Congratulations John Myung!!!

[Obese Chess]

You cannot make an objective list while being as unobjective as possible. What amuses me the most is i'm quite sure you judged Paul Gray soley on his band, this falls into the category of anyone who plays Metal can't be great.

Even if he did judge Paul Gray based solely on his band--wait, what does that even mean? Gray was part of the band. If he heard the music and didn't like it, Gray's playing was part of that music (obviously).

Second,"this falls into the category of anyone who plays Metal can't be great". What? If someone doesn't like Paul Gray's playing, that does not mean they are somehow biased against metal musicians in general. That is not a logical conclusion. Slipknot is not a proxy for all metal.

Slipknot's barely even metal

If I wasn't clear I implied he had never even tried to listen to his playing and dismissed him. Is prejudice too harsh perhaps? I know if I implied Geddy didn't deserve to be here I'd be skinned. I challenge anyone to LISTEN to Paul. Otherwise it's just arrogance.

You shouldn't have to challenge anyone to be able to hear the number 3 bassist of all time.
He was just a meat-and-potatoes root guy, and he's only on the list because he's dead.

 

[Tylerrr51]

No disrespect to paul gray but he honestly shouldn't be ranked higher than Jaco Pastorius. Jaco just brought things to a new level.

 

[Nitzleplick]

I'm sure Paul was great and all, but the fact that you have to challenge people to listen to him, definitely means the man does not deserve to be so high up on that list. I probably wouldn't even put him at the top hundred, because I don't know anything about him.

If he hasn't grasped the attention of a site like talkBASS.com, then he can't be higher up on the list than guys like Geddy, Wooten, Claypool, Entwistle and Pastorius, guys who revolutionized the music and changed the world with it.

Sorry and no offense, but if you think Paul Gray is the third best bass player on the planet, you're the one being arrogant, not to say ignorant.

Except there are Bassists on these forums who are open minded, who do listen to Metal who look at Bassists like Geezer Butler, Paul Gray and some Rock Bassists like Chris Wolstenholme AS great Bassists.

What you're insinuating to me is that Jazz and Rock are the only good genres a Bassist could play in and be considered good. How do I arrive at my conclusion? All your favorite players are either Jazz or Rock players. Now keep in mind that even though I love Metal, I was bottle fed with Rush, Who, Beatles, RHCP, Tom Petty and Ozzy as a baby so you could say I got my roots in Rock and I have nothing but respect for visonaries like Geddy, Entwistle, McCartney.

So when I come to a thread that should be celebrating BASSISTS I see people celebrating ROCK/JAZZ and see comments like "***, Paul Gray?" "Lol Slipknot" As if the very idea of Paul Gray being ON this list gives people a virulent strain of verbal diarrhea. That is how I arrive at my conclusion that this is prejudice and nonobjective discussion. This is why I also challenged people to go listen, actually listen to Paul Gray, to keep an open mind. I'm quite sure that the thought of doing so probably causes most of you to run for the can.

I did come here and start slamming Duck Dunn, or Primus, I questioned why reasonable presumably intelligent players of a BASS forum cannot get together and celebrate BASSISTS no matter what the genre is! Instead people have their little shell of things they like, preconcieved notions that Metal is terrible and dismiss the genre out of hand. Hell people even dismissed the ENTIRE list as irrelevant based just on Paul's name being #3

Who wants to bet how many people looked at the list, then googled who Paul Gray even was, then wrote a thread complaining about this HUGE DISGRACE.

 

[Muaguana]

I love this. "My subjective opinion of who is objectively a better musician is better than YOUR subjective opinion of who is objectively a better musician!"

Christ, people, give it a rest already.

Except there are Bassists on these forums who are open minded, who do listen to Metal who look at Bassists like Geezer Butler, Paul Gray and some Rock Bassists like Chris Wolstenholme AS great Bassists.

What you're insinuating to me is that Jazz and Rock are the only good genres a Bassist could play in and be considered good. How do I arrive at my conclusion? All your favorite players are either Jazz or Rock players. Now keep in mind that even though I love Metal, I was bottle fed with Rush, Who, Beatles, RHCP, Tom Petty and Ozzy as a baby so you could say I got my roots in Rock and I have nothing but respect for visonaries like Geddy, Entwistle, McCartney.

