Yes. With Steve's basslines, he leads Maiden. And with him writing 80% of their music by himself, I'd say Maiden applies.
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Bands led by the Bassist
- Thread starter Buster666
- Start date
Yes. With Steve's basslines, he leads Maiden. And with him writing 80% of their music by himself, I'd say Maiden applies.
Yes, the Jaco period was Weather Reports' most successful and it's true that Jaco was their most popular member. He had the charisma, was winning player awards and was perhaps their most brilliant musician ... BUT, there's no way he led Weather Report. Joe Zawinul was in the driver seat - always and at all times. Nothing happened without Zawinul allowing it. When Jaco wanted in he approached Zawinul. Zawinul hired Jaco, Zawinul wrote most the songs, Zawinul decided what Jaco songs made it on their records and Zawinul fired Jaco when he became unmanageable.
Look, Jaco HATED it when Zawinul played synth bass. If Jaco was the leader, there's no way the keyboard player would play synth bass unless Jaco approved.
The leader is the one who makes the final decisions and whom the others follow. In Weather Report, it was always Zawinul.
There's simply NO debate on this. Weather Report was Zawinul's band and Shorter was his right-hand man.
Word Of Mouth was Jaco's band.
If you weren't around then, read the book Jaco (by Milkowski).
Look, Jaco HATED it when Zawinul played synth bass. If Jaco was the leader, there's no way the keyboard player would play synth bass unless Jaco approved.
The leader is the one who makes the final decisions and whom the others follow. In Weather Report, it was always Zawinul.
There's simply NO debate on this. Weather Report was Zawinul's band and Shorter was his right-hand man.
Word Of Mouth was Jaco's band.
If you weren't around then, read the book Jaco (by Milkowski).
In regards to YES, there's a great documentary that came out about a year ago as part of the Classic Artists series. I've never read Chris Welch's history of the band, but he figures prominently in that documentary, and I've read reviews that suggest that much of the story of the film is quite similar to Welch's book.
Anyway, if you've seen it, it's quite clear that Anderson and Squire were the driving forces in terms of hiring personnel, management, etc. However, in song-writing, the dynamic changed depending on who was in the band at the time. Topographic Oceans, for example, is pretty much an Anderson/Howe collaboration, while each member contributes almost equally to Fragile.
True, Squire is the only member who appears on every album, but even today, Howe and White still reportedly own shares in the name and management company.
Anyway, if you've seen it, it's quite clear that Anderson and Squire were the driving forces in terms of hiring personnel, management, etc. However, in song-writing, the dynamic changed depending on who was in the band at the time. Topographic Oceans, for example, is pretty much an Anderson/Howe collaboration, while each member contributes almost equally to Fragile.
True, Squire is the only member who appears on every album, but even today, Howe and White still reportedly own shares in the name and management company.
I can't believe we're on page 3 of this thread and no one has mentioned Mike Watt and Firehose or any of his later incarnations (Flying Saucer, Secondmen, etc.). I think he could be considered the leader of all of his bands except the Minutemen which was a collaboration with D. Boon. I saw Watt in 1995 with Eddie Vedder playing guitar and Dave Grohl playing drums to back him up on his solo tour that's fronting a band with some pretty big guns in it.
Cheers!
Cheers!
John Paul Jones, Led Zeppelin...
here's why
Jimmy Page = The Showman
Ya, he's out there with his phallic symbol, a distortion pedal, and a violin bow...but any guitarist will tell you he's sloppy. That doesn't strip him down from being a rock god...that actually makes him more so.
Robert Plant - The Pretty Boy
Prancing around on stage in his two size too small jeans, golden locks, and crooning like a bleeding heart...amazing voice, awesome presence...but definetly not the leader.
John Bonham - The King
Seriously. Does anyone doubt he's arguably the best rock drummer of that era? While he may be responsible for some of the most rocking beats ever (and solo's), I don't see him directing musically in the studio.
Jones - The Man
Hands down the most learned of the four when it comes to music. Remember that jones and page met as studio musicians before coming together to rock the world. But as i said, Page is sloppy. I dare you to find me a clip or even a comment from anyone who has seen them live that says "jones was out of the groove...or hit a wrong note".
Not gonna happen. He plays all sorts of instruments (mandolin, guitar, bass, keys) and he plays them very well. Imagine if "Stairway" didn't have the organ in the intro...think about having no "No Quarter"...
