Music videos featuring Fat-Bottom Girls (Rippers, Victories, etc)

[Granny Gremlin]

Yep - looks like an Artist too, but hard to see (think I see the FX switch).

it never ceases to amaze me what sort of acts used RDs at the time.  I mean nowadays no country band would go near it.

[uwe]

Back then, the RDs didn't have a metal, punk or even rock image at all. They were the high end new model (in the Artist version) and the only question was whether you could afford one as they were darn expensive in Europe. As such, seeing one in a Top 40 cover band or an orchestra wasn't uncommon, those bassists had regular income!



You just didn't see them very long in those bands and my guess is for musicians playing for hours on end the boat anchor weight of them became an issue. That is the reputation they had real quickly: well-made bass, state of the art, but MUCH too heavy.

[Denis]

The Dictators with what looks like a Grabber.

[uwe]

Yup, Mark Mendoza (= not Marco Mendoza of Ted Nugent, Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy, Dead Daisies etc) played his Grabber throughout his relatively short Dictators tenure (around '77, Andy Shernoff, who had previously handled bass as well as being the brain behind The Dictators, made room for him and played keyboards during that time) though I never saw him playing it with Twisted Sister (he committed adultry with a Stingray there).

Here live from Winterland '77 which shows what a kick-ass band they were, warts and off-key vocals and all. To think that two of these guys would later on be more successful with (IMHO: much) lesser bands such as Twisted Sister and Manowar, talk about dumbing down! 





I never knew that Richard Teeter (the drummer) sang Steppin' Out!



The Dictators' Manifest Destiny LP ranks to this day among my favourite late 70ies rock albums. A masterpiece somewhere between arena rock, punk and NYC coolness. They really should have gone somewhere, but seemingly feel through all cracks: Too smart and punkish for the metal crowd, too traditional and AOR for punks and new wavers. Not as an immediately identifiable visual image as, say, The Ramones, Twisted Sister, Kiss or even Manowar either. That Sandy Pearlman, who masterminded BÖC's career, took them under his wing (though he failed establishing them) came as no surprise, like BÖC they were eclectic in their influences and always had a NYC intellectual air about them.

[doombass]

There's a story about Mark Mendoza's Grabber being Gene Simmons' ebony one:

http://www.kissopolis.com/2012/03/gene-simmons-owned-gibson-grabber-bass.html

[Dave W]

There's a story about Mark Mendoza's Grabber being Gene Simmons' ebony one:

http://www.kissopolis.com/2012/03/gene-simmons-owned-gibson-grabber-bass.html

Gene gave/sold this bass to Mark Mendoza of Twisted Sister...at that time the band was called the "Dictators".

[uwe]

Ouch. That is a bit like saying Led Zeppelin is actually Kiss. I've seen Twister Sister in concert during their heyday and you sure as hell weren't bored, Dee Snider is a great loudmouth frontman. But their studio output is instantly forgettable.

Nuttin' compared to my beloved Dictators:

[pjm]

Sa-weet sounding Ripper. Really hear it at around 5:15
https://youtu.be/t63IJ-vHdDo?t=5m15s

[Dave W]

It has good presence all the way through.

[uwe]

He wears that Ripper up high!

[Basvarken]

Here's a bit of Kansas on a Ripper

[Pilgrim]

It has good presence all the way through.

Agreed, it sounds great!  I saw them here in Fort Collins just as their star was ascending. They did a good show and their number SOB was headed up the charts fast.

And that bass sounds like it might have a mute engaged - has a real classic "plunk" sound to it.

I'm about 90% sure that's a Stetson Open Road that Rateliff is wearing. It is one of the best proportioned hats ever made.

[uwe]

A younger Uwe might have killed for that sound many moons ago, but today it just sounds unpleasantly harsh and metallic in my ears, brrrr ...  Not like I would want a Ripper to sound at all, but it goes to show that like its source of inspiration - the Jazz Bass - you can get it to clank if you want to.

[4stringer77]

He's using a dark glass pedal which is why I suppose it sounds like ass, that and he's too much in front of the beat.

[uwe]

His chops are fine in my book and if you play along to something precorded then rushing a bit comes naturally. He's a very forceful player, bit too forceful for my taste, if you play like that all the time how can you play any louder if you want to? I like dynamics in bass playing (which is why I abhor compression, it's like someone else playing rather than me), so I play with an attack that allows me to play lighter and harder.

But then what do I know? Perhaps that is the way you have to play in stadiums all the time as a bassist, dig in harshly 24/7? I'd find that dreary after a while, takes away the nuances of the aural spectrum of the instrument.