80s pop bands with killer bassists

[31HZ]

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.

And it's all fretless on the debut album!

Man I love me some '80s bass lines.

 

[Michedelic]

Holy zombie…I found my comments from over a decade ago(about goings-on four decades ago), they still hold up.

 

[Kubicki Fan]

I likely fall into the camp of thousands of guys who didnt give Wham any seriuosness back in the 80's and avoided it like a plague. Nowadays when I hear it, the bass work is rather jaw dropping.

After page four I thought I get the chance to be first to drop Deon Estes' name. So good, mmm.
RIP Deon. Gone too soon.

 

[pklima]

Holy zombie…I found my comments from over a decade ago(about goings-on four decades ago), they still hold up.

I mean, to be fair, there's been a lot of 80s music released over the past decade, but it's very synthy and doesn't use bass guitar much. And 80s music made in the 80s hasn't changed in the past decade at all.

 

[Michedelic]

I mean, to be fair, there's been a lot of 80s music released over the past decade, but it's very synthy and doesn't use bass guitar much. And 80s music made in the 80s hasn't changed /in the past decade at all.

Things can be reassessed over time; there’s plenty of music from my elementary school and teen years that I was crazy about, but upon hearing this stuff later on I’ve often thought, “How/why did I get into this crap? Oh, I was 13”. Or else it just bores me. The point I was making earlier is, nostalgia notwithstanding, I would still agree with everything I opined a decade ago on this thread, about players from decades before that.

Then again, viewpoints can certainly change with evolving perspectives over time. Case in particular…Cream live. They just drone on and on(and not in an interesting way )over one chord, Clapton playing the same purloined licks over and over and over. Sure, I recognize, in that moment, it was groundbreaking(for rock), and back then it sounded audacious, but that time is long gone. I still admire Jack Bruce(as an individual), and his forceful playing, but I’d rather hear his solo or collaborative work from later projects. Then, in those days, my ear wasn’t attuned to the kind of jazz that they trying to emulate to a certain extent in a rock context. My tastes have grown from that time of my life, and I’m far more impressed with the improvisation over chord changes that was going on back then in bop/post-bop that I missed, but eventually caught up with.

I don’t really care about whether the rhythmic low frequency information was/is generated by synth or bass guitar, if it’s a good or interesting line, it works, it’s happening. It wasn’t always just about electric bass for me. The jazz that did register with me as a kid was Jimmy Smith, with all that killer organ bass pedal work, then I’d hear that sort of thing filter through to early Traffic. So when it came to the likes of Kraftwerk and Ultravox(yeah, I know, played by hand not foot), I had no problem with it. And if some current band is a retro throwback to 80’s styles, whatever, if I hear something like that and like it, it will be from their own merits.

 

[pklima]

I mean you are 100% not wrong, but that was really just a joke about recent synthwave being called "80s music", not a serious post.

 

[Flooksy]

Rio by Duran Duran is one of the greatest tunes I have ever heard for the bassline!

 

[almost human]

Nice to see some appreciation for Platinum Blonde. I still listen to the "Alien Shores" album regularly.

Anyone else remember this one:



(apologies if it's already been posted- I didn't feel like going through the whole thread)