catcauphonic said:
All I meant was none of the stones could be considered a virtuoso, except maybe Charlie. Pay attention before you get judgemental
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Adam Clayton Does Not Suck.
- Thread starter spasepeepole026
- Start date
All I meant was none of the stones could be considered a virtuoso, except maybe Charlie. Pay attention before you get judgemental
This may have been posted already, but I haven't the time nor the wherewithal to slog through 11+ pages of "yes he is/no he isn't" banter. Anyway, a number of years ago I remember reading a magazine story about U2 and they were talking to AC about his bass playing in the band. He said "I may not be the best bass player in the world - hell, I may not be the best bass player in the BAND...but I am the bass player". That's stuck with me for years. Run what ya brung...
This is a great thread for a psych major.
She could write her doctoral thesis about the controversy and psychology of Adam Clayton love/hate.
I think that some of you might be embarassed by her findings.
She could write her doctoral thesis about the controversy and psychology of Adam Clayton love/hate.
I think that some of you might be embarassed by her findings.
I heard from three different studio engineers in Dublin that Adam Clayton's time is so bad that on some recordings they needed to put a volume gate on his bass track that was triggered by the kick drum. So the only time you hear a bass note is when the kick drum hits
How much money have people paid him to play?
Judge him on popularity alone and he is one of the top ten
Judge him on popularity alone and he is one of the top ten
Clayton is a joke.
I'm sure I shouldn't say that about a professional bass player.
You want proof: listen to the guitar solo in Pride. Edge (whom I quite like as a guitarist) plays a riff in B major using D# E and F#. Underneath Clayton plays in Bminor.
Perhaps Eno thought it was 'arty'.
Still he's nothing compared to the towering ego that is Bono.
I've always thought Clayton to be a very lazy musician.
I'm not a U2 fan. Does this Clayton guy play the songs well live? If so, then he doesn't suck. A bass player in a band only sucks if he can't cut it in his band, methinks. Thumbs up if you agree. Oh sorry...thought I was on Youtube 
U2 go Home - Live from Slane Castle, Ireland (Part 2 of 8
Put that into YouTube. Sorry its not a direct link Go to the middle and listen to "out of control" one of my favorite songs by them. Adam is using a pick so the notes are clear to hear that he is indeed playing well. He gets his job done well.
Put that into YouTube. Sorry its not a direct link Go to the middle and listen to "out of control" one of my favorite songs by them. Adam is using a pick so the notes are clear to hear that he is indeed playing well. He gets his job done well.
Like him or not, the solo over that melody sounds beautiful to an untrained ear. This is a great example of how some people who know theory come off as snobby to those that can just enjoy the music without getting all technical
Maybe it was the Edge that should have been playing in B minor then?Like him or not, the solo over that melody sounds beautiful to an untrained ear. This is a great example of how some people who know theory come off as snobby to those that can just enjoy the music without getting all technical
Maybe he should. I doubt Adam wrote the guitar part and probably just played what he thought fit.
Unfortunately it sounds wrong because of what he's playing under the guitar, and I doubt the bassline came first.
the producers should have spotted it. Arguing it doesn't matter on artistic grounds, or that I'm being snobby is just silly. Clayton is playing the wrong part.
He also screws up on Rattle and Hum as well, but i can't remember the song name. And the live version of Bad from the EP likewise has minor notes over major chords.
I have no problem with simple basslines. I have a problem with a player as notoriously sloppy as Clayton who clearly doesn't care about the job he's doing. In fact once on the Zoo TV tour they had to get the roadie to play the bass because he never showed up. Mind you with an ego like Bono on the stage who can blame him!
lfmn16 said:
I hate this elitist attitude; 'I'm old, you're young. I know everything, you know nothing.' YES as an older player you should have more experience and wisdom, but if you think that a younger musician has no appreciation for what came before them, then you are just as narrow-minded as you claim we are. Guess what? Jaco, Jamerson, Chris Squire, all the older players and innovators were great. But they are NOT the be all and end all of music! Great music was made before them, and great music will be made until music is made no more. Underground, and in the mainstream.
The 'older' generation tells us of Jaco's contribution to bass playing, but they fail to show us the lasting effects of this contribution. Don't get me wrong, Weather Report are great when I'm in that kind of mood, and I love Jaco's playing and can understand his contribution to JAZZ. Here's the problem; I'll bet that 99% of people on the street can't name a single Weather Report tune, or even recognise a Pastorius bass line. Then if we look at Clayton, he probably isn't a terribly influential bassist, but any average Joe could recognise one of his lines instantly. Does this make him a better bassist? Depends on your definition of better. But he IS the bassist for U2, arguably the biggest rock band in the world. I doubt if Jaco sold 1% of the records Clayton has. Jaco influenced a very narrow spectrum- jazz and some metal. Clayton, as a part of U2, has influenced countless individuals and bands. No matter how amazing Jaco was, he can't claim the success Clayton has had. And whoever says that something isn't art if it's mainstream; if art can only be appreciated by an elite group of individuals who dictate what 'art' is, then I hope that nothing I ever make is considered 'art'.
