Ah, the bassist: the member of the band that no one ever wants to interview (unless it's Flea). The're definitely the unappreciated middle child of the music world.
So today, let's right that wrong. Forget the guitar solo, because we're here to celebrate all that is great about those basslines which are so bloody good they can ramp an average song up to colossal, foot-stomping heights. Here are Top 5 by NME but, more importantly, what are yours?
5. New Order – "Blue Monday"
No greatest bassline list would be complete without Hooky, so logically he had to be on it twice. "Blue Monday"'s 7 minute hammering bassline is the stuff that has us staying in dingy indie clubs till closing time.
4. Lou Reed - "Walk On The Wild Side"
All the lyrics of transexuality, drugs, jiglos are kind of overshadowed by Herbie Flowers' use of two, yes that's right two, interlocking basslines. The double bass and fretless bass guitar that are meshed together make one of the most memorable walking bassline there is.
3. Talking Heads – "Psycho Killer"
The bass kicks in relentlessly stabbing away like a... well a "Pyscho Killer". All credit to Tina Weymouth's full-bodied bassline, which has provided rhythm for those who are about as able to bust a move as Screech from "Saved By The Bell".
2. Joy Division – "Love Will Tear Us Apart"
Yeah, Ian Curtis' lyrics are the kind of thing we all scrawled across our desks at school, but what about the post-punk bass that drives the whole tour de force of emotion together? One of the most tear jecking basslines ever? We think so.
1. The Pixies – "Debaser"
"Debaser" has the bassline that sends 20 minute guitar solos sobbing in the corner over their inadequacy. It's a formidable, propulsive bassline that's kind of on a par with trying your first Dib-Dab, just a pure sugar-rush.
For Whom The Bass Tolls, anything by Les Claypool, Lounge Act, Re-Arranged, Around The World, Gigantic, Would?, Psycho (SOAD). I could keep going, and I ain't even a bassist.
Oh comon you guys!! how has no one yet said Another one bites the dust or under pressure?!?!
Then theres hysteria, feel goo inc... i could go on, there is a plethora of bass lines that smash the ones in the article. not to say they aren't good, just not the best.
Jeremy-PJ.
AiC-Would
Kim Deals basslines are lovely.
And I just love JPJ's work-Ramble On, Achilles Last Stand, Dazed and Confused. His TCV work is remarkable. And songs like "Angry,Angry" , "Shibuya Bop" .
I used to play bass and none of these did anything for me. Obviously everyone's will be different and I don't have anywhere near close to the knowledge of music most UG users have but a few I think should make the cut are:
Coffee Shop - RHCP
One World - Dire Straits
Free - All Right Now (if we're doing rhythm-holder basslines)
Mr. Pink - Level 42
Your Smiling Face - James Taylor
Maxwell Murder - Rancid
Muse - any one of their Hysteria-type basslines
Queen - You're My Best Friend
Rusted Root - Send Me On My Way
Any Dream Theatre or that type of music.
Where's Orion? Cliff has some cool bass lines there, especially in the middle section of the song, and not to mention his solo. Also where's Billy Sheehan on this list?
Primus - My Name Is Mud
Primus - Jerry Was A Race Car Driver
Morphine - Yes
Morphine - Thursday
Minutemen - The Glory of Man
Minutemen - Search
Fishbone - Bonin' In The Boneyard
Fugazi - Waiting Room
For Whom The Bass Tolls, anything by Les Claypool, Lounge Act, Re-Arranged, Around The World, Gigantic, Would?, Psycho (SOAD). I could keep going, and I ain't even a bassist.
Minutemen! Ya, Mike Watt should be essential listening for anyone who wants to hear what a bass player can really do. Also check out Sir Paul's basslines on the Beatles Sgt Peppers album, he revolutionized the bass from a rhythm to melodic instrument. He seems tame now but at the time he was blazing a new trail for bassists. For sheer balls to the wall bass power check out John Wetton on King Crimson's mid 70's live releases (USA, The Great Deceiver).
