I are not understanding nearly not enough what you're subject line is. 
Years ago when I was just listening to music on the radio, it seemed that baselines were a background part of the music and we were focusing on the show and not the music playing at all. One of the best examples of what I am talking about is the song "Happy Organ" as best as I remember. When just a few years later it seemed the "invasion” and possibly the pre-invasion period brought some new faces and names to the instruments. An example of this would be the Ventures with the soloed guitar, drum parts of which they made foremost. Later the surf sound came along and focused more on a combination of lyrics and instruments such as bass and drum collaboration along with lead guitar willing to "give space" to other instruments along with better lyric coordination. 32 Coupe comes to mind here in my thoughts.
The invasion brought the fab four of which Paul was adopted by the ladies as a favorite because of his boyish good looks. He happened to play the bass. A door opened.
I missed a lot of innovations about then as I was interested in what my job was at the time. When I got out of the service Dolby was just gaining a toe hold, but as I started to play about that same era, wattage was undergoing a change. Tubes were being replaced with transistors, speakers were being packaged in folded horn enclosures and mikes were being made better. Cardiode controlled radius mikes are a good example.
Bassists were being looked at in a somewhat different light as artists like Thain, Entwistle and Squire were being noticed more and more. Baselines were punchier, more prominent and driving the music harder than ever before. Bassists were getting more spotlight time and groups were taking advantage of this. Pink Floyd a good example of bass innovation for instance not to forget JAE’s influence was gaining notoriety in style and “machinery” used. Zappa is a whole book by himself.
Funk, Disco all contributed to bass style and coordination of the front line/backline as being presented in finished releases.
You get the idea. Now with the technical improvements available, we are getting almost as much exposure as other musicians in the final mix.
The discussion is how do you feel your favorite (or lesser favorite) bassists have contributed or other, they how affected our job and how do you foresee our future changing?
