80s pop bands with killer bassists

[bassmanrocke]

Mike Mesaros from The Smithereens, Blood and Roses is still one great bass driven song.

 

[jerry]

Busta Cherry Jones short stint with Talking Heads is worth a mention.

 

[Basshappi]

Did Oingo Boingo get a mention yet? Joey Avila could flat rip it up.

 

[Red_Label]

Blurring the definition of 'pop' but these guys were all on the radio back then (remember the radio?)
Fishbone
The Cure
Talking Heads
REM
Big Country
Peter Gabriel

Have all of their albums! Always loved Tony Butler's bass playing, Mark's drumming, and Stuart's songwriting. Still makes me sad when I think of him being gone.

 

[G-MonRV5]

In reguards to Trevor Horn, I've seen many times he's dubbed "the man who created the 80's", as far as music goes. That dude was involved on so many albums in so many ways: producer, bassist, co-writer.

+1

My favorite 80s album is 90125 by Yes, and not so much because it's a great Yes album (although I happen to think it is), but it's great because of Trevor Horn's production. The stuff he did with Seal in the 90s was pretty good as well from a production standpoint.

 

[randyripoff]

+1 on Colin Moulding/XTC and Brian Ritchie.

+1. Not what I'd think of in terms of African, mind you, but definitely great bass players.

 

[Roscoe East]

matthew seligman! played around the brit scene alot. but my fave is the amazing Thomas Dolby "the Flat Earth".. lots of brilliant bass (killer fretless too) on this record. I think a must have..

Oooh, which reminds me of another excellent 80s bassist: Terry Jackson, who played on Dolby's Aliens Ate My Buick album.



Jackson also played in Reba McEntire's band. Sadly, he died in a plane crash in 1991.

 

[Roscoe East]

Busta Cherry Jones short stint with Talking Heads is worth a mention.

He also played on Robert Fripp's 1980 album God Save the Queen/Under Heavy Manners

 

[Chrisk-K]

Duran Duran - John Taylor
Japan - Mick Karn
Police - Sting

I don't know who played on Billy Idol's "Eyes Without a Face," but its bass line is one of my favorites.

 

[Altitude]

Apparently it was Sal Cuevas, whom I'd not heard of before I went to look for the answer to that question.

Steve Stevens also played a lot of the bass on the Billy Idol albums.

 

[kikstand454]

Duran Duran - John Taylor
Japan - Mick Karn
Police - Sting

I don't know who played on Billy Idol's "Eyes Without a Face," but its bass line is one of my favorites.

Ditto. Love that song. Im not sure if Steve wrote that bassline.. but its one of the most perfect simple lines ever. Awesome.

 

[harleyman888]

Missing Persons. had Patrick O'hearn from Frank Zappa's band in it. Along with Terry Bozzio on drums and Warren Cuccurullo on guitar. Both also from Zappa's band.

 

[Ironbar]

80's Pop music with an African twist? Check out Harari. Or Sipho Mabuse. Hugh Masekela.....

Or virtually anything written by Paul Simon. African beats were the "in" thing in the 80's.

 

[Bipslapper]

Graham Maby with Joe Jackson.

^ Uh Huh

Also, early 80's listen to Ian Drury and the Blockheads' bass player - Norman Watt-Roy. fantastic, but not really a "Pop" band.

Agree that John Taylor from DD was great for the genre and a big influence on me.

 

[genderblind]

Dan K. Brown from The Fixx - albums "Reach The Beach", "Phantoms", "Walkabout" - great lines everywhere.

 

[kerrak]

Okay, 80's and dark tone? Surprised nobody mentioned

Barry Adamson - Magazine
Will Heggie - Cocteau Twins

Worth a mention too:

Les Pattinson - Echo & the Bunnymen
Charlie Harper - The Monochrome Set

 

[hands5]

Oooh, which reminds me of another excellent 80s bassist: Terry Jackson, who played on Dolby's Aliens Ate My Buick album.



Jackson also played in Reba McEntire's band. Sadly, he died in a plane crash in 1991.

good looking out for mentioning Terry Jackson
( rip ) for some of the stuff he did on the Aliens ate my Buick lp per
Thomas Dolby but props also should be giving to Rodney " skeet Curtis who also did some great playing on that same lp to.

 

[hands5]

Three names come to mind during this era of music.
Deon Estus Bass player/producer for Wham

Mike Craig... Culture Club, if you have listen to thier albums in thier entirety Mike plays some real nice stuff.

Bernard Edwards.... Enough said

 

[winterburn69]

Mark Holmes of Platinum Blonde on Standing in the Dark, it's a great album. Great bass parts. They weren't very popular out of Canada. Actually just saw Platinum Blonde tonight. Great show. Killer bass solo during Lost in Space.

 

[Relayer71]

Derek Forbes was the bass player for Simple Minds from their inception through 1985, therefore he's on their best remembered material. "New Gold Dream"(1982)is my favorite.

Derek Forbes is so overlooked. He was a HUGE part of Simple Minds' sound in those early days, it's a shame he left... their sound changed drastically and I'm sure it was the direction singer Jim Kerr and guitarrist Charlie Burchill were pushing the band in, but a lot of it had to do with Forbes exit.