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Bands led by the Bassist

B

Buster666

Nov 29, 2008
59
14
#1
I'm thinking about Bands in which, from a technical standpoint, the bassist was superior to the other musicians, and in fact was the de facto leader of the band. I am spurred by the number of people who like or know the band, but couldn't tell you who the bass player was: in no particular order >>
Jefferson Airplane
Grateful Dead
Bufffalo Springfield
Vanilla Fudge
Who
Booker T
Rush
Yes
Police
Thin Lizzy
Weather Report
Later Miles Davis Group (MM)
 
#4
Buster666 said:
I'm thinking about Bands in which, from a technical standpoint, the bassist was superior to the other musicians, and in fact was the de facto leader of the band. I am spurred by the number of people who like or know the band, but couldn't tell you who the bass player was: in no particular order >>
Jefferson Airplane
Grateful Dead
Bufffalo Springfield
Vanilla Fudge
Who
Booker T
Rush
Yes
Police
Thin Lizzy
Weather Report
Later Miles Davis Group (MM)
Click to expand...

Yeah, but who can really tell what's going on in the rehearsal room? I mean, take Rush for example. Neil Peart wrote most of the songs/lyrics, right? Does that make him the leader?

And why is Entwhistle the leader in The Who? Isn't Townshend a great player? Or Moon?

Im having trouble understanding what you mean when you say "Leader"...
 
#5
Haha, schwing!!!

I'm not sure about the others, but you can leave RHCP out of this one. I'm pretty confident that Flea isn't the one that runs the band, plus Frusciante is a magnificent musician.

What about Pink Floyd? Sure, Gilmour was there, but I think, when it comes to running the band, Waters was pretty much up there doing it together with him. Oh yeah, after Barret left the band of course.
 
#9
I think the thread should be more like "Bands that have solid and gifted bass players".

I have been a "Rush Mush" since 1978, and I am sure most would agree that Alex and Neil contribute equally in the band. I would concur that Geddy might be more musically gifted in his ability to play bass and keyboards, sing and do his own laundry during a show.

Also, Chris Squire is a phenominal bass player with a very unique sound. But are you forgetting Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman?

Anyway, just wanted to chime in with my opinion.

:smug:
 
#19
Superior than the other players is always hard because many great bass players also play with great drummers. Rush comes to mind in that regard.

Best answer I have for what you're describing is; bands where the bass player is the main writer of the music. That usually results in a more interesting, integral bass line than when the guitarist writes the music and is only looking for the bass player to "play in the pocket". Such bands include; The Police, Iron Maiden, Rush (to a certain extent), The Beatles (to a certain extent), etc.
 

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