So when I come to a thread that should be celebrating BASSISTS I see people celebrating ROCK/JAZZ and see comments like "***, Paul Gray?" "Lol Slipknot" As if the very idea of Paul Gray being ON this list gives people a virulent strain of verbal diarrhea. That is how I arrive at my conclusion that this is prejudice and nonobjective discussion. This is why I also challenged people to go listen, actually listen to Paul Gray, to keep an open mind. I'm quite sure that the thought of doing so probably causes most of you to run for the can.

I did come here and start slamming Duck Dunn, or Primus, I questioned why reasonable presumably intelligent players of a BASS forum cannot get together and celebrate BASSISTS no matter what the genre is!

Reasonable, presumably intelligent people? Are these the same ones going, "Oh, you can't compare bassists so easily as to make a simple list like this... hey, what's that guy doing so high up? He's not that good!"?

 

[Nitzleplick]

I love this. "My subjective opinion of who is objectively a better musician is better than YOUR subjective opinion of who is objectively a better musician!"

Christ, people, give it a rest already.



Reasonable, presumably intelligent people? Are these the same ones going, "Oh, you can't compare bassists so easily as to make a simple list like this... hey, what's that guy doing so high up? He's not that good!"?

Well I think people have missed the point of what it means to celebrate great Bassists and instead they want to turn it into a **** storm about who they think should be higher and who they think are undeserving of being on the list.

What does it matter what genre you listen to? Is it impossible to look at an accordion player or a violin player who may not play what YOU like and still go "wow thats damn good!". What i'm seeing this thread become is not about celebrating Dream Theatre, or Jazz or Rock or Metal or Bass Players but the majority wagging the collective finger at any Bass player who plays what THEY don't like, say that they don't deserve to be on a list above THEIR favorites and condemning the whole damn thing.

 

[wade_b]

Well I think people have missed the point of what it means to celebrate great Bassists and instead they want to turn it into a **** storm about who they think should be higher and who they think are undeserving of being on the list.

What does it matter what genre you listen to? Is it impossible to look at an accordion player or a violin player who may not play what YOU like and still go "wow thats damn good!". What i'm seeing this thread become is not about celebrating Dream Theatre, or Jazz or Rock or Metal or Bass Players but the majority wagging the collective finger at any Bass player who plays what THEY don't like, say that they don't deserve to be on a list above THEIR favorites and condemning the whole damn thing.

The fact is bro, that even a metal fan would not rank Paul Gray the best bassist in METAL, let alone the world.

He was good, but there are other bassists in metal that are doing more to progress the art of bass and inspire young musicians than Paul Gray.

Cliff Burton for example: he was a pioneering metal bassist.

Paul Gray? Not so much. Pretty average actually, mostly following the guitars and playing with a pick, and certainly not credited with any compositions like Burton's masterpiece "Orion", or Jaco's "Havona".

 

[pringlw]

Three reasons why lists of "the greatest ever" should be banned from music forever:

1. Music is not a competition.
2. Music is not a competition.
3. Music is not a competition.

Lists like these are bullschlitz. 'Nuff said.

Absolutely! Music is NOT a competition!

Except for.... Music Competitions of course.

(actually I do agree with you I just couldn't resist)

 

[Nitzleplick]

The fact is bro, that even a metal fan would not rank Paul Gray the best bassist in METAL, let alone the world.

He was good, but there are other bassists in metal that are doing more to progress the art of bass and inspire young musicians than Paul Gray.

Cliff Burton for example: he was a pioneering metal bassist.

Paul Gray? Not so much. Pretty average actually, mostly following the guitars and playing with a pick, and certainly not credited with any compositions like Burton's masterpiece "Orion", or Jaco's "Havona".

Steve Harris was at 4, just above Cliff Burton. Do I think Metallica was better than Iron Maiden? yea I do.. I also think Paul was a great Bassist. I'm not saying that Paul did what Geezer or Cliff did, but he wasn't in my opinion unworthy of being on this list.

Either way I really appreciate the intelligent debate on the matter. Never have a problem when someone disagrees with me so long as they are actually knowledgeable about the genre or atleast dont try to ignore it utterly.

