Featured Essay: Seven-Inches Are Great Actually. No, Really, I Mean It.

by D. Mayo-Wells

I have a lot of friends who love vinyl, but few who embrace the humble 7” 45-RPM single. The frequent complaint is brevity: You can’t do anything while you’re playing singles, because you have to change or flip the record every few minutes.

That’s true, but I see it as a “feature not a bug”: the single enforces focused listening. And that handful (or less!) of minutes can be the perfect amount time to sit and appreciate an appealing or unusual sleeve.

Here are a few favorites.

Vapors - “News at Ten” b/w “Wasted,” “Talk Talk” (1980)

In the US the Vapors are remembered, if at all, for the offensive, if catchy, “Turning Japanese,” but their debut had a bunch of trying-very-hard-to-be-the-Jam songs that have aged more gracefully, of which this is probably the best. Not one, but two, non-album b-side.

Monarch - “All I Wanted Was You” b/w “Love of Yesterday” (1981)

One of the earliest singles in my collection, from the year before Metallica’s “Metal Up Your Ass.” Look at that 3-D logo—just look at it! These DC hardrock hopefuls were clearly convinced they were going to become superstars. (They did not become superstars.)

Tygers of Pan Tang - “Hellbound” b/w “Don’t Give a Damn”; “Bad Times” b/w “Don’t Take Nothin’” (1981)

Tygers of Pan Tang - “Love Potion No. 9” b/w “The Stormlands” (1982)

Newcastle’s Tygers of Pan Tang missed the NWOBHM boat that elevated Leppard and Maiden to stardom, despite—or maybe even because of—a glow-up from money-making producers Chris Tsangarides and Peter Collins. The bonus 45 backaged with “Hellbound” was presumably to convince the faithful that they hadn’t sold out, but I love the grainy two-tone look of it. Their (fairly storming, actually) run through “Love Potion” has the dubious distinction of being the earliest picture disc in my collection.

XTC - “No Thugs in Our House” b/w “Chain of Command,” “Limelight,” “Over Rusty Water” (1982)

A song about young racists that still seems eerily current gets a package that can only be described as lush. The gatefold opens to reveal a creepy domestic scene that can be populated with even creepier paper dolls. The record itself provides two alternate vistas for the window to look out on, and the back cover recasts the lyric as a miniature play. Two of the b-sides would later be appended to Drums and Wires while the third—one of Andy Partridge’s dub/remix experiments—would eventually turn up on Rag and Bone.

Icicle Works - “Birds Fly (Whisper to a Scream)” b/w “Reverie Girl” (1983)

The Icicle Works career would eventually encompass Duran-Wannabee romantic pop and guitar-heavy rockers kneeling at the alter of Neil Young. Their signature early single finds them in the former mode, with a gorgeous pastel tint illustration that seems like a literal magical ice factory.

Shriekback - “Mercy Dash (Ready for This)” b/w “Gated Joy” (1984)

A typically slinky baseline from Dave Allen (later of Gang of Four) and typically dense and opaque lyrics from this post-punk outfit. The clattery b-side eventually showed up on the remaster of Care. The sleeve feels like the poster of some imaginary movie I’d love to see.

Alcopop Records - The Wit and Wisdom of Nigel Farage (2015)

The weirdest 45” I know of, the A-side is completely blank, and the b-side is an odd and unmusical remix (of what I am not quite sure). But, y’know, fuck the tories.

Pheremones - “Yuppie Drone” b/w “Living in Exile” (1985)

In the mid-eighties, the regional radio hit wasn’t quite dead. “Yuppie Drone,” a jittery new-wave ode wth with a whole hyper-specific verse about morning commute into Washington DC was briefly a smash on the AOR stations. 

Jumprope - “No Happy Songs” (1996)

Four songs from this winsome indie pop outfit. Twee Kitten records—you know what you’re in for with a name like that—included a little mini zine, including “Cindy’s Semi-Favourites,” because she hates everything.

True Love Always - “Mediterranean” b/w “Sweet Time” (1997)

True Love Always - “Take Me Over” b/w “R U Coping with Me” (1998)

Bossa-Nova inflected indie popsters were exactly the sort of band you’d expect to find on Mark Robinson’s Teenbeat label, mild-mannered, somewhere between earnest and arch. But some of their sleeves were next-level. “Mediterranean” is literally assembled with cut-out bits of construction paper, and “Take Me Over” was packaged in an real manilla folder with an actual canceled stamp. (I can’t imagine how annying these must have been to assembled.) All four songs, and other non-album tracks, were included on the 2001 Spring Collection.

Bluebrain - “The Pull” / “The Push” (2012)

When you pull this record out of the totally featureless black sleeve, you learn that the two tracks from this experimental downtempo outfit are designed to be played together as well as separately.

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks / L.A. Guns - “Wheels of Fire” b/w “Gorgeous Georgie” (2012)

Singles are a good place for music you might not want on one of your “real” records, and this oddity with Malkmus and the Guns covering each other’s songs is one of the most dramatic examples I know of.

Lemuria - “Courtesy Mercedes” (2014)

A one-sided single packaged with an informative and mildly-scary comic about the band’s adventures touring in Russia.

Joanna Gruesome / Perfect Pussy - “Psykick Espionage” b/w “…And Keep Reaching for Those Stars”; “Adult World (the Secret)” b/w “A Leash Called Love” )2014)

Two noisy pop bands paying tribute to their influences (Sugarcubes and I Hate Myself) all wrapped up in a politically-charged punky comic book. What more could you want?

Svetlanas featuring Blag Dahlia - “Revenge” (2015)

The splatter vinyl of this one-sided single is very pretty, but what really elevates it for me is the mirror image printing on the reverse side.

Queen of Jeans - “Dance (Get Off Your Ass)” b/w “Walk Like an Egyptian” (2016)

Is the lathe cut the flexi-disc of now? This is where my love of vinyl begins to drop off - the lathe cut priorities the oddities and imperfections of how it’s made alongside the music (I do think they look cool though). Fortunately you can hear QoJ’s fuzzy run through the Bangles’ classic on streaming services, too.

Titus Andronicus - “Fired Up (remix)” b/w “Mr. E. Mann (remix)” (2016)

Not gonna lie, the weird extra stuff that often shows up in the envelope when you order singles from an indie label or artist directly is a definite draw, and this little note sparked much joy. Both tracks are alternate versions of songs from “The Most Lamentable Tragedy” 

Previous Industries - “Showbiz” b/w “Braids” (2024)

Both of these tunes are on the LP from this project featuring Open Mike Eagle, Still Rift, and Video Dave, but I love this photo. It reminds me of the bleak industrial landscapes of painter Charles Sheeler, but it’s also its own thing.

David Byrne / Olivia Rodrigo - “Drivers License” b/w “Drivers License” (2026)

The latest arrival. Can’t hear this one on streaming, y’all. ;-b

D. Mayo-Wells is an ex-pat DC punk living in Providence RI. D. thinks staying open to new music is the fountain of youth, but their knees are not fully onboard. Online at summervillain.bsky.social