Rumor has it that the very first cassette single, Bow Wow Wow's C30, C60, C90, Go! from 1980 -- a song that is about home taping -- also had a blank B-side for the same reason, but I can't find any photographic evidence of this.
That's totally the kind of prank McLaren would have pulled, though. It's also totally the kind of thing he would have taken credit for after it happened by accident.
Update, 2018:
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I'm just gonna leave that here.
Seems like its a rumor for a reason: http://www.flickr.com/photos/khiltscher/4846942247/ ;)
I'm old enough to remember this, and my vague memory has it that McLaren wanted one side left blank, but EMI swapped it. Maybe the blank ones went out as promos?
Seems not, because here is the promo: http://www.discogs.com/Bow-Wow-Wow-C30-C60-C90-Go/release/2263338
The story definitely dates back to 1980, but it seems like it might have been McLaren blarney.
My Collection Of Cassingles Is Second To None
Related.
In the early 80s, I did lighting and/or electrics for the bands visiting the university I was at. Bow Wow Wow ripped off Burundi beats well, but they were the most unpleasant bunch I ever met: more interested in doing speed and kicking students than doing anything like a soundcheck.
Er... is your site trolling us?
Current topic, as rendered by the sidebar: "Hope taping ..."
Less related: I am using youtubedown to retrieve the Chvrches KEXP performance; while the youtube UI shows that I'm getting 1080p, youtubedown claims to be selecting the 720p stream:
$ ~/Bin/youtubedown -v https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipE-tnRh4fE
youtubedown: ipE-tnRh4fE: found url_encoded_fmt_stream_map in JSON
youtubedown: ipE-tnRh4fE: available formats: 22, 43, 18, 5, 36, 17; picked 22.
youtubedown: downloading "Chvrches - Full Performance (Live on Kexp) (2013)"
youtubedown: wrote "Chvrches - Full Performance (Live on Kexp) (2013).mp4", 334M, 1280 x 720
Is this expected?
(Also, it's fun to watch the MoshCam interview where they speak English that is totally comprehensible to this en_US geek; the last time I tried to watch an interview with them, their spoken English was so Scottish that it was indecipherable.)
Note that CSS's first CD included a second, blank CD so anyone who liked it could make a copy for their friends.
Island did a line of "One plus One" tapes, with one side being an album and the other blank for your own use. "C30 C60 C90 Go!" and the EP "Your Cassette Pet" played around with solidarity with the movement, but didn't actually do any blank material.