Barking Spiders

Yes I do after my previous wife named them when finding them reclining around the living room.. Peavey BXP...'That Bl**dy Guitar' Cort GB 74, 'Not Another One?' Cort fretless 'That's New! '

Indeed though I think the US got the worst of that rather than the UK. Do you mean Boston, Journey, Heart and all the other glossy 'corporate' stuff?

I've been to festivals where the best responses were for those bands, regardless of when anyone had heard of them before had loads of showmanship, banter and fun, upbeat or energetic disposition. With bands of virtuosos just focusing on their music but saying nothing, I've seen crowds generally drift away during their sets. One band I saw at a festival a few years ago who usually gets sneers but who put on the best show were...Limp Bizkit!. From the way the crowd got into it you'd never guess this is one of the most derided bands ever.

Point taken but I was only giving my POV not making a blanket generalisation but to my ears most of the 'serious' stuff was way too earnest and po-faced while the pop of the time, particularly after glam had gone away, was insipid and flaccid. Mind you, I think punk gets a bit too much credit for shaking things up when there were fine bands like Dr Feelgood, Eddie & The Hot Rods and The Motors who were offering an alternative before the Pistols and the Damned came along.

When punk came out I was still listening to Three Billy Goats Gruff (being an infant rather than backward!) so was unable to appreciate it. In hindsight I can see how it gave a stale music scene a healthy, albeit a swift, kick in the cojones. I've seen reruns of 1976 editions of TOTP and man they're dire. Not prog but the 'kin awful pop of the time, though reruns of pre 1976 issues of the OGWT on BBC4 show the flip side of fluffy pop was just as bad; overly earnest singer songwriters, plodding proggers and dull noodly blues rock combos. Recently I've been listening to some punk and new wave compilations and to my ears many of the tunes sound fresher and more vibrant than most music released this month let alone what was around in 75-76. Sure there were loads of shoite punk bands , especially from the 2nd+ waves, but for me most of the best music made since the 70s can be traced back to the original punk scene.

I'm a big fan of Rammstein and being bilingual in German I understand the lyrics. If they sang in English it wouldn't work half as well. The harder edge to German lends itself better to their music and the dark nature of the songs

A long time ago I once saw the John Bon Jovi and the guitarist busking on acoustics in Covent Garden. They did draw a big crowd though. I'm not a fan though but they weren't half bad

I sit back on my settee, bass on my chest, beer to the left, nibbles to the right, TV to the front and the missus giving me a neck massage. If there's music on the TV or YT i'll play along to it .

I really don't understand English speakers who confine themselves only to a . music with lyrics and b those lyrics being in English. There's so much good music that's come out of the non-English speaking world that's actually far better than anything that's come out of the US and UK over the last decade or so. The great thing about instrumentals is that nationality doesn't matter. My advice? learn two or three foreign languages and then you can enjoy songs sung in them

Rachid's great, got a fair few of his albums, the best being Tekitoi. He sang in Arabic, French and English on his rock-dance-arabic fusion but only arabic whenon his rai albums. Sad that he died last year. was only 58-59.

I'm not a fan of shorties generally but was almost tempted by a natural ash Chowny SWB in Bass Direct a while ago. plays very nicely too and not bad at £495 though they're out of them at the mo

My fave down and dirty funk mob is Troublefunk. In Big Tony there's a bassman who knows how to keep the slap in control. He lets rip occasionally but mostly his playing is about keeping a steady heavy groove

Mostly a diet of Family Guy songs such as You've Got Aids, Mr Booze, Down Syndrome Girl and ....

Slap bass playing needs to lock in supertight with the drums and is best heard in funk, where BPM average 90 -115. To my ears slapping at speeds of 130 BPM goes against what slap was originally meant for; getting down and dirty to on the dancefloor! That superfast way of playing is as self indulgent, unlistenable and ultimately pointless as guitar shredding.

Superman. Here are a couple of ditties for rock fans...

What's particularly irksome about Amazon is they've been taken to task ages ago about overpackaging but still continue not to take the blindest bit of notice. Then again Jeff Bezos is hardly noted for his 'green' credentials.

Ay caramba! WTF these companies playing at!. The other day I received an A4 plus size plastic coated jiffy bag, containing a digipak CD!!!. I emailed Amazon saying it was a bit unnecessary when a CD size cardboard envelope would've been sufficient

This is for all the naysayers here 😊

I'm afraid to say, slapping my bass is one of my dark sordid secrets. Before I get around to slapping I make sure no one else is in the house, lock the doors, draw the curtains and get out my slap bass tutors out from under the mattress and get to work. These days it's not something I'd do in public as people would look at me with a mix of disgust and confusion. Back in the 80s -early 90s I and others were less ashamed about slapping in public and nowadays I only open up about this on fora under aliases.

I'm also not one of those people who says they can find good stuff in every genre. Far from it, there are entire genres and musical output from whole countries that i dislike 100% and have yet to come across any exceptions. I'm not passionate about music and am not a music lover. On the whole I'll even go far as saying I generally cannot abide music and wish 99.999r% of it stopped being made. However, I thoroughly enjoy a tiny sliver of all music I've ever heard and what I still like after many years I have on CD. But I reckon more people are actually like this but don't want to be seen as being narrow minded.

Hah hah, I am one myself but would rather slam my fingers in the car door than be in a band and compelled to play widdly Blues-based or metal type solos that go on form what seems like an eternity

I've no objection to keeping a bassline simple at times. Some of the most effective moments in some great tunes are when the bass comes in or goes out with just a note or two e.g. the opening 15 seconds of Le Freak by Chic. ah, Nile, Nard and Tone..the coolest dudes in popular music..probably ever Anyway, I digress. Er where was I? I picked the Lovefool and Stranglehold basslines as they help make those two songs unlistenable to me. Viz Nugent it's the aimless widdlethon that irks more, there he is just a-w@nkin' his frets any old how while a monotonous rhythm goes on and on and on...

😱...no sirree . That sounds like sacrilege but over the weekend I heard two songs from yesteryear that have always bugged the hell out of me and one of the main reasons is each have dull, repetitive, undemanding basslines that simply hurt my eardums . One is the irritatingly twee ditty Lovefool by The Cardigans, a half forgotten and unlamented pop band from Sweden and the other is this tedious noodelthon by the terminally terrible (IMO) Ted Nugent So what basslines do you think are a poor advert for the instrument? I'm not saying simple basslines are bad by any stretch but monotonously repetitive ones are.

Ah another one of us. Well I don't feel shame everyday but I had the same initial reaction to this story. That said I'm happy with my 50% Italianità

I guess for some, like me, who like slap and fretless bass playing, the 70s and the 80s were a high point. However, there are also many peeps who can't abide these styles and who praps consider these eras as low points! As far as pop is concerned I don't think bass playing has been as to the fore since the heydays of Level, 42, Japan, Paul Young and Wham.