Sky Arts ,Worlds greatest Basslines .28/11/25

[Misdee]

4 hours ago, tauzero said:

 

It works well within the context of U2, but would you describe him as a virtuoso?

No not a virtuoso, but he makes the most of his abilities in a really musical way. Adam Clayton knows how to play to the strengths of the instrument, and that's something that can elude some very technically-able players. 

[Misdee]

17 minutes ago, chris_b said:

Greatest bass lines? Try those played by James Jamerson, Larry Graham, Bernard Edwards, Duck Dunn, Nathan East, Carol Kaye. . . . You can almost guarantee none of these players will be included!

Great basslines can also be one-off phenomena, like Slave To The Rhythm by Grace Jones, played by Luis Jardim (RIP). You couldn't really point out much of a body of recorded work as a bass player for multi-instrumentalist Luis, but he was obviously a terrific player and that track alone must be one of the standout bass parts of the 1980's, and that was the decade of the standout bass part.  Players like that will most likely be overlooked, as will session musicians who were guitar and bass doublers, like the late great Tommy Cogbill.

 

But like I keep saying, I'll be watching avidly and enjoying whatever crumbs of comfort and inspiration this series has to offer. Bear in mind I regularly spend an hour  or more watching brain dead British couples deciding if they want to sell their pre-war semi in Slough and move to Post-war semi in Swindon with a bigger garden and sufficient room to add an incontinence-themed extension ( pending planning permission). I'm sure I'll be glued to this bass fest.

Edited yesterday at 22:48 by Misdee

[BigRedX]

I think if you weren't interested in music in 1979, then you probably won't appreciate just how ground breaking Peter Hook's bass playing was when Unknown Pleasures was released. By the early 80s most bass players who weren't playing fretless or slap were influence by his playing. He may only have one style and be a self-avowed non-musician but he's been massively influential for a whole generation of musicians. Mick Karn was had similar traits - single style, non musician - and is IMO equally influential, but he doesn't get anything like the same stick as Hooky.

[SteveXFR]

I think bassists are the worst people to pick the three best bass lines as it'll most likely be some virtuoso nonsense like Joe Dart or Jaco Pistorious or some million note a second slapper.

Here's my possibly terrible pics.

Peaches - The Stranglers

Rotten Apple - Alice In Chains 

Turnover - Fugazi

 

[iainbass]

Its Sky Arts which I do like a lot, but which also means its producing content which is easily understood by everyone. This means there idea of a "Greatest bassline " will discuss work that the general public can easily understand.. ie something like Pink Floyds Money...or the Cures A Forest. Not necessarily clever in the bass sense but immediately recognisable as a very good  ....'Bassline'.   

 

 

[Linus27]

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

I think if you weren't interested in music in 1979, then you probably won't appreciate just how ground breaking Peter Hook's bass playing was when Unknown Pleasures was released. By the early 80s most bass players who weren't playing fretless or slap were influence by his playing. He may only have one style and be a self-avowed non-musician but he's been massively influential for a whole generation of musicians. Mick Karn was had similar traits - single style, non musician - and is IMO equally influential, but he doesn't get anything like the same stick as Hooky.

 

I totally agree and he certainly influenced me a lot. His melodic approach and use of playing an open root note while playing a melody on another string is something I learnt from him and an integral part of my playing.

[Bassybert]

1 hour ago, SteveXFR said:

I think bassists are the worst people to pick the three best bass lines as it'll most likely be some virtuoso nonsense like Joe Dart or Jaco Pistorious or some million note a second slapper.

Here's my possibly terrible pics.

Peaches - The Stranglers

Rotten Apple - Alice In Chains 

Turnover - Fugazi

 

Completely agree on the whole muso nonsense. 
 

But it’s got to be Waiting Room over Turnover surely!

Edited 12 hours ago by Bassybert

[edstraker123]

Give me Hooky's playing over virtuoso jazz widdling any day. Take Mark King, the absolute master of slap but produced some of the most insipid songs ever made. It truly is all about context.

Looking forward to it though whoever is on.

[BigRedX]

I hope that program makers also remember that some of the most memorable bass lines ever weren't written or played by bass guitarists - cf I Feel Love or Der Mussolini.

[Baloney Balderdash]

14 hours ago, Linus27 said:

 

In terms of iconic bass lines to popular songs and who played them, then I think my choice of photos would be Paul McCartney (Ths Beatles), Sting (The Police) and maybe someone like Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) or John Deacon (Queen) or James Jamerson (Motown/Marvin Gaye) or someone from the Disco era (Bernard Edwards/Louis Johnson). 

