@capguncowboy I’ve listened to this album every other week for the past 20 years. Never gets old. I’d pay a shit ton of money for them to reunite and do a show on the east coast.
@spitfire6006006 Eh, sort of. He didn’t pick up a bass guitar to strum that line. But sending a regular guitar through a pedal to lower it to bass-like levels? You’ve still got yourself a bass line.
But that aside, what are we evaluating it based on? Groove, melody or technique? Because there are so many awesome songs with wicked stellar basslines from different (rock-metal) genres that I can mention right now.
Dave E. of Megadeth comes to mind as a master of “catchy” bass.
@Stumpy91 They were only called “The Charlatans UK” in the states because of ASCAP issues from the American band that went by that name in the 60s. It’s the same reason why Suede was called “The London Suede” here in the states.
Something older & more unique? Here’s a distorted 8-string bass madness from Joey DiMaio of Manowar. In Manowar in particular bass is the leading instrument, while guitar plays a secondary role.
Or here’s Steve DiGiorgio with his fretless bass, playing on Death’s best album and probably best song as well. This is on the heavier side - it’s progressive Death Metal.
@serpent Steve is a beast! “Squeal Like a Pig” from Autopsy’s ‘Fiend for Blood’ e.p. is one of my favs!
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Of the 14 songs that you selected, the quality of the recording is bad. I know of Bernard Edwards so I would go with “Good Times”. There is a boatload of songs with great bass, and alot of times it comes down to it being purely subjective. I only listened to the beginning of the Beatles and it did’nt sound good.
@styloroc John Taylor has always been one of my favorite bass players. I saw them a few weeks ago and he’s still awesome, especially when playing with Nile Rodgers from Chic.
@f00l Hell yes! Wanted to post it too, you beat me to it. Amazing one! If it’s catchiness we’re talking about, then “Under Pressure” also needs to be mentioned.
I think a list of bands with brilliant bass won’t be complete without Steve Harris of Iron Maiden, who pioneered an innovative at the time technique of utilizing more than just two fingers.
@StrawHousePig I am embarrassed now… I could swear he uses 3 fingers. I watched him play, tried to copy & it’s much easier to achieve with 3 fingers. And Google tells me I am not alone in that… But if it’s 2 fingers it’s even more impressive.
In my opinion bass is a highly under-utilized instrument in music nowadays - a lot of bands just delegate it to a background role. But if done right - it brings a new dimension to a song. Here’s King Crimson - another bright progressive bass line, very layered composition, simply awesome.
Here’s a more modern example - Jex Thoth’s psychedelic doom rock has a very low and distorted roaring bass, which is very important to the composition - together with wailing guitars and prominent organ keyboards it creates a very ominous atmosphere.
I think I am going too far with this stuff, so I’ll just post one more song for open-minded people who wish to go down the rabbit hole. British prog-black band Code - song “Brass Dogs”. Think of a pitch-black noir ballad buried in distortion (very noisy). But it’s the bass line (played by Yusaf Parvez) that gives it an extra edge - here it plays a highly melodic role, which underlines vocals and plays upon the melody, while the guitars play the repetitive arpeggio riff. Gives it a dark, decadent, carnival tone. Genius.
Sorry for the flooding and I hope somebody appreciates this.
Ah, damn. Can’t help it. One more - The Sisters of Mercy “Lucretia, My Reflection”. Just like Joy Division before them, and a lot of New Wave bands in the 80’s, TSOM often use a repetitive hypnotic bass-line, that drills into your scull and keeps you thinking about it and humming it over and over.
Another pretty impressive song with very prominent bass - Ghost’s “Secular Haze”. Swedish occult hard rock took the world by storm several years ago. In my opinion, deservedly so. I find myself humming along with the bass line here…
@serpent when I stumbled across them years ago, there was a few songs I really liked. I was disappointed that when I really started to listen to a whole CD, I just wasn’t into it.
@RiotDemon I like all three albums. That being said, you might want to check different albums, as they are pretty, well, different. The first one is more retro rock / metal with a doomish vibe. Makes me think of King Diamond at various moments. The second album (the one this song is from) is more like pop music with rock instruments. It appeals to me as well, but I understand that for some people it’s not heavy enough. I just like the ideology & the music. Then the third album is more “metal” again - perhaps the most metal of the three, as the first two weren’t exactly metal.