Ok am I the only one that thinks this list isn't bad, aside from Joy Division? (They had better basslines)
New Wave and Post-Punk generally have the most consistently good rock basslines because they put more emphasis on the bass compared to other, non funk-genres
all of fleas bass lines are better then these, give it awaay? throw away away your televison? Get on Top?....and Queens Another One Bites the Dust is a great bass line too
Ok people listen, a good educated bass player would never pick those songs. Most of the comments show variations of songs a ROCK guitar player would chose.
I'm asking you to change whatever you think but I would like you to just take a look at these:
the pixies gigantic would have been a better choice for this list that should have been called "My favorite Bass-lines of the 80s in synth-pop/alternative"
The first two that came to my mind, which I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone say them yet, are the "Crazy Train" (Ozzy Osbourne) intro and the "White Rabbit" (Jefferson Airplane) intro for that matter.
I would urge anyone here who hasn't listened to the bass track to Megadeth's Bad Omen to go to youtube and listen to it. Another bad list...another closed UG tab.
Apartment 213 by Macabre, Overactive Imagination by Death, Mother Man by Atheist, Anticosmic Overload by Obscura, Aquabot by Buckethead... I think I win.
Huh? Psycho Killer is the only one of these songs i'd classify as a true classic of bass (Though I wouldn't put it in top 5, maybe in top 25...) The others well... Good songs, no doubt, but no. No where near the top 5.
Primus - My Name Is Mud
Primus - Jerry Was A Race Car Driver Morphine - Yes
Morphine - Thursday
Minutemen - The Glory of Man
Minutemen - Search
Fishbone - Bonin' In The Boneyard
Fugazi - Waiting Room
Anything by Morphine, Mark Sandman was such a genius. You forgot Honey White, it's one of the most ravishing bass lines by Morphine.
Tool - The Pot
Between the Buried and Me - Viridian
Rage Against the Machine - Wake Up
Iron Maiden - The Clairvoyant
Metallica - (Anesthesia)--Pulling Teeth
I guess some of these are more solos than bass lines, but there's some excellent bass playing there. Les Claypool, Jaco Pastorius, Geddy Lee, and several others also deserve a mention. It doesn't really make sense to just have a list of the top five, since it leaves so many excellent choices out, that are practically equal in quality, but just different.
I love when UG posts these lists... They're always so terrible, but they really get a good comments thread going, with awesome suggestions. I'm not usually a fan, but Sabotage came to my mind when I read the title. Also, Panic Attack and Dance of Eternity by DT, to list a couple I haven't seen yet.
Just because you can hear the bass guitar doesn't mean to bass lines are good.
As people have mentioned, Geezer should be on this list. Les Claypool. There are some pretty epic basslines in a lot of John Mayer's work. I could go on, but this list is just a pile of standard bass work.
Also, if this is just the best bass lines in any kind of music, Charles Mingus' "Haitian Fight Song" has one of the coolest, if not THE coolest, bass lines in jazz.
I can think of about 20 of Flea's bass lines off the top of my head that are better than theses. To make a list of top bass lines, and to not include Flea, well that's just crazy.
Another...interesting...list from a UG article this week. I feel like people who make these kinds of lists are just trying to use songs that no one will expect, instead of actually picking the best choices.
no one respects the man, john paul jones xD
Ramble on
Dazed and confused
trampled under foot
notable mentions...
Ben E King- Stand by me
cliff- creeping death
for whom the bell tolls
I'm a giant Nirvana, RHCP, CkY and Beastie Boys fan and I'd say Dive, Floyd the Barber or almost anything else with Nirvana. By the Way by The Chilis, Sabotage or Time For Livin' with the Beastie Boys and not much for Cky, maybe Bitter Beings or Shippensburg. Crazy bass there!
...well I know you all think of Megadeth, but there is actually a brilliant bass line in Portico Quartet's "Dawn Patrol" (
) - but I guess that would have been too far out there on a site like this
"Best" lists are stupid, though. That said, you can't go wrong with these bands:
Tool, Massive Attack, Porcupine Tree, King Crimson, Frank Zappa, Bonobo, Medeski, Martin And Wood, OM, Tortoise, Maceo Parker and basically every other old school funk band and of course bassists like Les Claypool, Joe Lally (Ataxia/Fugazi) or Victor Wooten...just to name a few.