 

If it was my choice then it would be Pino Palladino, John Giblin and Jaco, be all out fretless bass and have contributions from Paul Webb (Talk Talk), Derek Forbes (Simple Minds), Sting (The Police), Jeff Ament (Pearl Jam) and Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel) to name a few. Now that would be a show 😂

Much of the bass on later Pink Floyd songs was actually played by David Gilmour though, even on songs Water's wrote.

 

As great a song writer Roger Waters might (have) be(en), he has somewhat degraded as a bass player.

 

Edited 11 hours ago by Baloney Balderdash

[BigRedX]

18 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

While not exactly virtuous levels of bass playing Krist Novoselic's play in Nirvana, unlike Adam Clayton from U2, consisted of far more than root notes, and he did quite a few lines that has become iconic, and are very melodic.

 

Many of which were highly "influenced" by various post-punk songs.

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

Didn’t Sky Arts produce a three part series on drummers that didn’t once mention Neil Peart?

 

N.B. I haven’t seen it, but I was told this by a drummer who had.

[Leonard Smalls]

Won't be able to watch... Our transmitter is Freeview Light, which means no Sky Arts.

[SteveXFR]

3 hours ago, Bassybert said:

But it’s got to be Waiting Room over Turnover surely!

 

I see what you're saying but after listening to both, Turnover just beats Waiting Room. The main riff is so catchy and then there's that fast killer riff halfway through when it goes double time. Waiting Room only really has the one riff although it is excellent and its illegal to pick up a Stingray and not play it.

[Dankology]

A bit shocked by the comments re Hooky above...

 

I'm not a New Order fanatic by any means (I think I only own their original run of LPs) but the man essentially created the blueprint for the next two decades of indie (and a lot of rock and dance) bass playing and bass tones.

 

Propulsive, melodic and often as hooky as the top line itself without being obtrusive - his best basslines are, for me, textbook examples of what the instrument should be doing in a pop song.

Edited 7 hours ago by Dankology

[cetera]

I know what the World's Greatest Basslines are.... and I can guarantee they won't be on this programme.

[lowdown]

6 minutes ago, cetera said:

I know what the World's Greatest Basslines are.... and I can guarantee they won't be on this programme.

 

Yep... 

🤣

[BigRedX]

In the end it's all subjective so who cares? Make your own best bass lines playlist and enjoy it.

[Woodinblack]

28 minutes ago, cetera said:

I know what the World's Greatest Basslines are.... and I can guarantee they won't be on this programme.

 

Im pretty sure Good Times would be, as it is the most reused and sampled bassline!

[Crusoe]

I can't believe no one has mentioned Andy Rourke yet. I was watching a video clip of the Smiths live, playing Barbarism Begins at Home and Johnny Marr set his guitar down so that he and Morrissey could dance to Andy's bass line.

[SteveXFR]

2 hours ago, cetera said:

I know what the World's Greatest Basslines are.... and I can guarantee they won't be on this programme.

 

There are no greatest basslines. Its too subjective to decide the absolute best.

[Sparky Mark]

7 hours ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

Didn’t Sky Arts produce a three part series on drummers that didn’t once mention Neil Peart?

 

N.B. I haven’t seen it, but I was told this by a drummer who had.

Your drummer friend was incorrect. According to IMDb NP was referenced in the first episode. 

Edited 3 hours ago by Sparky Mark

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

31 minutes ago, Sparky Mark said:

Your drummer friend was incorrect. According to IMDb NP was referenced in the first episode. 

I'd like to say I'm shocked that he's got that wrong 🙄

[Misdee]

14 hours ago, BigRedX said:

I think if you weren't interested in music in 1979, then you probably won't appreciate just how ground breaking Peter Hook's bass playing was when Unknown Pleasures was released. By the early 80s most bass players who weren't playing fretless or slap were influence by his playing. He may only have one style and be a self-avowed non-musician but he's been massively influential for a whole generation of musicians. Mick Karn was had similar traits - single style, non musician - and is IMO equally influential, but he doesn't get anything like the same stick as Hooky.

I very strongly disagree with this version of history.

