Favorite bass song: a confession

[ack1961]

I was thinking last night about the bassists/groups that got me hooked on bass.
I'm almost 50, and I grew up listening to some great bassists in Rock groups: Entwistle, Squire, Glover, Thain, etc.
I've always enjoyed the bass parts in rock music and thought I was capable of picking the bass parts out pretty easily. (after I picked up the bass 3 years ago, I found out that I was wrong).
I have always been a rock guy and I give most other music a big pass.

Over the years (and as music changed a bit), there were some others that came along and made me want to play: Graham Maby's work with Joe Jackson has stuck with me since I first heard it back in the '70's. He's a killer. Guys like Norman Watt Roy, John Wetton, Leland Sklar, Tony Stevens, Guy Pratt and others had done work that I really like (personally, I can listen to Pratt's work on PF's "Pulse" all day long). The music that Mike Mills & Billy Gould play are night/day, but I never get tired of hearing them play the bass.

But, I was thinking "what's THE ONE bass song...." my favorite?
I thought about it: it's "Last Chance on the Stairway" by Duran Duran. (nope, I'm straight - I checked this morning).
I own Rio, but that's it - I don't really like their music all that much, but John Taylor is a pretty wicked bass player.
This has been on my mind...It'll probably change the next time I listen to Colin Edwin play that Bongo.

[gearHed289]

I think John Taylor is great. There are a lot of subtleties in his playing, like the way he very slightly changes the bass part from one verse to the next.

[nofi]

i have always viewed rock bassparts as very changable throughout the song, as long as you keep it in the ballpark and fits what you are playing.

[jumbodbassman]

John Taylor is actually pretty good but i could never take Duran Duran very seriously... I try and forget the 80's pop coming out of England and US to lesser degree....   Flock of hairspray and keyboard bass parts

[Pilgrim]

Thinking back, if there's a bass line that I still love, it's probably a toss-up between these two:

Led Zep's Lemon Song
James Gang's Funk #49

Both grabbed me the first time I heard them.

[Barklessdog]

In classic rock, especially in the 60's & early 70's, the bass really had a lot more freedom to be more than "just following the guitarist or kick drum". Most Live albums sounded completely different from the recorded version, which was great (Who Live at Leeds).


These young whippersnappers today- get off my lawn!

[uwe]

Anybody who doesn't rate John Taylor highly as a bass player must be deaf. Even George (Carlston) likes him.

There's too many to name, but this is a favorite of mine:

[Droombolus]

Simple yet effective and of course always keeping the groove down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odLL_s3UJgs&feature=related

Just check out the way Andy takes over the guitar-part in the last part of Paul's solo ........ need I say more ?

[OldManC]

Anybody who doesn't rate John Taylor highly as a bass player must be deaf. Even George (Carlston) likes him.

I discovered JT after enjoying my first glimpse of the Girls on Film video. Between the first album and Rio I thought he and Andy Taylor were brilliant. I used to practice by playing along to different records and I still remember the challenge of going from Iron Maiden's Killers album to playing to the first two Duran Duran albums. Right hand speed was needed for the Steve Harris parts (and I did have to work at them), but it took a lot more dexterity and knowledge of my fretboard to get those John Taylor parts down. I liked that his parts never seemed perfunctory to me. They really added to the songs. DD hasn't aged as well for me as I expected but (to me) John Taylor is still at the top of the heap in his genre.

[ack1961]

Just have a listen to this (bass comes in at around 2:10) To me, it is one of the greatest sounding live bass songs ever recorded.
Boomy, thunderous, warm and a perfect compliment to the sinister guitar.
Guy Pratt brings way more to the table than he's given credit for.
I've probably listened to bits of Pulse every day since I got it.

[eb2]

As a kid I was really into Bruce Thomas.  Anything on This Year's Model, or the 45s from then. 

[Dave W]

I don't have a favorite. Here's one of my favorites, from local boys Crow. This did make the Top 40 in 1969. Always liked the bass lines. Bassist was Larry Wiegand.

[Hornisse]

I probably spent a whole summer trying to learn this one.  Mind you, I didn't start playing the bass until 1977 so this one was difficult. It's still a favorite of mine to warm up with.

[uwe]

I don't have a favorite. Here's one of my favorites, from local boys Crow. This did make the Top 40 in 1969. Always liked the bass lines. Bassist was Larry Wiegand.

Dave is probably the only person  in this forum/on earth stadium-rock-averse enought not to know where most of us know this song from:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ey2zwdErPvQ&playnext=1&list=PL16D6D409AAF2F193

[mc2NY]

I don't have a favorite. Here's one of my favorites, from local boys Crow. This did make the Top 40 in 1969. Always liked the bass lines. Bassist was Larry Wiegand.

WOW! Now there's a band I'd forgotten about. I had that LP in my pile back in the day.

Favorite bass songs....I learned listening to early Who, Beatles & Jefferson Airplane but cannot think of a fave bass part in those.

King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man,"  Free's "Alright Now" and Elvis Costello's "Watching The Detectives" would all fall into the favorite bass parts for me.