Where's Orion? Cliff has some cool bass lines there, especially in the middle section of the song, and not to mention his solo. Also where's Billy Sheehan on this list?
Orion isnt really a well known song (although it should be) so I don't expect NME to even know it's a song,
and while we're talking about it, does anyone find that the mellow bass line he plays sounds a lot like the intro to Blood Brothers by Iron Maiden?
The first thing that came to mind - Tool "Schism", Radiohead "The National Anthem" and Nirvana "Come As You Are".
'Come as you are'? There's nothing special (at all) about the bass on that song. I really hope if they post a top 5 of guitar solos no one suggests the one from 'Smells like teen spirit'
My list:
AIC - Rotten Apple
Black Sabbath - N.I.B.
The Smiths - You've Got Everything Now
RATM - Bullet In The Head
Avenged Sevefold (Sorry) - The Wicked End
respect - Aretha Franklin
son of a preacher man - Dusty Springfield
memphis soul stew - King Curtis
Delirium Trigger - Coheed and Cambria
Cold Sweat - James Brown
I want your love - Chic
underdog - sly and the family stone
throw away your tv - chili peppers
jungle boogie - kool and the gang
sweet emotion - aerosmith
aeroplane - chili peppers
ashes to ashes - bowie
groove is in the heart - deelite
all of these are substantially better to me than anything on the nme list, I probably could have gone on for days. But anything funk and soul inspired!
Iron Maiden - Fortunes of War
Megadeth - Dawn Patrol
Iron Maiden - The Clairvoyant
Cannibal Corpse - Hammer Smashed Face
Metallica - Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth)
Universal Mind by Liquid Tension Experiment and The Dance of Eternity by Dream Theater are definitely two of my favourites. Can't really think of any others that particularly stood out for me right now...
Muse, Tool, Metallica, Nirvana, RHCP, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, does this ring a bell, cause for mightest bassline they should be there before those you choose
nickelback of lists only one decent is psycho killer, gouge away would have been a better pixies pick.
another one bites the dust - queen
super freak - rick james
under pressure - queen
peace sells - megadeth
re-arranged - limp bzkit
blew - nirvana
lounge act - nirvana
for whom the bell tolls - metallica
caught in a mosh - anthrax
bassically/nib - black sabbath
planet caravan, solitude - black sabbath
no one knows - QOTSA
anything by kyuss
panic attack - dream theater
Run to the hills - iron maiden
the crunge - led zeppelin
break on through - the doors (keyboard bass)
give it away - rhcp
three days - jane's addiction
take the power back, bullet in the head, calm like a bomb, no shelter, settle for nothing, tire me - RATM
Rain When I die, Would? - Alice In chains
Anything by primus
working man - rush
schism, the pot - tool
uprising, hysteria - muse
most korn
loco - coal chamber
Sanctified, Closer - NIN (Keyboard Bass ?)
Spoonman - Soundgarden
Megadeth -Peace Sells/Dawn Patrol/My Last Words
Metallica -Damage Inc
Bruce Springsteen -Backstreets
Queen -Another One Bites The Dust
Nuclear Assault -Hang The Pope
Napalm Death -Scum
Black Sabbath -Heaven and Hell
I'm a bassist (obviously) and draw influences from nearly all genres. I know they're samples, but I love what A Tribe Called Quest do with their bass samples. Just found out thanks to this last that their track Can I Kick It? is actually sampled from Walk On The Wild Side, and I can't agree any more with that selection.
Being a bassist, this is difficult for me since there have been a lot of bass lines that I have studied. Countless times have I heard a bass line that made me think, "Holy god that's incredible!" I left the Chili Peppers off my list since they could have a list of their own. Hysteria was the most recent one for me. Anesthesia is the legend that I still cannot conquer. YYZ and Money are just classic. John Myung is extremely underrated. I saw a band recently with no bassist, and there was just so much missing in terms of sound. They just weren't together without that low end. It proves just how important a bassist really is.
