Sixteen players who made the low end worth listening to, from John Entwistle and Paul McCartney to Flea, Kim Deal and Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones.
1Jaco PastoriusA jazz player whose fretless sound changed what every rock bassist thought the instrument could do.1000pts
2John Paul JonesLed Zeppelin's bassist and keyboard player, a session arranger before the band and the quiet engine inside it.835pts
3John EntwistleThe Who's bassist, who played lead lines under Townshend and barely moved while doing it.762pts
4FleaRed Hot Chili Peppers' bassist, who made slap technique a lead instrument in a rock band.659pts
5Kim DealPixies' bassist and Breeders' founder, whose lines made the loud-quiet-loud formula work.659pts
6Geddy LeeRush's bassist, singer and keyboard player, usually all three at once.659pts
7Cliff BurtonMetallica's first bassist, who wrote a bass solo onto a thrash album and made it stick.659pts
8Lemmy KilmisterMotörhead's singer and bassist, who played the instrument through a guitar rig on purpose.659pts
9Chris SquireYes's bassist, a Rickenbacker tone bright enough to sit on top of the mix rather than under it.467pts
10Jack BruceCream's bassist and singer, improvising against Clapton and Baker every night.467pts
11Bill WymanThe Rolling Stones' bassist for thirty years, playing as little as each song needed.467pts
12Paul McCartneyWrote the melodies and then wrote counter-melodies underneath them on bass.343pts
13Steve HarrisIron Maiden's founder and bassist, whose galloping right hand is the band's signature.343pts
14Bootsy CollinsCame out of James Brown's band and into Parliament-Funkadelic, taking rock's low end with him.0pts
15Tina WeymouthTalking Heads' bassist, whose spare, funk-derived lines carried the band's best-known songs.0pts
16Les ClaypoolPrimus's bassist, whose technique is the band rather than its foundation.0pts
Photo credits
- John Paul Jones — https://www.flickr.com/photos/laraclifford/ Lara Clifford], CC BY 2.0
- Flea — Stefan Brending (2eight), CC BY-SA 3.0
- Chris Squire — Rdikeman, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Bill Wyman — Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0
- Steve Harris — Birgit Fostervold, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Bootsy Collins — MikaV, CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments 1
Before Led Zeppelin, John Paul Jones arranged sessions for a living; he later played recorder on Stairway to Heaven and formed a band with Dave Grohl: https://youpick.best/articles/led-zeppelin-ranked-many-ways
YP
ypb-teamSep 16
