What's the deal with artists releasing albums with "Bonus tracks"? I am not talking about those "Spotify exclusive" or region exclusives. Many albums have those on all of their versions, and yet some tracks are still mentioned as "Bonus" on all of them. What the hell is up with that?
Ironically, those bonus tracks are often the best tracks on a given album. Yet there is something that prevents me from seeing them as fully belonging to the album, since they are just "Bonus" and I am left unsure whether I just got a special release and the track is not fully relevant to the album, so I don't think of them as being representative of it. Then I google the album and.. it seems like all album releases get that track. I feel like it hurts albums badly in such instances. What the hell is up? Why not just list it like every other song? Normally?
It's not like it was released before or will be released otherwise, and it's also not like the 12th or so track is an "extra mile" and a stretch that I am supposed to appreciate that they included that they were considering not to. In many cases the album would be shit and not worth the money without it, so stop marking it as some sort of extension to the album itself. A bonus could be something irrelevant, like an interview or a skit, not the best song you have on it that you somehow "almost not released". A bonus is a case or spare battery for a phone, not its critical component.
A few examples of a "bonus track" being the best track of its given album, and there are many, many more:
Are you serious?
This album was shit other than this one song, a "Bonus" song of course:
This one went from being a "bonus" on its first release to a "full song" on subsequent versions (removed the word "bonus" on track lists) after they made a video for it:
And one of the stories of how I feel about any bonus songs out there:
http://ca.complex.com/music/2013/11/eminem-f-buckshot-dont-front
http://hiphopdx.com/news/id.26112/t...ed-eminem-remade-i-got-cha-opin-on-dont-front
Ironically, those bonus tracks are often the best tracks on a given album. Yet there is something that prevents me from seeing them as fully belonging to the album, since they are just "Bonus" and I am left unsure whether I just got a special release and the track is not fully relevant to the album, so I don't think of them as being representative of it. Then I google the album and.. it seems like all album releases get that track. I feel like it hurts albums badly in such instances. What the hell is up? Why not just list it like every other song? Normally?
It's not like it was released before or will be released otherwise, and it's also not like the 12th or so track is an "extra mile" and a stretch that I am supposed to appreciate that they included that they were considering not to. In many cases the album would be shit and not worth the money without it, so stop marking it as some sort of extension to the album itself. A bonus could be something irrelevant, like an interview or a skit, not the best song you have on it that you somehow "almost not released". A bonus is a case or spare battery for a phone, not its critical component.
A few examples of a "bonus track" being the best track of its given album, and there are many, many more:
Are you serious?
This album was shit other than this one song, a "Bonus" song of course:
This one went from being a "bonus" on its first release to a "full song" on subsequent versions (removed the word "bonus" on track lists) after they made a video for it:
And one of the stories of how I feel about any bonus songs out there:
http://ca.complex.com/music/2013/11/eminem-f-buckshot-dont-front
http://hiphopdx.com/news/id.26112/t...ed-eminem-remade-i-got-cha-opin-on-dont-front