Here’s another bass-driven Ghost song from the last album.
@serpent I’ll check that one out. I have a very hard time finding new bands I really can get into. I’m so damn picky when it comes to the singer, it’s ridiculous. There’s a lot of metal where if they had no singer, or a different one, I’d be in love. I don’t know how many times I’ll start listening to the opening of a song, it seems like it has real promise, and then the singing ruins it for me.
Out of this list, Good Times is my favorite, but I just saw Chic again a few weeks ago and it’s still stuck in my head. Anything Nile Rodgers is involved with is going to be awesome.
How about John McVie of Fleetwood Mac. Here’s a not great concert video of The Chain that still gives me the chills even though the quality is poor. Check out 3:49, where that famous bass line is highlighted.
My two favorite bass lines:
Green Onions by Booker T and the MGs Bass by the incomparable Donald “Duck” Dunn
and
Peter Gunn, best version by Duane Eddy, but any will do as the bass is kick ass throughout! Duane Eddy!
@brhfl Oh Autechre definitely. Couldn’t reasonably think of an Autechre bassline that would work for this thread, though. Fortunately, the little GESCOM I’ve heard included this track, and it just fit.
/image op ivy
@hems79 I listened to this album yesterday, for the first time in a couple of years.
@capguncowboy I’ve listened to this album every other week for the past 20 years. Never gets old. I’d pay a shit ton of money for them to reunite and do a show on the east coast.
Where’s the “other that I’ll post in the thread” option? Someone needs to put forward Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes.
@melonscoop There’s no such thing as a White Stripes bassline, though
@spitfire6006006 Eh, sort of. He didn’t pick up a bass guitar to strum that line. But sending a regular guitar through a pedal to lower it to bass-like levels? You’ve still got yourself a bass line.
How the fuck can you talk about bass lines without mentioning Billie Jean, or ANY Michael Jackson song at all?!
/image Michael Jackson Billie Jean
@Dizavid
Vid
London Calling
I’ma let you finish, but A Taste of Honey’s “Boogie Oogie Oogie” has one of the best baselines of all time:
Come Together
Take Me To The River (Talking Heads)
LEMMY 4 GOD.
But that aside, what are we evaluating it based on? Groove, melody or technique? Because there are so many awesome songs with wicked stellar basslines from different (rock-metal) genres that I can mention right now.
Dave E. of Megadeth comes to mind as a master of “catchy” bass.
/youtube papa was a rolling stone
Something a bit more modern? Here comes Muse with their “Panic Station” - easy, but groovy & catchy beyond words!
One of a hundred from The Charlatans’ catalogue:
@sparkle_motion Nice one…love the Charlatans
@sparkle_motion Remember when they were the Charlatans UK? Love 'em.
@Stumpy91 They were only called “The Charlatans UK” in the states because of ASCAP issues from the American band that went by that name in the 60s. It’s the same reason why Suede was called “The London Suede” here in the states.
Something older & more unique? Here’s a distorted 8-string bass madness from Joey DiMaio of Manowar. In Manowar in particular bass is the leading instrument, while guitar plays a secondary role.
Or here’s Steve DiGiorgio with his fretless bass, playing on Death’s best album and probably best song as well. This is on the heavier side - it’s progressive Death Metal.
@serpent Steve is a beast! “Squeal Like a Pig” from Autopsy’s ‘Fiend for Blood’ e.p. is one of my favs!
<iframe width=“560” height=“315” src=“” frameborder=“0” allowfullscreen></iframe>
@edguyver14 Hell yes! Early Autopsy is sublime, the whole “Severed Survival” album (also with Steve) is among my all-time favourites.
Before I continue I must mention that I play bass myself, so I probably hear it differently.
Since this hook is created on a synthesizer, does it count as a bass line?
/youtube superstition
@compunaut I’m gonna go with yes.
