BEST "POP" BASS LINES

[juanete]

"Turn it on" and "The Chenese Way" by Level 42.

"Rollercoaster of love" RHCP

 

[godspeed68]

Stripsearch by Faith No More. Hands down please.


tOm

 

[j-raj]

Plenty of great pop basslines in the Police's Music...

 

[churchboy]

A song called Green eyed lady. Can't remember the band or th bass player , but a very cool bass line.

 

[thebassclef]

Badge by Cream

 

[DWBass]

Pretty much anything from Steely Dan!

 

[Spencer!]

"Run-Around" by Blues Traveler (the bassist was Bobby Sheehan) and "The Big Money" by Rush (the bassist is obvious).

 

[BassyBill]

+1 to Rio - Duran Duran. Also:

Penny Lane - Beatles
Silly Love Songs - Wings
Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper
Touch Me In The Morning - Diana Ross
Young Americans OR Sound & Vision - Bowie
Wanna Tear Your Playhouse Down - Paul Young
Too Shy - Kajagoogoo
Hangin' Around - The Stranglers
Kids - Kylie and Robbie

etc etc etc

Haven't included funkier stuff like Stevie Wonder/Chic/KC in this list, seems like a separate category needed for that stuff!

 

[Chili]

This song is also one of my favorites. Your post also caused me to do a bit more research. Originally, I also thought this was Larry Graham on bass, but then maybe Rusty Allen.

According to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sly_and_the_family_stone

the famous split between Sly and Graham occurred in 1972. The "Fresh" album was released in 1973 after Rusty Allen had replaced Larry Graham.

However, according to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_You_Want_Me_to_Stay

Sly Stone himself played the bass guitar on "If You Want Me To Stay"

so larry graham didnt play on that? i didnt no sly played bass aswell lol, on larry grahams instructional video he plays if you want me to stay

 

[chris4001asat]

A Town Called Malice .................................... The Jam
Mayor of Simpleton ............................................ XTC
Are you Receiving Me? ........................................ XTC
Olivers Army .......................................... Elvis Costello
Pump it Up ............................................ Elvis Costello
Peace, Love & Understanding ................... Elvis Costello
Boys Don't Cry ............................................ The Cure
Add it Up ...................................... the Violent Femmes
Christmas Wrapping .............................. The Waitresses
Paperback Writer ...................................... The Beatles
Rain ....................................................... The Beatles
Dear Prudence .......................................... The Beatles
Have a Cigar ............................................... Pink Floyd
John I'm Only Dancing ................................ David Bowie
Young American ........................................ David Bowie
South-Central Rain ........................................... R.E.M.
Fall on Me ...................................................... R.E.M.
Change ............................................... Tears for Fears
Too Shy ................................................... Kajagoogoo
Love Plus 1 .............................................. Haircut 100
Do You Really Want to Hurt Me? .................. Culture Club
Tears of a Clown ................................. The English Beat
Turning Japanese ...................................... The Vapors
​

Ummmmm, yeah! I was going to put most of these in my response. The Vapors and Haircut 100!!!!! New Clear Days and Pelican West, great albums.

 

[chris4001asat]

Sunday Papers- Graham Maby

Pretty much any song on the first two Joe Jackson albums.

Shock The Monkey- Tony Levin

I'll have to add You Can't Get What You Want.....by Joe Jackson....It's pop, and he's poppin!

 

[matrok]

I'll have to add You Can't Get What You Want.....by Joe Jackson....It's pop, and he's poppin!

doh! How could I forget that one!

 

[burk48237]

Great stuff so far, Remember try to narrow them down to one tune per player or band. I'm going to do a poll and I want to keep the choices under a hundred. I appreciate the later stuff, because I'm clueless on most pop in the last two decades. I am not going to include TOP "What is hip" maybe I'm wrong but I don't remember that tune getting significant airplay (GREAT bassline, just not sure it's pop). Also NO STINKIN SYNTH BASS LINES!!!!!!

 

[Dave Siff]

OK, for something a little more obscure.. Bob Thomson from Big Drill Car on the songs "In Green Fields" or "About Us".
(EDIT: Just trying to add another name to the mix here.. I think the aforementioned Jamerson lines in this thread are about as good as it gets.)

 

[cptnhook]

Steal Your Kisses - Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals - (what's that bass player's name????? I'll probably remember right after I post this)

Juan Nelson - a monster player indeed!

 

[tZer]

...Remember try to narrow them down to one tune per player or band....

OK, but I really think on the topic of BEST POP BASS LINES it is entirely possible that one group has more then one song that qualifies. But to that end, I will narrow my list:

A Town Called Malice ...................................... The Jam
Mayor of Simpleton ............................................. XTC
Boys Don't Cry ............................................ The Cure
Add it Up ...................................... the Violent Femmes
Christmas Wrapping .............................. The Waitresses
Paperback Writer ...................................... The Beatles
Have a Cigar ............................................... Pink Floyd
John I'm Only Dancing ................................ David Bowie
South-Central Rain ............................................. R.E.M.
Change ............................................... Tears for Fears
Too Shy ................................................... Kajagoogoo
Love Plus 1 .............................................. Haircut 100
Do You Really Want to Hurt Me? .................. Culture Club
Tears of a Clown ................................. The English Beat
Turning Japanese ...................................... The Vapors

I can't do it here... ALL of these are equally great
basslines - sorry.
Olivers Army .......................................... Elvis Costello
Pump it Up ............................................ Elvis Costello
Peace, Love & Understanding ................... Elvis Costello​

 

[steveb98]

Bob Glaub - too many records to choose from.

 

[The Owl]

I'l take you there..Staple SIngers

+1,000,000!!

 

[PaulYeah]

The original (and No Doubt version) of "It's My Life".

I'm a big fan of Tony Kanal, but I hate the way he dumbs down the bassline a bit.

 

[Chili]

Bootsy Colllins - Play with bootsy has a very very groovy nice bassline, it came out 2002 but not sure how well it did