 

[champbassist]

The results are from an online poll, for God's sake! It has no relation to a bassist's ability, the poll merely serves as a record as to how popular which bassist is. As you may have realized, popularity =/= ability.

Arguing over this basically means you're arguing over the fact that the poll was wrong/the people voting are wrong. Do you really want to argue over this?

 

[Frohman]

Except there are Bassists on these forums who are open minded, who do listen to Metal who look at Bassists like Geezer Butler, Paul Gray and some Rock Bassists like Chris Wolstenholme AS great Bassists.

What you're insinuating to me is that Jazz and Rock are the only good genres a Bassist could play in and be considered good. How do I arrive at my conclusion? All your favorite players are either Jazz or Rock players. Now keep in mind that even though I love Metal, I was bottle fed with Rush, Who, Beatles, RHCP, Tom Petty and Ozzy as a baby so you could say I got my roots in Rock and I have nothing but respect for visonaries like Geddy, Entwistle, McCartney.

So when I come to a thread that should be celebrating BASSISTS I see people celebrating ROCK/JAZZ and see comments like "***, Paul Gray?" "Lol Slipknot" As if the very idea of Paul Gray being ON this list gives people a virulent strain of verbal diarrhea. That is how I arrive at my conclusion that this is prejudice and nonobjective discussion. This is why I also challenged people to go listen, actually listen to Paul Gray, to keep an open mind. I'm quite sure that the thought of doing so probably causes most of you to run for the can.

I did come here and start slamming Duck Dunn, or Primus, I questioned why reasonable presumably intelligent players of a BASS forum cannot get together and celebrate BASSISTS no matter what the genre is! Instead people have their little shell of things they like, preconcieved notions that Metal is terrible and dismiss the genre out of hand. Hell people even dismissed the ENTIRE list as irrelevant based just on Paul's name being #3

Who wants to bet how many people looked at the list, then googled who Paul Gray even was, then wrote a thread complaining about this HUGE DISGRACE.

Yeah, yeah, wall of text.

You completely missed the point. I have said nothing about genre, and your just talking circles.

Now let's turn the tables. Do YOU think that Paul Gray is the 3rd best bass player to ever walk the planet, above all these, as you call them, visionaries?

 

[Nitzleplick]

Yeah, yeah, wall of text.

You completely missed the point. I have said nothing about genre, and your just talking circles.

Now let's turn the tables. Do YOU think that Paul Gray is the 3rd best bass player to ever walk the planet, above all these, as you call them, visionaries?

I called Bassists like Geddy, Geezer visionaries, if you even read my posts you'd understand I only said he was great.

Awesome hyperbole bro.

 

[Frohman]

I called Bassists like Geddy, Geezer visionaries, if you even read my posts you'd understand I only said he was great.

Awesome hyperbole bro.

What a ridiculous digression. Answer the god damn question. Do you think that Paul Gray is the 3rd bass player to ever walk the planet?

 

[Nitzleplick]

What a ridiculous digression. Answer the god damn question. Do you think that Paul Gray is the 3rd bass player to ever walk the planet?

Now you are being ignorant, simple simple english bro.

I answered that question, I said EARLIER I answered it, the exact question. don't be silly and go read the exact answer I gave to that exact question, jeez!

 

[millerfreak]

i gotta say for the whole six pages, we're judging these talented bassplayers who play alot better than us, and what are we doing now? Them making records and money and touring and us debating who's better than who. You guys are ridiculous.

 

[ual]

 

[Infidelity]

Internet of course..

 

[champbassist]

What a ridiculous digression. Answer the god damn question. Do you think that Paul Gray is the 3rd bass player to ever walk the planet?

Don't worry. Sometimes answering a question directly hurts people's egos. Even over the internet.

Overall, I think list threads should be banned. Every list will come with its fair share of controversies and there's hardly anything productive coming out of this.

 

[Thunderthumbs73]

John Myung has been awarded the greatest bass player by Music Radar, link is below

Invalid Link Removed

I care not one bit about what Music Radar, thinks is the greatest bass player. Such notions of what is "greatest..." reliably stirs up controversy and web traffic for the sites and institutions who make such claims. Music Radar and others like them create such lists to try to be barometers and judges of anything in an effort to gain some kind of cultural relevance. I could care less if Music Radar were to think Danny Bonaduce is the greatest bass player.