Of the 14 songs that you selected, the quality of the recording is bad. I know of Bernard Edwards so I would go with “Good Times”. There is a boatload of songs with great bass, and alot of times it comes down to it being purely subjective. I only listened to the beginning of the Beatles and it did’nt sound good.
My favorite bass line is Colin Moulding’s bass line to Dukes of Stratosphear’s (the XTC psych side project from the early-mid 80s) What in the World?!
And as far as an often overlooked one, I like John Taylor’s bass line from Duran Duran’s Rio:
@styloroc John Taylor has always been one of my favorite bass players. I saw them a few weeks ago and he’s still awesome, especially when playing with Nile Rodgers from Chic.
Another obvious one
Another One Bites The Dust
@f00l Hell yes! Wanted to post it too, you beat me to it. Amazing one! If it’s catchiness we’re talking about, then “Under Pressure” also needs to be mentioned.
I think a list of bands with brilliant bass won’t be complete without Steve Harris of Iron Maiden, who pioneered an innovative at the time technique of utilizing more than just two fingers.
@serpent Steve only uses two fingers to pluck.
@StrawHousePig I am embarrassed now… I could swear he uses 3 fingers. I watched him play, tried to copy & it’s much easier to achieve with 3 fingers. And Google tells me I am not alone in that… But if it’s 2 fingers it’s even more impressive.
Weird intro to this vid, but the song is in there
Helter Skelter
/youtube busta move
In my opinion bass is a highly under-utilized instrument in music nowadays - a lot of bands just delegate it to a background role. But if done right - it brings a new dimension to a song. Here’s King Crimson - another bright progressive bass line, very layered composition, simply awesome.
@serpent Elevated, for sure. Love these guys.
The Who, “The Real Me” (featuring John “Thunderfingers” Entwistle
@unkleknave Finally! Someone with some taste! I would have posted this if you hadn’t beat me to it.
Here’s a more modern example - Jex Thoth’s psychedelic doom rock has a very low and distorted roaring bass, which is very important to the composition - together with wailing guitars and prominent organ keyboards it creates a very ominous atmosphere.
/youtube she’s a brick house
/youtube just the two of us
I think I am going too far with this stuff, so I’ll just post one more song for open-minded people who wish to go down the rabbit hole. British prog-black band Code - song “Brass Dogs”. Think of a pitch-black noir ballad buried in distortion (very noisy). But it’s the bass line (played by Yusaf Parvez) that gives it an extra edge - here it plays a highly melodic role, which underlines vocals and plays upon the melody, while the guitars play the repetitive arpeggio riff. Gives it a dark, decadent, carnival tone. Genius.
Sorry for the flooding and I hope somebody appreciates this.
Light & Poppy, but a nice Bass line
/youtube shut up and dance with me
Ah, damn. Can’t help it. One more - The Sisters of Mercy “Lucretia, My Reflection”. Just like Joy Division before them, and a lot of New Wave bands in the 80’s, TSOM often use a repetitive hypnotic bass-line, that drills into your scull and keeps you thinking about it and humming it over and over.
@serpent
Nobody wants you to stop. Keep going, if you wish.
@f00l If you wish! Music is my passion.
@serpent I loved that song during my teen angst years.
/youtube hey pocky way
Here’s something else obscure - Russian beat/rockabilly band Bravo. They use double-bass - which is a common instrument in the rockabilly scene.
Another pretty impressive song with very prominent bass - Ghost’s “Secular Haze”. Swedish occult hard rock took the world by storm several years ago. In my opinion, deservedly so. I find myself humming along with the bass line here…
@serpent when I stumbled across them years ago, there was a few songs I really liked. I was disappointed that when I really started to listen to a whole CD, I just wasn’t into it.
@RiotDemon I like all three albums. That being said, you might want to check different albums, as they are pretty, well, different. The first one is more retro rock / metal with a doomish vibe. Makes me think of King Diamond at various moments. The second album (the one this song is from) is more like pop music with rock instruments. It appeals to me as well, but I understand that for some people it’s not heavy enough. I just like the ideology & the music. Then the third album is more “metal” again - perhaps the most metal of the three, as the first two weren’t exactly metal.
