Duran Duran's John Taylor

MinorPentatonic · #1 03-11-2007, 06:04 AM

Your views on him as a player? Personally I've always wondered why he never really did anything else other than with the Duranies (even Power Station was only a spin off), any reason for that? No-one else would have him? I actually quite like what he did on Bedroom Toys from their Astronaut album

keb · #2 03-11-2007, 06:50 AM

His playing on the early Duran stuff was an inspiration to me when I was starting out.

Baryonyx · #3 03-11-2007, 08:00 AM

It was cool that he was using Kubicki basses, but I don't rate him that highly as a player.

jady · #4 03-11-2007, 11:47 AM

Great and solid funky lines. He made Duran Duran's sound. Also one of the reasons I started playing bass!!!

bassist15 · #5 03-11-2007, 12:15 PM

I remember hearing some of their songs every now and then on the radio. The song Rio comes to mind. Very solid playing. Ive heard him and Bernard Edwards from Chic were friends.

eric atkinson · #6 03-11-2007, 02:54 PM

To see him live was even better... He really filled those empty spaces out on stage.. He even did 2 bass solos... Awesome bassist.

knarleybass · #7 03-11-2007, 03:09 PM

Those bass lines on Rio were pretty amazing, oringina and Inventive for the time and by today's standards as well. Also the tone was nothing to sneeze at as well. Of course I wonder if it was him playing that bass or if it was Benard Edwards playing the bass... Also I suspect it was Tony Thompson on the drums for most of those records. The playing is spot on and way before ProTools style editing, let alone the Wendel JR.

fcleff · #8 03-11-2007, 03:16 PM

When DD was hot in their prime I was a total metal head and hated anything that sounded even remotely like dance/pop music. But there was something about DD that gave me pause. After a while I realized that it was the bass.

I have always regarded DD as a good band and John Taylor as a top bassist.

WalterBush · #9 03-11-2007, 03:22 PM

The man was, and is, amazing at what he does. When Duran Duran were in their prime, his bass lines exceeded by far anything else going on in the pop/dance world.

I'm not sure why he's not noted for doing more. I do know that he's playing with some group called Juicy Couture these days. Never heard 'em, though.

fcleff · #10 03-11-2007, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WalterBush

The man was, and is, amazing at what he does. When Duran Duran were in their prime, his bass lines exceeded by far anything else going on in the pop/dance world.

I'm not sure why he's not noted for doing more.

+1

Baryonyx · #11 03-11-2007, 03:39 PM

Isn't Juicy Couture some kinds of wimmens fashion label?

I wasn't overly impressed at that thing he recently did with Peavey where he started selling his basses at fashion stores...

scottkahn · #12 03-11-2007, 08:31 PM

Any serious bassist should pick up Duran Duran's Rio. You can actually get lost completely in John's bass lines... they're like stories within stories. It's just disappointing that he doesn't play that way on the current records, but on the older DD records, he was an amazing player who didn't receive the attention he deserved. It was very easy to write off artists who were hyped by their labels for their fashion, but DD have always been a talented band of musicians.

He's still great, and I consider Duran Duran to be one of the finest examples of what "good pop" can be, as opposed to disposable, formulated drivel that the artist don't even write for themselves.

On a side note, about the Juicy Couture stuff... John's wife is a co-founder of the fashion line, hence the co-marketing stuff.

Scott

**Eric Perry** · #13 03-11-2007, 08:38 PM

I love a lot of his lines. I think he's way underrated. I think because many perceive DD as a *cheesy* band, he gets forgotten about.

Rio is a killer song, with a great line. My band occasionally does that song, and it's an absolute BLAST to play. The chorus gives you lots of room to improv as well. Way cooler bassline than Hungry Like The Wolf (which we also do

)

TRU · #14 03-13-2007, 07:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MinorPentatonic

I've always wondered why he never really did anything else other than with the Duranies, any reason for that?

I guess being in a working world-class band is enough itself. At least at the haydays they must have been either in the studio or on the road all time, no time for side projects really.

Nowadays he must have more time and probably has other bands as well.

Mr Venus · #15 03-13-2007, 07:27 AM

Terrible, terrible band. He had good hair, though.

cowsgomoo · #16 03-13-2007, 07:30 AM

he did some good pop bass playing (assuming he played on those records)... the late 70's early 80's was a bit of an overlooked golden era in pop electric bass... it was really the last period before synthesizer bass totally dominated pop

Papersen · #17 03-14-2007, 08:01 PM

"Rio" has a great bass line. However "Save a prayer" amazes me everytime I listen to it. It`s just so laid back and singable that I immediately recognize it when I hear the song.

srxplayer · #18 03-14-2007, 11:14 PM

Since discovering him as something other than one of the pretty boys from Duran Duran. I always thought of him as very "tasteful" and underated bass player. I like him. Lays down some good stuff. Plays what the song needs to make it better nothing more, nothing less.

Cristo · #19 03-15-2007, 10:46 AM

He is the reason I started playing bass.

After hearing the line on Rio, I wanted to make that sound, although I didn't know what did it. I discovered that it was the "bass guitar" that did it...and that was that.

There was great bass on the first two albums, but after that, his lines were less interesting to me, and anyway I had moved on (to Geddy Lee, John Paul Jones, Chris Squire, etc.)

Actually I never heard much off of the later albums, but the impression I got after hearing the third one was that the peak, as far as bass playing was concerned, was the album Rio. Great parts and great tones on that album. I still listen to it.

chris_nairn · #20 03-15-2007, 11:11 PM

He was my inspiration to switch from keys to bass when I was a kid. Yes, the first two albums had the coolest bass lines. The third one still had the right feel but not quite as inventive. I do like those bass lines a lot though. He was slightly less up front sounding and with less mids on that album I guess. Still pretty good on Notorius too. After that he was too much into this "felt not heard thing." All the albums that followed still had good bass lines but they were more repetitive and lacked that cool mid-rangey sound he had earlier. He seemed to get into a basic groove and stick with it without all the variations he once did. Perhaps the next album will have him getting back to what he used to do?