Any thoughts on the Family Man's placement?

OK Ariel...you're starting to convince me that Flea deserves his present placement...not TOTALLY convinced, but I do appreciate that more recently he's been going back to more traditional melodic bass roots like many other former singularly slap/pop bassists come back to the "Lord".

Family Man...well he IS the gold standard for his genre, although it's a bit difficult to ascess as compared to lots of other same genre stalwarts since the genre is highly specialized so far as our familiarity with lots of musicians not associated with the Marleys or Peter Tosh et al.

Sorry doods for being out for a few days...serious health issues...seems like I'm ok tho (just got back from ER!), thank God! Pheew

I'll get back to revising this and participating in earnest...tomorrow

Cheers!

StuBass, Flea has never been a singularly slap/pop bassist. I have always admired Flea and it's because of his beautiful, inventive and at times subtle bass lines, not his slap/pop. In addition when he does slap he tends to do it in a more melodic way than most players. He is IMO one of the best, if not the best bass player to come out of the 80's and 90's.

1999 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlUKcNNmywk
1999 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn_YodiJO6k
1992 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLvohMXgcBo
2006 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb5aq5HcS1A
1995 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV8IAOoj ... re=related

Thing is I could totally see Flea bump Geddy for #8. That's not an exaggeration. I'm not saying I'm gonna do that but it would be entirely reasonable. He's more creative, skilled and innovative. And versatile, I reckon.

Thing is it's kind of unfortunate as Ssoyd is touching on here, that Flea is known as a slapper...his slapping is outstanding but it's NOT what makes him stand out. His incredible, incredible fingerstyle work is what does. He's on McCartney's level in terms of melodic and harmonic subtlety and sophistication. That's saying a LOT as you know...he's, imo, one of only five or six 'god tier'/'divinely touched' (for lack of a better term) players in terms of creativity, in the history of rock...Jamerson, Macca, Squire, Flea, Claypool, maybe Burton, and MAYBE Entwistle. That's it.

As far as the Family Man goes...ya I know shit about him OR reggae basically. Suck. Any reggar fans 'round here? I made a station on pandora to help familiarize myself with the genre and his playing...but if he IS truly the godfather of reggae playing and the best reggae bassist, I think we're gonna have to move him up a bit here! (on the list)



I really can't think of anyone better. If you count Levin as an '80s' bassist then Levin puts up a fight I guess...but as for the whole Flea vs Les Claypool thing, in my mind there's never been a comparison.

SO...revising the list.

Have been doing more research on some of the folks in the top 50 especially. The following really need someone to come and justify their spots, or they drop:

- Oteil
- Nate Watts (top 40, really?!)

There are others too but I"m focusing on those two for now.

Also, can someone explain to me the greatness of Bernard Odum?

When I mentioned the 80-90's thing the only one I could think of who could give Flea competition was Claypool. Levin actually came out of the 70's but became well known in the 80's through his work with King Crimson. Les Claypool is a technical wizard and can play any kind of music but I enjoy listening to Flea's playing more.

OMG...If Flea is #8 then Pino HAS to be #7. I do remember the Chili Peppers back in the early 90's as a sort of punk/neo funk band with a growing cult type popularity. Flea has obvious skills, but I personally think you guys are going just a LITTLE overboard here LOL.

Nate Watts is good..but not real versatile and could justifiably drop a bit IMO. A lot of Stevies popular bass parts were...Stevie (on synth).

Bernard Odum was one in a long line of nasty, funky JB bassists and made an imprint in JB's funk evolution. Those bass players and drummers always locked incredibly. Papas Got A Brand New Bag (featuring Odum) is 60's funk at it's best.

Tony Franklin?

Now it comes down to a personal opinion. I usually agree with you Stu but on Pino vs Flea I'll take Flea. Flea's style is quite distinctive. When I hear him I know it's him despite the fact that he seems to have skills that would allow him to adapt to different styles of music. Pino's style is more generic which suits well for a studio musician but aside from his early fretless work I can't tell him from other highly skilled bassists.

It's a pleasure to agree to disagree with you Ssoyd ... Just opinions. It'ts like the old golf addage..."you drive for show and putt for dough". In bass you "slap for show and groove for dough". Flea is famous for his driving. I'd like to see how he could fit with other drummers (Garibaldi, Chambers etc) outside his RHCP comfort zone. I'd also like to see him performing in clothing other than his underwear . Other than the point I was making with Pino (who kills Flea in stylistic versatility IMO), I don't see Flea approaching Rocco in several areas including influence.

I will grant you that Flea deserves a much higher ranking than Bootsy...but in the final analysis, I'd probably place Flea on par with Claypool.

At the 1999 Woodstock Concert Flea performed totally naked. I bet Rocco and Pino couldn't, or wouldn't do that.

Good point about Flea performing away from RHCP. I get the feeling he would do well but he hasn't proven that like Pino who's strongest trait could be versatility.

Rocco is if, anything, so stuck with one style that I have strong doubts about his versatility. I saw a video of him performing in some Bass Day concert where he was playing with unfamiliar musicians and other bass players and he played the same stuff he always does. In addition Rocco says that he derived his style from playing with Garibaldi so how would he fit in playing with different style drummers. Due to the fact that RHCP plays a more eclectic mix than than Tower of Power I'd say Flea's more versatile. I have doubts that Rocco has been more influential than Flea if for no other reason than he's less well known but Rocco has been around a lot longer.

But I'll bet Bootsy would try that...wearing nothing but a mutron...