Gloria is certainly great. How many rock players dis slap-solos in 1981? Not many. His bass part there is fantastic; the others you listed, not so much.
I see "Gloria" and "Twilight" as his signature bass lines, personally
Surrender is a pretty good bass part. And where the streets have no names is certainly not flashy, but does it drive the song? Hell yeah. So i'd call it an efficient bass part. I always like twilight myself, as a song and for the bassline.
I'm not sure why this thread was necroed but i'm gonna carry on with it and say my piece even if people have long resolved this argument because I have found myself defending Clayton in the past.
I was a huge U2 fan in my teens, i haven't liked anything they did since 1993 (and really their last good one is Achtung Baby) but naturally when i started playing bass in my late teens, well, there was a lot of U2 basslines involved in my learning (actually good basslines to learn to). There is no doubt there isn't much anything fancy in his playing but he's always been solid and certainly a worthwhile addition to the band. And on the early stuff he was rarely a root player. You can't be a root player when you've got edge on guitar, the guitar in older U2 is usually not following the bass AT ALL. The bass melody was usually independent of the guitar. I think probably my favorite bassline of the early days would be Two hearts beat as one ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIuAFBRyjj4 you got slides, a tiny bit of slap and a great tone). Gloria was the first bass solo AND slapping i ever did. It's very easy, but sounds good. The guy even did some harmonics on some early stuff. Live, as evidenced on under a blood red sky, he liked to throw in chords once in a while. Now i realise harmonics are a simple enough thing but name me one boring root playing rock bass player that ever thought of using harmonics... a root note guy wouldn't even dream of doing an harmonic....they probably don't even know what that is.
A few things to bring up way too late because its a necro but.... I read someone mentioning if anyone of us here had ever written such an iconic bassline as new year's day. No, but fun fact, while new year's day is a great bass line, Clayton came up with it while trying to figure out what the chords to Visage's Fade to Grey were.
Someone at some point was commenting on the Pride solo and how Clayton was playing in a different key than the guitar and then came the issue that maybe edge should have played something different and someone doubting that the bass came first....Actually.... I can tell you for a fact that in early U2, 90% of the songs started with the rhythm section. Just listen to Edge's parts and play them. That kind of textures, you wouldn't come up with half that stuff if you didn't have a rhythm part to play over. I fact, the whole reason Edge wrote Sunday bloody sunday is because he was in a rut and doubting himself as a composer because he felt all he'd been until then was the guitar player, just the guy that laid the (amazing) guitar tracks over the rhythm section. Most early U2, if you play the guitar alone, most people won't recognize the song and certainly it wont actually sound like you're playing a song... So all this to say, i'm pretty sure Edge came up with the pride solo AFTER the bassline was written.
In a similar vein, Bullet the blue sky. Bass and guitar play in a different key. This time though apparently it was Clayton's doing. Edge thought Clayton wasnt udnerstanding what he was trying to do...and maybe he didn't...but in the end it became a great and classic song. My point? Maybe sometimes knowing what key you should be playing is what you shouldn't be doing...
Clayton used to actually be pretty insecure about his playing and in the early 90's he actually took lessons to try to break out of his bass playing habits. While i don't like the record, this becomes a bit evident on some of the Pop basslines. And also on Zooropa (Some days are better than others, Stay). Listen to Last night on earth on pop. Achtung baby has ok basslines (though a bit more typical, by then he'd lost the post-punk bassist thing) but they are too buried in the mix and sound flat. A shame.
All this to say, i've seen other very popular bands with far worse bassists. You have to understand U2 came out of punk and post punk. The approach there was NEVER musicianship and certainly they all valued friendship over anything else, if even Adam had ever left the band (or did now), the band would be over. U2 is these four guys and has always been. Remove one, and it's not U2. So yeah Edge is a great player, but he's a sound technician more than a technical guy (and has a mind that as also a guitarist, i can't fathom, like...WHY WOULD YOU THINK OF PLAYING THAT? I dont know, but i wish i understood it...i'm thinking the older stuff here)
Also, as a person, without Clayton it's likely U2 wouldn't have broken through. He was the first one to believe in the band and the dream, the first one to commit himself entirely to the band. He was basically the manager before they had one. The other guys have said it, without him, they probably wouldn't have ever been known outside the Dublin bar circuit. Oh and also, he actually was always the coolest member and the most laid back... Also the "wildest". By u2's tame standards this isnt much, but hes the one that dated a supermodel and who got busted for carrying pot at customs and hit a policeman while driving drunk...