 

[Ben Noblit]

Steve Harris was at 4, just above Cliff Burton. Do I think Metallica was better than Iron Maiden? yea I do.. I also think Paul was a great Bassist. I'm not saying that Paul did what Geezer or Cliff did, but he wasn't in my opinion unworthy of being on this list.

Either way I really appreciate the intelligent debate on the matter. Never have a problem when someone disagrees with me so long as they are actually knowledgeable about the genre or atleast dont try to ignore it utterly.

I am sorry, but you are really irritating me. I disagreed with you earlier, and you promptly responded by (falsely and without any foundation whatsoever) classifying me as unknowledgeable about metal and actively disliking the genre. You then used this as a basis to completely dismiss whatever i was saying entirely. This is hardly "intelligent debate."

Your logic is circular.

X doesn't think Paul Gray deserves to be on this list>> X doesn't like Paul Gray.>> Paul Gray plays metal.>> Therefore, X must hate metal.>>Because X hates metal, he thinks that metal bassists suck.>> therefore, X thinks that Paul Gray doesn't deserve to be on this list.
Nice circle.

that looks like your thought process on responding to a lot of these posts.
For the record, I do find the idea of Paul Gray even sniffing this list to be laughable. This is not because of his band, in fact I listen to slipknot far more than most of the other bassists on the list. This is simply my opinion on his playing, and innovation (or lack thereof). As I said before, I like Paul Gray, I think he was a good bassist. However, I can name a half-dozen metal bassists off the top of my head who I think most people would agree should be higher than him, and he doesn't even come near to the level of virtuosity displayed by some of the masters.

This will be my last post on the subject.

 

[Nitzleplick]

I am sorry, but you are really irritating me. I disagreed with you earlier, and you promptly responded by (falsely and without any foundation whatsoever) classifying me as unknowledgeable about metal and actively disliking the genre. You then used this as a basis to completely dismiss whatever i was saying entirely. This is hardly "intelligent debate."

I dunno, you tried to make me answer a question I already answered, (which you just quoted) then tried to claim multiple times I would not answer a question.

Your logic is circular.

X doesn't think Paul Gray deserves to be on this list>> X doesn't like Paul Gray.>> Paul Gray plays metal.>> Therefore, X must hate metal.>>Because X hates metal, he thinks that metal bassists suck.>> therefore, X thinks that Paul Gray doesn't deserve to be on this list.
Nice circle.

It's actually a logical falacy, circular logic specifically refers to logical fallacies in which on or more examples are known to be wrong.

Since there is no way I can know you listen to any sort of band I made assumptions based on factors of known and unknown variables. I made a supposedly falacy based on conjectures without evidence of that person in real life and his tastes.

For the record, I do find the idea of Paul Gray even sniffing this list to be laughable.

Personal opinion, just like this poll. Apparently those who voted disagree with you, which from what I understand would be a large amount of people.

Personally though I would have Geezer Butler at the #1 slot and Cliff Burton above Geddy Lee. But you see this is my list. That's me though.

This is not because of his band, in fact I listen to slipknot far more than most of the other bassists on the list.

Now you try to claim that you listen to more Slipknot than anyone on this list, which I think is a preposterous presumption devoid of empirical evidence, that would be like me saying I eat more potassium than you do, who's making Logical Fallacies now?

This is simply my opinion on his playing, and innovation (or lack thereof). As I said before, I like Paul Gray, I think he was a good bassist. However, I can name a half-dozen metal bassists off the top of my head who I think most people would agree should be higher than him, and he doesn't even come near to the level of virtuosity displayed by some of the masters.

This will be my last post on the subject.

Quote me where I called Paul Gray a visionary, I said he was great I always said he was great. Ontop of that as a person he was alot sweeter and more humble than people like Jaco or Sheehan whom I have 0% respect for due to their abyssmal attitude, regardless of their skill.

Those I name as visionaries are those like Cliff, Geezer, Steve who pretty much made the Metal genre, they lead the way. Right now though these guys are almost 2 generations behind. Soon musicians like Elvis and Johnny Cash are going to gone completely from future generations.

What this list tells me is that kids today in THIS generation identify with Paul Gray more than I might. But i'm pretty eclectic and tend to look for inspiration in almost any genre.