Really tho...this question is kinda moot, b/c the greatest part of any great band is the fact that the members can come together and hash out this great music...no one man is an island.
here's why
Jimmy Page = The Showman
Ya, he's out there with his phallic symbol, a distortion pedal, and a violin bow...but any guitarist will tell you he's sloppy. That doesn't strip him down from being a rock god...that actually makes him more so.
Robert Plant - The Pretty Boy
Prancing around on stage in his two size too small jeans, golden locks, and crooning like a bleeding heart...amazing voice, awesome presence...but definetly not the leader.
John Bonham - The King
Seriously. Does anyone doubt he's arguably the best rock drummer of that era? While he may be responsible for some of the most rocking beats ever (and solo's), I don't see him directing musically in the studio.
Jones - The Man
Hands down the most learned of the four when it comes to music. Remember that jones and page met as studio musicians before coming together to rock the world. But as i said, Page is sloppy. I dare you to find me a clip or even a comment from anyone who has seen them live that says "jones was out of the groove...or hit a wrong note".
Not gonna happen. He plays all sorts of instruments (mandolin, guitar, bass, keys) and he plays them very well. Imagine if "Stairway" didn't have the organ in the intro...think about having no "No Quarter"...
Really tho...this question is kinda moot, b/c the greatest part of any great band is the fact that the members can come together and hash out this great music...no one man is an island.
I see were you are coming from. But I disagree...just listen to the songs. It is clearly Page and Plant that lead the songwriting and the band in general. Jonesy was more like a great sideman, but his contributions to the band were smaller than Page's. I would say that Page was the man behind Led Zeppelin. He was a sloppy player, but he was very criative and influenced a great number of guitar players. He contributed much more to the guitar than Jonesy did to the bass, or the keys.
I have a huge respect for John Paul Jones, but Led Zeppelin was 50% Jimmy Page, since the very beginning.
I would disagree with most of those.
-Neil pert of Rush is considered to be one of the greatest rock drummers ever.
-Bill Bruford of Yes is one of my all time favorite drummers
-Ever heard of Pete Townshend or Keith Moon? Townshend wrote nearly everything the Who ever did.
-Everybody knocks on Sting for being a crappy bassist, but nobody denies that Copeland was an amazing drummer
I honestly don't even know *** you could be thinking...
Dug Pinnick leads King's X...not sure if he's technically "better" than Ty Tabor, but he defines that King's X sound.
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IRON MAIDEN-While Mr. Harris does not sing I do believe he writes a great deal of the lyrics and music.
IMO regarding Rush, Neil writes the majority of the music but that band is like three GODs as opposed to one that really shines.
just my .02
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IRON MAIDEN-While Mr. Harris does not sing I do believe he writes a great deal of the lyrics and music.
IMO regarding Rush, Neil writes the majority of the music but that band is like three GODs as opposed to one that really shines.
just my .02
i thought neil didn't even write the music, just the lyrics.
anyway, when i saw them on the colbert report a while back it was geddy that was sitting in pole position taking most of the questions.. that to me says leader.
Yes Jack Bruce was better than Clapton. Hell, Clapton couldn't even read music. When Baker and Bruce left the Graham Bond Organization jazz band (along with John McLaughlin, must a been a very bad day for Graham!) they went where the money was: Hard Rock > Clapton.
Still will argue that Bruce's bass and vocals are what drove the songs.
Remember the scene in Full Metal Jacket where the S.A.W. was hanging out the barndoor shooting everything that moved. It was the helo pilot who did the driving (Bruce) while the grunt on the M-60 got all the glory (Clapton).
Well I could say the Funk Brothers - and indicate the contribution that Jamerson made. But again, in this context we are looking through a Bass Players Lens. The Funk Brothers were a group to some degree - and Jamerson was a significant force there. But if you are looking at the Catalog of Music they contributed to - the Talent there is endless - on all fronts.
So in spite of the great presence and contribution of many of the these Bass Players - I think it hard to discount - in many of the examples listed here - the rest of the Band. <Period : )
Having said that, we tend to view things from a Bass Centric perspective (at least I know I do). All of these great players are great Musicians that played Bass and are also great Bass Players that made great music unto themselves and part of a group of other great Musicians. I think you get my point - or at least catch my drift.
Try to imagine R&B without James Jamerson.
Hum your favorite MoTown hit to yourself. You're probably humming Jamerson's bass line.