I'm not sure why this thread was necroed but i'm gonna carry on with it and say my piece even if people have long resolved this argument because I have found myself defending Clayton in the past.
I was a huge U2 fan in my teens, i haven't liked anything they did since 1993 (and really their last good one is Achtung Baby) but naturally when i started playing bass in my late teens, well, there was a lot of U2 basslines involved in my learning (actually good basslines to learn to). There is no doubt there isn't much anything fancy in his playing but he's always been solid and certainly a worthwhile addition to the band. And on the early stuff he was rarely a root player. You can't be a root player when you've got edge on guitar, the guitar in older U2 is usually not following the bass AT ALL. The bass melody was usually independent of the guitar. I think probably my favorite bassline of the early days would be Two hearts beat as one ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIuAFBRyjj4 you got slides, a tiny bit of slap and a great tone). Gloria was the first bass solo AND slapping i ever did. It's very easy, but sounds good. The guy even did some harmonics on some early stuff. Live, as evidenced on under a blood red sky, he liked to throw in chords once in a while. Now i realise harmonics are a simple enough thing but name me one boring root playing rock bass player that ever thought of using harmonics... a root note guy wouldn't even dream of doing an harmonic....they probably don't even know what that is.
A few things to bring up way too late because its a necro but.... I read someone mentioning if anyone of us here had ever written such an iconic bassline as new year's day. No, but fun fact, while new year's day is a great bass line, Clayton came up with it while trying to figure out what the chords to Visage's Fade to Grey were.
Someone at some point was commenting on the Pride solo and how Clayton was playing in a different key than the guitar and then came the issue that maybe edge should have played something different and someone doubting that the bass came first....Actually.... I can tell you for a fact that in early U2, 90% of the songs started with the rhythm section. Just listen to Edge's parts and play them. That kind of textures, you wouldn't come up with half that stuff if you didn't have a rhythm part to play over. I fact, the whole reason Edge wrote Sunday bloody sunday is because he was in a rut and doubting himself as a composer because he felt all he'd been until then was the guitar player, just the guy that laid the (amazing) guitar tracks over the rhythm section. Most early U2, if you play the guitar alone, most people won't recognize the song and certainly it wont actually sound like you're playing a song... So all this to say, i'm pretty sure Edge came up with the pride solo AFTER the bassline was written.
In a similar vein, Bullet the blue sky. Bass and guitar play in a different key. This time though apparently it was Clayton's doing. Edge thought Clayton wasnt udnerstanding what he was trying to do...and maybe he didn't...but in the end it became a great and classic song. My point? Maybe sometimes knowing what key you should be playing is what you shouldn't be doing...
Clayton used to actually be pretty insecure about his playing and in the early 90's he actually took lessons to try to break out of his bass playing habits. While i don't like the record, this becomes a bit evident on some of the Pop basslines. And also on Zooropa (Some days are better than others, Stay). Listen to Last night on earth on pop. Achtung baby has ok basslines (though a bit more typical, by then he'd lost the post-punk bassist thing) but they are too buried in the mix and sound flat. A shame.
All this to say, i've seen other very popular bands with far worse bassists. You have to understand U2 came out of punk and post punk. The approach there was NEVER musicianship and certainly they all valued friendship over anything else, if even Adam had ever left the band (or did now), the band would be over. U2 is these four guys and has always been. Remove one, and it's not U2. So yeah Edge is a great player, but he's a sound technician more than a technical guy (and has a mind that as also a guitarist, i can't fathom, like...WHY WOULD YOU THINK OF PLAYING THAT? I dont know, but i wish i understood it...i'm thinking the older stuff here)
Also, as a person, without Clayton it's likely U2 wouldn't have broken through. He was the first one to believe in the band and the dream, the first one to commit himself entirely to the band. He was basically the manager before they had one. The other guys have said it, without him, they probably wouldn't have ever been known outside the Dublin bar circuit. Oh and also, he actually was always the coolest member and the most laid back... Also the "wildest". By u2's tame standards this isnt much, but hes the one that dated a supermodel and who got busted for carrying pot at customs and hit a policeman while driving drunk...
I just listened to four songs from U2's Elevation tour in Boston. I hear a bass player who's style and playing are perfect for that band. He plays what he has to, no more or less and his parts fit the songs perfect. No underplaying and no overplaying. He grooves and he even funks in his own way for those songs. Hell, all four of them are a perfect fit for that band.
The best players are the one's who are best for a particular situation. Adam Clayton is perfect for that band.
