I can 'kind of' see where he's coming from, but interesting bass players will always find their place in the mix (much as I dislike his tone and general persona, Fieldy with Korn was/is (?) a prime example of the bass not being in its stereotyped place) - I'm doing some work at the minute with a band tuned down to D standard with me playing a five-string, and yeah, a lot of the time I'm just accenting kick drums with the same note as the guitars are playing in riffs.
But when I drop that low A, bowels loosen. The trick is to not over-use it.