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Best grunge bass player

#83
STP's Deleo has some wicked tones - He is a big JPJ and Chris Squire fan so he incorporates a lot of overdriven tones. In the studio he uses a variety of ultra cool vintage basses - Rics, hagstoms, fenders, and gibsons....

He also has a bit of Jamerson influence in him re. the harmonic movement he incorporates over simple chord changes. Good stuff!

The whole idea of the word "GRUNGE" ticks me off - That was just a media made up word to catogorize bands. IT IS JUST ROCK!:bassist:
 
#84
I'd say Novoselic/Inez/Starr, would probibly be up there, but I havent really listerned much to mud honey, soundgarden or pearl jam so I can't be inclined to judge.

Krist Novoselic kept it simple like the Pixies Kim Deal (I site both as influences on my style) and that seems to insult fans of ''real'' bassists like Flea for some reason, like no slap style.

I'm a reasonably large Nirvana fan, despite finding the music inspiring and motivating + all round fun to listen to, which may not have been its point. ''Lithium'' ''In Bloom" "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and finally my personal favorites "Polly" and "Aneurysm" are examples of great basslines no matter how they appear in the competitive musician's world of the egotistical bass player.
 
#88
Shepard allllll the way ... he definitely had the most impact in his band honestly soundgarden wasn't as good with hiro i'm not saying hiro's bad just saying soundgarden's sound wouldn't be without him any other bassist would've ruined it... + mike inez and deleo are pretty good too
 
#90
Ahhhh ALAS! Someone mentions the TREES! The most underrated grunge band EVER! I'm going with Van Connor and Mike Inez! Although... I really dig the way Ahment plays the Who cover "Can you see the real me", so I'll have to give him the honorable mention.
 
#91
Nirvana has never had a real big impact on me... I've covered 3 of their songs on stage (look at me being a big shot and stuff!) In the majority of Nirvana songs, the bass is boring but solid and well done. As far as difficulty, I would rate it barely higher than the guy from Fallout Boy. A very proficient bassist and always did the job, but never a personal favorite.

The bassists off of the AIC records Facelift and Dirt were awesome. Not even sure which bassist did what, but I've yet to hear an Alice in Chains song that I didn't like the bass too.

While I don't consider myself a big listener of grunge, STP and Pearl Jam have some amazing bass lines... tasteful, groovy, and the runs and fills are always well placed and beautiful. Jeremy is amazing.

And that is all I have to say about that, appreciating grunge without knowing too much about it.
 
#94
Matt Till said:
Is that to imply grunge bassists don't have talent? :eyebrow: Gotta love having a closed mind.




The Melvins and Earth are lumped into the grunge category, more because they are from the scene, so my vote: JOE PRESTON!

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In the more traditional sense, I love Ben Shepard's playing with Soundgarden.
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+1 for a joe preston reference! Figured I was the only Melvins/Earth/Thrones fan on here :)

Kevin Rutmanis from the Cows/Melvins/Tomahawk is great too...

Are people seriously saying grunge takes/took no talent? I would love to see these people compare their skills to Kevin Rutmanis/Joe Preston
 
#95
Rusty Chainsaw said:
Ament, by miles. Mostly for his versatility and melodicism, and the sheer fact that Pearl Jam are still relevant now.

His fretless stuff, especially, is stunning ("Oceans", anyone?), and his 12-string work has become seminal - I mean, who doesn't pick up an 8- or 12-string bass and try the "Jeremy" riff?

Kudos too to Ben Shepherd and the two Mikes (Starr and Inez) from AIC - all awesome musicians.
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+1, I just started to play grunge(I played jazz/funk/Prog/metal/indie before but never relly anything grunge). Aments is a main influence, hell we cover a few songs by them every now and then,(last kiss, jermy, black, a few others).

Grunge as a genre maybe simple(pretty standard chords somtimes and stright forward Ideas) However, It has some talent with it in the songs(in terms of rthym and over all song structure and players). "Post grunge" stuff is pretty good too.

like
Greg Jehanian: mewithoutyou

Luke White: Colour revolt

Nick beard: circa Survive

Zach Smith: Pinback

Those guys are pretty good. not sure if I spelled names right.
 
#97
dustinfennessey said:
Figured I was the only Melvins/Earth/Thrones fan on here :)
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Don't be silly, the Melvins kick all kinds of ass, that is just a fact :)

Don't think I posted here but as for "Grunge" (silly label, a lot of these bands had such different styles), I can see the argument made for it not needing much talent but that's not true. The songs were often simple OVERALL (or at least the ones played on the RADIO but we know how that goes), but that doesn't mean that some of the musicians involved weren't very talented.

Not a big PJ fan but Jeff Ament came up with some great stuff. Deleo was also pretty brilliant and made STP stand out musically. Ben Shepard was also pretty good (Soundgarden had an awesome rythm section, it's no wonder Geddy Lee chose Matt Cameron as his drummer for his debut solo album!).

Can't pick a favorite but those three are my picks for what is considered "Grunge". Of course there were other better bassists in other genres or subcategories of rock at the time as well.
 

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