Here’s another bass-driven Ghost song from the last album.
@serpent I’ll check that one out. I have a very hard time finding new bands I really can get into. I’m so damn picky when it comes to the singer, it’s ridiculous. There’s a lot of metal where if they had no singer, or a different one, I’d be in love. I don’t know how many times I’ll start listening to the opening of a song, it seems like it has real promise, and then the singing ruins it for me.
Lee Van Cleef by Primus. Also comes with a pretty cool music video.
@Signorino Les Claypool is a bass pervert! Not that there is anything wrong with that.
@Signorino I was looking for the Primus - I think of bass, that’s a band in my top five for sure.
The fact that the Beatles song is high in the polling shows that nobody is listening to the clips and they are just picking a familiar name. /:
@timmyboy1 I hope that’s not true, but I knew all but three of these songs before opening the others and still went Rain. Very bouncy.
Shocking Bootsy Collins didn’t show up in the list. Funk is really under-represented.
I can’t believe no one has added Cool Jerk to the list yet
Another one no one else mentioned.
The Smithereens - Blood & Roses
Pink Floyd - One of These Days
Out of this list, Good Times is my favorite, but I just saw Chic again a few weeks ago and it’s still stuck in my head. Anything Nile Rodgers is involved with is going to be awesome.
This is difficult for me, to narrow down to a single moment of the “best” bass line. Instead, here’s a smattering of what influenced my bass playing:
No Mick Karn?
@mike808 Mick Karn on Japan’s “Swing”. A fretless bass master.
I could do this all day.
Mingus is god
@vanslaterco
Re Mingus.
Yes.
Matt Freeman!!!
Edit: I don’t know how to use the internet
OR
Another One Bites the Dust
Adventures of Raindance Maggie
Seven - Prince THE perfect dance song.
Any talk about basslines without including Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers is incomplete. Let’s start with one of their latest songs:
Dark Necessities by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
Why has nobody mentioned Moondance (Van Morrison)? Great moving bass line.
@gadgetdave Good one, I didn’t even think of this.
How about John McVie of Fleetwood Mac. Here’s a not great concert video of The Chain that still gives me the chills even though the quality is poor. Check out 3:49, where that famous bass line is highlighted.
What? Where the hell is Flashlight? Sure, it was done on three chained minimoogs, but still, one of the best progressive basslines ever:
Rock Lobster
Noone mentioned Sugar Hill Gang’s Rapper’s Delight?
@capguncowboy It’s in the OP. They’re using Chic’s Good Times. Come on, man.
In a different direction…
Bass fans, wait for the bridge. Or perhaps just stay for the whole song.
Aaron Neville & Rob Wasserman - Stardust (Live 1988)
Broken English
Working Class Hero
This version
Literally anything with Victor Wooten
/youtube Victor wooten
Wire. Heartbeat. Graham Lewis.
No, Jah Wobble?
My two favorite bass lines:
Green Onions by Booker T and the MGs
Bass by the incomparable Donald “Duck” Dunn
and
Peter Gunn, best version by Duane Eddy, but any will do as the bass is kick ass throughout!
Duane Eddy!
@TimWalter Doesn’t Duck Dunn play ‘Peter Gunn’ in the Blues Brothers movie?
Yes - Roundabout
The ultimate Air Bass song.
GESCOM - Key Nell 1
Without the bassline, you have experimental IDM. With the bassline, it’s jazz.
/youtube GESCOM Key Nell 1
@weasels Oh, hey, a GESCOM (and presumably Autechre) fan. Nifto.
@brhfl Oh Autechre definitely. Couldn’t reasonably think of an Autechre bassline that would work for this thread, though. Fortunately, the little GESCOM I’ve heard included this track, and it just fit.
Took me a few days to remember, but this is probably my favorite:
Dusty Springfield, Son of a Preacher Man
@brianashe Oh yeah, and Stevie Wonder, Superstition
@brianashe I forgot about ‘Preacher Man’, but not Stevie (see comments from last Sunday)
I’m a big fan of Ohio musician Freekbass. This is a killer bass line. You have to skip ahead to 1:50 to bypass the stupidly long intro