Stevie Wonder - Superstition
Billy Idol - White Wedding
Michael Jackson - Billy Jean
RHCP - Look Around
The Who - My Generation
Maybe not the best basslines of all time, but my personal favourites off the top of my head.
Radiohead - The National Anthem & The Gloaming (Live)
Muse - Hysteria & Butterflies and Hurricanes (dude, bass taping?)
Morphine - Honey White
Pink Floyd - Money
Portishead has like 5 songs that could be on here easy.
More to the point though, I hate the reciprocated lists that UG is constantly putting out lately. This website has gone down in quality significantly since the "rework" was done. Just put out a good, well written article for once, please!
^ what most of the people above me said, actually.
Primus: Bob, DMV, American Life, hell, anything...
I second Eric Avery's bass lines
RATM - Bombtrack (**** yeah)
Steve Harris owns. listen to the harmony between the two guitar solos of powerslave and realize why he is god. or any other maiden song for that matter. he is the definitive reason why the rhythm section is the most important part of a band. oh and by the way, check out matt reed from rancid. dudes a freak. maxwell murders,roots radicals. explore from there.
very first song that came to mind was under pressure-queen and david bowie. not sure if anyone had mentioned that, i only read the first 10,000 comments.
the faint - i dissapear /anti flag - on independence day / tool - schism / korn - Oildale (Leave Me Alone) / red hot chili peppers - throw away your television
symphony X - Domination
symphony X - Sea of lies
Dream theater - panic attack
Dream theater - lifting shadows of a dream
Protest the hero - Dunsel
Rush - yyz
Between the buries and me - swim to the moon (bassline at 10:19)
The thing is that the mainstream like something instantly catchy and memorable, Rush and Tool simply will never make the list. Regarding Schism the mainstream would probably ask is that guitar? There are much better bass lines than these, but most people can only recognise simple catchy stuff.
so in that regard this list isn't bad, the talking heads example is a perfect example of a bass line people would instantly pick out, regardless of how simple it is (it is a great bass line). Another good pick would have been another one bites the dust, but Queen are too mainstream and uncool for NME.
i’m starting to think these lists are contrived just to get under reader’s skin to get the website more hits. They’re all decent songs of course, but the bass lines seem implied. I don’t think it took much thought to come up with them. Not saying simple doesn’t absolutely kill, but none of these are worthy of this list.
anything by rush, les Claypool, anything by the red hot chili peppers, peace sells, Orion, Steve harris basslines in iron maiden, anything by alex webster in cannibal corpse, and lets not forget tool.
These are more opinion rather than facts. I'm a huge Pixies fan, but they definitely do not deserve the number one all time bass line as you've listed.
Nirvana: Lounge Act
Radiohead: The National Anthem
AIC: Would?
Rise Against: Endgame
Pink Floyd: Money
Cage the Elephant: Aberdeen (Bass)
Pearl Jam: Jeremy
Seether: Fmlyhm
this list is awful. there are so many wonderful basslines out there and they pick such boring ones? what about tool? some good old metallica? primus? rush? opeth? michael jackson? pink floyd? etc....
I can't believe nobody so far mentioned the basslines on Have A Cigar or on Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun...
Anyway, I agree with what most say, there's a lot missing. Progressive Rock/Metal bands are probably the ones with the better basslines. Just on top of my head, I can think of 20 better basslines coming from Geddy Lee, Chris Squire. Also, it's a crime not even mentioning John Deacon.
I know i will get a lot of crap for this, but one of my favorite bass lines is Longview by Green Day. Also, Zeppelin had so many great bass parts by John Paul Jones, but whatever these ones were pretty sweet.
I would completely agree with this list, and I don't think I've ever found a list that I've agreed with as much. Then again, it does fit right in with my taste in music.
I think this article left out every baseline ever considered "legendary". Not saying these are bad, but ten million way sicker baselines come to mind first...
The article doesn't even really tell us what it's trying to accomplish. What is a "mighty" bass line? They didn't say "best" or "most catchy" or even "most well-known."
