Did 80's pop kill the "bass fill"??

[Cadillac_Mike]

As someone who loves to play along to songs from 50's to present in my studio this really just dawned on me... In the 70's a lot of the blues-rock bassists in 3-4 piece bands threw in some nice fills in-between the rhythm ala Dusty Hill but since say 1976 I never really hear it, what do you guys think?

A lot of those 70's blues bassists were sorta "meat and potatoes+" if you know what I mean. In the 80's it was all about playing to the song often holding faster rhythms with no fills. The 90's was the same thing except really funky guys like Les and Flea tookover but how many pop songs since then just have some nice meat and potatoes fills like old blues? Modern pop since the 2000's seems like "you just keep the rhythm on the higher strings for Ed Sheeran or Maroon 5 songs..."

 

[India_Sierra]

In short, no.

 

[2thAche]

Totally depends what you listen to. If you just listen to mainstream pop, then you'll likely get boring lines and no fills because the focus is on the vocalist. If you get into bands that are actually bands (and not somebody's production), like say Incubus or No Doubt just as off-hand examples, you'll more likely find more interesting lines and fills.

 

[dalkowski]

If you keep overthinking like this, we might have to cashier you. (Points for your avatar tho.)