 

If you or anybody else enjoys Hooky's playing and find it inspiring for whatever reason then good luck to you, nothing wrong with that. If you like and enjoy his style that's good enough reason. But that doesn't mean that objectively he is an accomplished musician or indeed qualified in any way to judge other exponents of the bass. He's just someone who people who don't play the bass think must be important because they've heard of him .Whenever I hear him interviewed about playing the bass he seems to be full of self-regard, mainly for his own lack of ability, something which he mistakenly sees as a great asset. That's why I think he is a conspicuously bad choice to present this series. 

 

I was passionately interested in music in 1979, just like you were, and in playing the bass. I thought Peter Hook was a crap bass player then, and I've heard nothing to change my mind in the interim period. Listening to him thrashing away was depressing back then, and it takes me right back whenever I hear it now. Lots of kids played like that in those days, I think that Hooky was just the one who ended up being famous.

 

 In the early ,1980's most bass players not playing slap or fretless were not influenced by his style. He still wasn't that well-known by then, and there were plenty of other role models. For post-punk bass players in the early '80's (and I know because I was one of them) bassists like Sting, Bruce Foxton  Horace Panter and JJ Burnel were far more influential than Peter Hook.

 

The idea that Joy Division were such an important band at that time is a classic example of a tale told in the telling. They had a cult following and a certain profile in the music press, but their "legend" is something which has been created  subsequently by people with an agenda which necessitates rewriting history to their own ends. When they were together they were a moderately well-known post-punk band from Manchester. Nothing more than that.

 

 And regarding any equivalence between Mick Karn and Peter Hook, there isn't any.   The crucial difference between the two is that Mick Karn's style is defined by his imagination, not by his limitations. It's also wrong to claim that Mick Karn wasn't a trained musician when he had a background in playing the oboe in orchestras ect. I know he claimed to have no knowledge of scales and chords ect, but in practise he clearly did. His facility on the instrument is in a different stratosphere to Peter Hook (and most other bass players, for that matter). That should be obvious to anyone who listens.

 

Edited 1 hour ago by Misdee

[Bassybert]

59 minutes ago, Misdee said:

I very strongly disagree with this version of history.

 

If you or anybody else enjoys Hooky's playing and find it inspiring for whatever reason then good luck to you, nothing wrong with that. If you like and enjoy his style that's good enough reason. But that doesn't mean that objectively he is an accomplished musician or indeed qualified in any way to judge other exponents of the bass. He's just someone who people who don't play the bass think must be important because they've heard of him .Whenever I hear him interviewed about playing the bass he seems to be full of self-regard, mainly for his own lack of ability, something which he mistakenly sees as a great asset. That's why I think he is a conspicuously bad choice to present this series. 

 

I was passionately interested in music in 1979, just like you were, and in playing the bass. I thought Peter Hook was a crap bass player then, and I've heard nothing to change my mind in the interim period. Listening to him thrashing away was depressing back then, and it takes me right back whenever I hear it now. Lots of kids played like that in those days, I think that Hooky was just the one who ended up being famous.

 

 In the early ,1980's most bass players not playing slap or fretless were not influenced by his style. He still wasn't that well-known by then, and there were plenty of other role models. For post-punk bass players in the early '80's (and I know because I was one of them) bassists like Sting, Bruce Foxton  Horace Panter and JJ Burnel were far more influential than Peter Hook.

 

The idea that Joy Division were such an important band at that time is a classic example of a tale told in the telling. They had a cult following and a certain profile in the music press, but their "legend" is something which has been created  subsequently by people with an agenda which necessitates rewriting history to their own ends. When they were together they were a moderately well-known post-punk band from Manchester. Nothing more than that.

 

 And regarding any equivalence between Mick Karn and Peter Hook, there isn't any.   The crucial difference between the two is that Mick Karn's style is defined by his imagination, not by his limitations. It's also wrong to claim that Mick Karn wasn't a trained musician when he had a background in playing the oboe in orchestras ect. I know he claimed to have no knowledge of scales and chords ect, but in practise he clearly did. His facility on the instrument is in a different stratosphere to Peter Hook (and most other bass players, for that matter). That should be obvious to anyone who listens.

 

We all get it, you’re not a fan of Peter Hook. Loads of people are, myself included.

 

The thing with all this comparison stuff is that no one’s right and no one’s wrong, you simply can’t add a measurable quantity to what’s essentially an emotional response, it’s different for everyone and that’s what makes the world go round.

 

This whole debate is like comparing dick size, a pointless exercise that leaves everyone feeling a bit inadequate.