And as I'm obligated to post my own list that is of no consequence to anyone, I'll list the bass lines that inspired me most to learn and improve:
"Jungle Love" The Steve Miller Band
"I Want You Back" The Jackson 5
"Schism" Tool
"December 1963" Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
"Interstate Love Song" Stone Temple Pilots
"A Certain Shade of Green" Incubus
Alice in Chains - Would?
Tool - Schism
Sliver - Nirvana
Suck my Kiss - Red Hot Chili Peppers (or many other of their songs)
For Whom the Bell Tolls - Metallica
Orion - Metallica
Epic - Faith No More
Longview - Green Day
Lost Control - Grinspoon
Deep Inside - Incubus
The Trooper - Iron Maiden
Simple Boy - Karnivool
Freak on a Leash - Korn
Black Dog - Led Zeppelin
Smash the Pinata - Mammal
Peace Sells - Megadeth
Time is Running Out - Muse
Come out and Play - The Offspring
Alive and Kicking - Nonpoint
No One Knows - Queens of the Stone Age
1000 Good Intentions - Rise Against
Shot in the Head - Shihad
A Gunshot to the Head of Trepidation - Trivium
So many amazing bass lines that I can't really name them all! Lets just go with....
Anything from Cliff Burton
Peace Sells - Megadeth
Generation Dead - 5FDP
Immigrant Song - Led Zeppelin
Ascension - I Am Abomination
This is just random ones off the top of my head lol
Immediately thought of You Can Call Me Al, haha what a great song.
But if I had a list, it'd probably/definitely have Roundabout - Yes, To Tame A Land - Iron Maiden, Money - Pink Floyd, YYZ - Rush, and Good Times, Bad Times - Led Zeppelin. I rock out to those so friggin' hard
Queen - Another One Bites The Dust
Black Sabbath - Warning, Solitude, Planet Caravan, N.I.B, Hand Of Doom, Evil Woman and many others (these are the first I think of).
Metallica - Orion, Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth)
Deep Purple - You Keep On Moving
Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train, Believer
Then again, these are in my opinion, in no specific order.
Testament- Souls of Black, Mastodon- Mother Puncher, Dream Theater- The Glass Prison, Anything by Primus, Tool- Sober, Porcupine Tree- Anasthetize, Muse- Cave...just a few off the top of my head
Duff's gotta be on there, he has way to many awesome basslines, as well as Flea. Cliff Burton has to be on there, come on. Where the hell is Money by Pink Floyd?
Muse- Hysteria or Muse- Futurism
Radiohead- Nude
Led Zeppelin- The Crunge
The Doors - Riders On the Storm
Thom Yorke- Atoms For Peace (if you havent heard that song, GO LOOK IT UP!)
k so... how can there not be any Cliff Burton, Justin Chancellor (Tool), Les Claypool, Fieldy (KoRn), Tim Commerford (RATM), Flea, Geddy Lee (Rush), or Alex Webster (Cannibal Corpse)???
lounge act
sliver
suck my kiss (or anything from that album really)
longveiw
take the power back
know your enemy(ratm)
Go skate!(Suicidal Tendencies)
just a few...
Longview By Green Day
Got The Life By Korn
white knuckle ride By Rancid
Re-arranged By Limp Bizkit
Peace Sells By Megadeth
Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth) By Metallica
In Bloom By Nirvana
Self-Esteem By The Offspring
Bro Hymn By Pennywise
Higher Ground By The Red Hot Chili Peppers
Santeria By Sublime
Rappers Delight - Sugarhill Gang!!! and while we're on Doug Wimbish how about some Living Colour? Lets not forget Jamiroquai!!! Stuart Zender owns it!!!
I'm a metal and rock guy through and through, but when I'm just sitting around jammin, its gotta be funky.
Jared Followill of Kings of Leon actually writes really great bass riffs. Nothing too complex, but so tasteful.
Yeah. First time I heard Hysteria, I shit my pants. That's a no-brainer.
Come Together, anyone? Fuck, Paul McCartney is brilliant. Hey Bulldog, I Want You (She's So Heavy), Lovely Rita, Rain, I Saw Her Standing There.
Radiohead has so much great bass work. Saw them perform at Bonnaroo earlier this month actually.. so amazing.
Death From Above 1979 is one of my favorites. Romantic Rights is a really good track.
