still in Beatlemania at the time. The show was at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh, and we were going to be there for two weeks. I got there a day early and was hanging out, watching the guys build sets. I went down to the room where all the guitars were, and I grabbed one of those Gibson J-160s. The Beatles, in the early days, used J-160 acoustics with P-90 pickups, so we had a couple of those in the show. I was noodling around, and I made that song up in my head as I was wandering around the theater. I got the title, and I was thinking a song that The Hollies might do, with a big anthemic chorus and harmonies and stuff.” Wow I went to see Beatlemania then- so I was at least close by when he wrote one of my favorite songs. “You’re My Favorite Waste Of Time” has been covered by a number of artists over the years- a Scottish singer Owen Paul had a #3 hit in the UK with his version of the song in 1986. Bette Midler, Freedy Johnston and Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs and Ronnie Spector have also covered this b-side.
below are both versions of Marshall Crenshaw’s “You’re My Favorite Waste Of Time.”
slicethelife 
Cool song. Never heard it before. Sounds like something Warren Zevon might have written.
The greatest B-side of all time? (Just my opinion.)
“Silver Springs.”
There are a lot of great b-sides. Never thought as to what the greatest would be– off the top of my head I”d say “Rain” by an obscure group from Liverpool, England called The Beatles.
What was the A-Side?
Paperback Writer
Hard to beat Paperback Writer!
Two of my favorites there.
“Hey Hey What Can I Do”
That is a good one.
The album’s fine without it, but it’s still ludicrous relegating it to a bside.
This sounds like a cross between REM and Todd Rundgren. Kind of strange, but in a good way.
I love this song the type of song you are bummed about when it ends. I first heard it on a b side compilation album called Attack of the Killer Bs – have you ever heard of it !
I have heard of that album but don’t own it… it is a song that when I hear it -one time is not enough I have to replay it a few times.
That was supposed to be a ? Anyway speaking of Crenshaw my friend Mike just saw the Smithereens and he is singing lead vocals for them.
I didn’t know that- about Marshall being on tour with The Smithereens. I can see him stepping in there.