Rolling Stone Readers Pick the Top Ten Bassists of All Time

[van_gogh_bass]

Rolling Stone Readers Pick the Top Ten Bassists of All Time: 10. Victor Wooten | Rolling Stone Music | Photos

Interesting!

[jallenbass]

It says the Jaco died in '82. I didn't read about that until 4 years later.

[BigOldHarry]

Meh. This list is wildly flawed. Putting Cliff Burton ahead of Vic Wooten is just nutty. It is the Rolling Stone, however - all rock & roll, all the time.

[mcm]

rolling stone IS the most credible mag for music lists.......................................

[Commreman]

Rolling Stone is a lefty political rag masquerading as a music publication. It ceased being relevant a looooong time ago. Who really gives a rip what they say about bassists?

[JEDBass]

I think Cliff's a talented bassist, but in no way does he even sniff the top 25 IMO. Steve Harris and Geezer pioneered the heavy metal genre and (again IMO) did it much, much better. Dare I say if Cliff hadn't died, he wouldn't get half the accolades and worshippers he has now, though who knows how far he would have progressed. As for Flea, he's up there, but once you start getting into "legendary" territory alongside Jamerson (a glaring ommision), Enwhistle, Macca, Jaco, etc, he can't hold their bass strap. He "might" be top 25.
What is important is that there are many great and influential bassists out there, so the fact we need to debate over who is worthy of a top 10 or top 25 or whatever is a good thing!

[tangentmusic]

Originally Posted by BigOldHarry

Meh. This list is wildly flawed. Putting Cliff Burton ahead of Vic Wooten is just nutty. It is the Rolling Stone, however - all rock & roll, all the time.

Wildly flawed indeed. There's so many greats.
But no Chris Squire? (Insert your left off fave here)

[Dellers]

Not a very good list IMO. Good bassists, sure, but only a couple deserve to be on a top 10 list the way I see it. Flea is a cool bassist, but he's absolutely not the second greatest of all time. Ok list for rock, I guess, but this is much more about all the reader's musical taste than anything else.

[van_gogh_bass]

I was a reader's poll, FWIW. I found it amusing, more than anything else! I really expected the readers to put Pete Wentz in there somewhere.

[Schlyder]

Originally Posted by jallenbass

It says the Jaco died in '82. I didn't read about that until 4 years later.

he didn't die until 1987.

and as for the list....

[loinmute]

Not a bad list...and yea, Rolling S magazine is quite rock driven. I agree that this list is more of a rock orientated list. I would have had Squire instead of Les Claypool. Sheehan would've been great.

And Cliff Burton gets alot of flak in comparison to Harris but Cliff rarely used a pick.

[liquid sunshine]

that whole list was a joke. It didn't say top ten based on what though. most of those players brought alot of attention to the bass.

[pnut166]

Originally Posted by Commreman

Rolling Stone is a lefty political rag masquerading as a music publication. It ceased being relevant a looooong time ago. Who really gives a rip what they say about bassists?

+1000. Plus, no Fieldy ?

[bassist4dalord]

I'd say that list is decent at best. I would put James Jamerson on there, but otherwise, I think it's an ok list.

[electracoyote]

Typical RS pablum.

Only one brotha? I guess soul/R&B/funk and the many highly influential bassists from those genres are not worthy.

This is funny: They won't let Rush in the RRHOF, but Geddy is Rolling Stone's #4 Greatest Bass Player of All Time, and they rave about his multi-instrumental talents.

Rolling Stone's hypocrisy is surpassed only by their hypocrisy.

[dalkowski]

I'm compiling a Top 10 list of "Top 10 Bass Players" lists. Stand by.

[guroove]

Originally Posted by jallenbass

It says the Jaco died in '82. I didn't read about that until 4 years later.

That's definitely wrong. He died in 1987.

[AcidFripp]

So now Flea is better than JPJ and Geddy Lee?
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! That's freaking brilliant!!

[ElectraPhoenix]

This was a reader poll; obviously the actually *good* players aren't going to get voted higher than Cliff and Flea. If it was strictly rock bassists, the list might be a little better (obviously you couldn't have Vic or Jaco on the list if it was just a rock list though).

[greenboy]

Rolling Stone: the MTV of the print publication world.