Death Cab For Cutie also suprisingly has some great bass riffs. Summer Skin, Crooked Teeth.
So many more.. yeah, NME's list blows.
Wow, how could you mention Flea in the begginning but not have ANY RHCP songs?!? Seriously, you could choose just about any song by them... they all have epic bass lines. Also, no Sublime? Ever heard Badfish?
peace sells - megadeth.
dawn patrol - megadeth.
for whom the bell tolls - metallica.
N.I.B. - black sabbath.
the trooper - iron maiden.
symphony of destruction - megadeth.
Wow! Nothing from Flea? He's one of the few bassists imo who actually give the bass a unique persona with the way he plays it. His bass lines are so crucial that without it, RHCP would lose their special 'edge' . Few can match his creativity and skill.
Flea's bass lines defeat every other one in the list. Sorry but its true.
Get on Top , Around the World , By the Way , Power of Equality.
^ Want to hear mighty bass? Eargasm's bro. E-A-R-G-A-S-M-S-!-!
I would say Come Together from the beatles, or israel's son from silverchair, though i find those bass riffs are very similar sounding.
RHCP stuff for sure, i actually really love the intro bass line for torture me from stadium arcadium. RATM for sure. And i love the bass in Karnivool's simple boy, so heavy and thick sounding. Or, evan brewer
I would say Come Together from the beatles, or israel's son from silverchair, though i find those bass riffs are very similar sounding.
RHCP stuff for sure, i actually really love the intro bass line for torture me from stadium arcadium. RATM for sure. And i love the bass in Karnivool's simple boy, so heavy and thick sounding. Or, evan brewer
The bass in Karnivool doesn't just hold the low end, its like a another melodic element, and the bass is just so, it just has something about it that makes it great
I Need More Love - Robert Randolph & the Family Band
Voyager - Daft Punk
Money - Pink Floyd
Stuck in the Middle with You - Stealers Wheel
Billie Jean - Michael Jackson
Lol at the metal/rock fans complaining. Really good list tbh, I was expecting some overrated classics since its on UG but I agree with every song in the list, especially psycho killer which has my favourite bassline of all time. Could do with a little more funk I suppose, but ack well.
These are almost required to be on the list...
Tool-Schism
Rush- Tom Saywer
7 Nation Army (even if its played on guitar, its so low its almost a bass...)
Muse- Hysteria
Led Zeppelin- Kashmir
Now where's Geddy Lee, John Paul Jones etc.? Pfft. Yeah, well, agree with Debaser being a great bassline, but hardly the best ever... And WHERE is Les Claypool?
Lol at the metal/rock fans complaining. Really good list tbh, I was expecting some overrated classics since its on UG but I agree with every song in the list, especially psycho killer which has my favourite bassline of all time. Could do with a little more funk I suppose, but ack well.
Your opinion versus 100+ others that seem to be in unision. There's this word called obscure...
Of all the ones on the list, the only one I can actually understand being on here is 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'.. Debaser doesn't really have anything special going on. There's no variation with the way the bass player is playing each note. He's just doing basic strum patterns. Nothing mighty about that.
The bassline in 'Take A Walk On The Wild Side' is good, it's smooth.. but once again, this list is supposed to consist of mighty bass lines and 'Come Together' is much mightier.
There's nothing crazy about 'Psycho Killer'. Yeah, the precussion section probably spawned the guitar parts and the vocal parts, but.. still.. nothing crazy about that bassline. The person that created this list is playing favorites.
Whether people realize it or not, the feel of the bass guitar part in a particular song has a lot to do with how much they'll like it. Many listeners don't realize that though, because they listen to a song as a whole unit, rather than a listener who is musician. They're more likely to listen to a song several times, but with a different focus each time: once focusing on it as a whole, once focusing on the bass, once focusing on the percussion, once focusing on the guitars, once focusing on the vocals.. so on and so forth.
That being said, let's focus on that first point made by the article. People never want to interview the bass player. Bass players are underrated, etc. As far as fame and attention goes, maybe so. However, ultimately, their contribution to the song isn't going unnoticed by any means.
great bassline
THIS