The worst Bass sound ever put on record.

[Rocker949]

"Once in a Lifetime" has to be one of my least favorite songs of all time.  It is just plain goofy.  After that, it was impossible for me to take the Talking Heads seriously.  To say that that is not my kind of music would be putting it mildly.  On the other hand, Cream is my favorite band.

[slinkp]

I'm a big Talking Heads fan.
As for "Sugar on my Tongue", I believe that was a no-budget direct-to-2-track recording before Jerry Harrison even joined the band. Tina had probably been playing bass for less than a year. Not surprisingly, it sounds like crap.
There's some much better live recordings from the early years... here's a random one from '78 when they were still a four-piece.

[uwe]

I don't think David Byrne & Co ever aspired to sound fat, they wanted to sound sparse and geeky, they were not about to emulate Foghat or Grand Funk Railroad soundwise. Tina's "bass" sound - more a baritone guitar - does the job on that number I think.

I can understand what Ilan - a Rickenbacker man, mind you, from across the universe - feels when he hears Jack Bruce' sixties and early seventies sound, I used to feel much the same. I also used to think Jack Bruce's bending-infested fretless playing horrible, but in recent years I've grown to appreciate the musicality in it (even if its not always what your ear expects). I like a lot of untypical or radical bass sounds for their idiosyncracy, but that doesn't make them sounds I would want to have myself. Likewise I appreciate how Chris Squire and Geddy Lee sound, but it's not my cup of tea for myself.

One bass sound I really dislike is Lemmy's (and I just saw him in concert). It is neither here nor there for me. All that distortion makes it lose bass frequencies, it doesn't really have a full sound and though Lemmy's is power chording all the time, you can - unlike on a baritone guitar which he is trying to emulate - never make out quite what he is playing. Much of the time it sounds like a rhythm guitar played through a broken octave divider that has issues transforming the signal. It's not the style of his playing that I dislike - listen to Space Ritual of Hawkwind to hear how melodic and even lyrical his style of flowing rhythm bass can be, but then he had a largely undistorted sound on that -, I think he frankly has a bad sound. His preferred type of Marshall's lack of headroom might be more to blame for this than his signature Ric or are those pups the culprits?

Uwe
 

[Dave W]

He sounded that way before the signature Ric existed. The Marshall's lack of headroom is part of it; the other part is that he cranks the mids all the way up and turns the bass and treble down to 1.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

I think he frankly has a bad sound. His preferred type of Marshall's lack of headroom might be more to blame for this than his signature Ric or are those pups the culprits?

It's a combination of pretty hot pickups and the Marshall tone stack, but the thinness is mostly the Marshall. When I saw him a few years back, he had no low end at all and the bass drum was mixed to take up the bottom, but it sounded VERY good, and oddly, never stepped on the guitars and vice versa. However, I was so close (front row), I was getting stage wash from his backline and I could easily guess that his 4x15 was filling out the low mids in a way that might not be translating through the PA.

When Lemmy isn't playing rhythm guitar on bass, his playing can be downright funky in a rock way.  I have few compilations where he plays bass and instead of his usually blown-speaker bass tone, his tone is traditional and fat and his playing is nothing that would expect if all you know is Motorhead.

[Basvarken]

I think the entire production of Ozzy's Blizzard Of Ozz is horrible. And the bass sound is no exception. For instance the song Goodbye to Romance with the "plop plop" sound of Bob Daisley sounds downright silly.

[rockinrayduke]

I think the entire production of Ozzy's Blizzard Of Ozz is horrible.

The original production or the recent "Ozzy and Sharon hate Bob Daisley" version featuring brand new bass parts replacing Daisley's?

And as much as I love him the heavily processed tone that Entwistle was using the last few years before his death was in my opinion just horrible, live and on recordings. He took his signature sound and just added so many effects that it sounded like a bandsaw gone berserk.

[Basvarken]

The original production or the recent "Ozzy and Sharon hate Bob Daisley" version featuring brand new bass parts replacing Daisley's?

Like I said; the Bob Daisley version.
Have never even bothered to listen to the new version.

[n!k]

Really didn't mean to turn this into a Talking Heads defense council meeting, it's really just that one song. It's that plunk sound when the string snaps on her fill late in the song that makes me heave!

For me, Cream-era Jack Bruce is the worst recorded bass sound.

I'm sorry good sir but "best recorded bass sound" is another thread entirely! 

[ack1961]

I know I'll get killed for this, but I cannot listen to Walk This Way by Aerosmith.
I like Tom Hamilton, but that rubbery tone goes right through my spine everytime I hear that song.

[nofi]

i think you should be applauded!

[PWV]

Next up would be what Lars did to Jason Newsted's sound on the first few albums he did with Metallica.

+1  I wonder what that album COULD have sounded like with bass in the mix.

[Rocker949]

I know I'll get killed for this, but I cannot listen to Walk This Way by Aerosmith.
I like Tom Hamilton, but that rubbery tone goes right through my spine everytime I hear that song.

Tom Hamilton seems to think his bass playing was the worst ever on this song.  In fact, he seems to be self-critical in general, but especially on "Walk This Way."

[Blazer]

I guess I should add my former bass player Ade to the list.

hxxp://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=45014781
Cut and paste the url, and put the "http" back in for this to work.
Slavantas at our first gig playing "Road to victory." Evident in this recording is Ade's use of a Gretsch baritone six string bass through an Electro harmonix "Big Muff" distortion pedal. At the 1:18 mark he does a little solo and his "lawnmower-on-nitrous" sound is evident. He would NEVER turn that damn thing off either.

[OldManC]

I think the entire production of Ozzy's Blizzard Of Ozz is horrible. And the bass sound is no exception. For instance the song Goodbye to Romance with the "plop plop" sound of Bob Daisley sounds downright silly.

As much as a Gibson fan as I am, I have to say I've always agreed about Bob Daisley's tone on Blizzard. Look below for the culprit.

    



BTW, as a fan of Randy's I like both versions of Blizzard and Diary. The re-recordings, while definitely a cheap shot, have their own charm and feature cleaner mixes which benefit the guitar parts quite a bit. Seeing as I have the original CD releases and the 1992 22 bit remasters (of the original releases), I didn't feel guilty at all picking up the Daisley/Kerslake-less versions.