http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/ ... der-286816

THOUGHTS

Fuck yeah on Bernard Odum. Cold Sweat is the funk song.

I like Peter Quaife and Rick Danko too, they're just simple root notes bassists yeah, totally not gonna argue for them to be on the list, but simple and low key bass playing that is there to serve the groove and swing of the song above all else is not a bad thing and I think they're two good examples of that.

Peter Hook should be top 50. Beastly bass player whose influence is huge in alternative and post punk, new wave, and related strains of rock

Cetera absolutely deserves a spot...perhaps in the 65-75 range...

Hard to imagine a top 100 list without a spot somewhere for Waters. Money was an impactful bassline and his playing has been heard by so many bassists and music fans through record sales and live performances...

My metal friends speak highly of Tony Choys skills. He slaps and pops in that genre and with a latin flair also crosses his skills over to pop.

Rex Brown...Panteras music doesn't really lend itself to exposing terrific bass skills, but Rex is more than just a thrashy bass player...working with guys like Jerry Cantrell. Rex also has a background and appreciation in jazz.

Damn...my phone won't let me get past # 6...but I think I've seen this article before. It appears on the surface that this list consists of some obvious choices which may have been overlooked in the poll, with a few of the authors personal lesser known favorites thrown in for good measure.

That list is well thought out and contains some truly outstanding bassists. Norman Watt Roy's bass line on "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" is one of my favorite bass performances of all time.

The top 25 list on that site is a mixture of truly great bassists mixed with some that simply don't belong. I think that the voters were a mixture of knowledgeable voters and fan boys with fan boy selections dominating the top picks. Of the top 5 only Geddy Lee belongs on the list at all IMO.

Did another very minor list revision: removed several names that didn't belong (50s non-electric players and Randy Coven IIRC). As for the 50s players debate (should upright players be on this list?) we'll revisit that later but for now, just trying to take names off that are really questionable.

B-b-b-b-b-but, he's a minimalist.

I've listened to all of "Synchronicity" and of "Reggatta de Blanc." There is no interesting bass work from Sting. At all. Period. By far, most of the awesome reggae sound comes from Copeland's reggae-influenced set playing.

As for Sheehan, I pointed out Niacin to show that even though he's known for shredding and it's what he's based his career on, it's not by any means the only kind of work he's capable of. It's the same thing with Alex Skolnick from Testament's jazz work and Jimmy Chamberlin's fusion work.

You're a weaksauce arguer. That would only be more self evident if god forbid you actually tried to argue your point. But I know how it is.

Atmosphere = boring. Aimless wankery = exciting.

Enjoy your Dragonforce records.

I think lists that differ from how I see it are a fine and interesting read as long as they present their reasoning.

I thought this would be a semi-decent list until I got to the top 5 and instantly realized how many metalheads voted.

Paul Gray? Are you kidding me? I don't listen to Slipknot, maybe he's actually pretty good, I dunno, but it's pretty damn obvious that this poll being made 4 months after his death is not a coincidence.

To say Paul was a hack would be putting it nicely.

Yeah, that musicradar greatest bassists list was godawful, like, bring-it-out-to-the-back-and-shoot-it-in-the-head-to-end-its-misery kinda awful. I'd argue it was worse than that infamous 2003 Rolling Stone greatest guitarists list. That's why I linked the 'dammit, you people should have voted THESE GUYS IN' list they made as a response instead of the 'greatest' list which was voted on by 'fans'. (Anyone who votes that way is not a true 'fan' of the electric bass, and deserves to have that designation hereby stripped)

So I was reading a bit on Randy Coven, who seemed like a random name and, dammit, he might just belong on this list. Love 'em or hate 'em, the tech skill and versatility of the Sheehan/Hamm types do a lot to assure them a spot on this list somewhere, Boobs. I'm adding Randy to the 'possibles' list in my last post now...which is where he should have been all along

I didn't mean to characterize all subtle/in-the-background playing as boring. If I gave that impression (it seems I did), please allow me to modify what I said. I have a ton of respect for Bob Babbitt as a musician because he's got a near-divine ability to make his notes sing and groove with feel, and an equally near-divine ability to use space between notes as a compositional tool as a bassist. That shit's sick. The problem is that most - not all, but *most* - 'background' players really are boring...Ian Hill, Cliff Williams, pretty much every indie rock player ever, yada yada. Those who treat 'background' playing as an art form with the appropriate seriousness can often end up amazing, amazing players.

What you said about Jaco is very valid, I think. I feel that way about Entwistle: he could do crazy and fricking brilliant stuff like The Real Me and Won't Get Fooled Again, and also very subtle, emotional, moving playing with lots of space in songs like Behind Blue Eyes and especially it seems to me, "How Many Friends" from The Who By Numbers (seriously, check that shit out).

As per usual you bring up some excellent points, and I appreciate your chiming in to this particular line of discussion again

So yeah -- I think you could easily argue that the 'ideal' (not a word that I think applies to things like art or music or musicians, but you know what I mean) bass player is the Entwistle who is crazy, disruptive (in all the right ways), and moves or at least attempts to move bass playing forward as an art form and expand its boundaries in rock AND ISN'T AFRAID TO PLAY CRAZY, WALL OF SOUND SHIT (again, I think most of the noteworthy rock bassists are so noteworthy precisely because they've channeled that Keith Moon spirit of both crazy and very very busy, but also brilliant and not just wanky-let's-play-the-same-note-in-a-row-very-fast-a-lot playing), and who ALSO, when he REALLY REALLY needs to, can play subtle, moving, emotional, tear-inducing wonderful soft parts...

I'd say in rock the ones I know who fulfill this kind of thing most are John Entwistle (obviously), Chris Squire, FLEA and maybe most of all along with Entwistle, Cliff Burton...

Couple of quick takes...

Louis Johnson ahead of Anthony Jackson? Can't see that. Louis down 4 or 5 slots. AJ up one.

Pino should be in Abe Laboriels slot (IMO). Abe drops down 5-10.