(A Fairly Exhaustive) Timeline

[sharksfan2000]

Originally Posted by snoot

Indie labels, yes I could see that being a big part of the equation. As for the single resurgence, what medium was being utilized? Wouldn't much of that time frame be post-45's, but pre-digital? There was no Internet around until the early 90's, for all intents and purposes. Was there some kind of mini-CDs or discs that blew right by me?

Still mainly 45's in the late '70s, and increasingly 12" singles by the early '80s. CD singles started coming out later in the '80s (same format as regular CDs, just less music on them), but 12" vinyl singles have never completely gone away.

A side note....one of the first really big-selling 12" singles was New Order's "Blue Monday" in 1983, which was not included on their subsequent LP Power, Corruption & Lies. But similar to "Oh Well" and Then Play On, "Blue Monday" was added to the later CD release of PC&L.