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Mark King

#2
I was a Mark King fan in the 80's. Unfortunately Level 42 was a Fusion band masquerading as a pop band if you listen to their early albums. They have acheived the status of shopping mall background music here in the US...
 
#7
Mark King is the man who made me want to play bass. I saw him on The Tube (mid-80s British music show) playing with Level 42, they finished the song, and Mark launched into an amazing slap solo. I was about 13. From then on, I was a dedicated bass-o-phile! :) Took a few years for me to get my first bass (usual teenage stuff, parents convinced I'd give it up, etc) but the first thing I learned when I finally got a bass was how to slap Level 42 lines!

I've discovered bassists since who have shaped the way I play more than Mark King, but he was the first and I thank him for that.

Russ :bassist:
 
#8
Mark King will always be one of my favorite bassists. I got my hands on everything Level 42 did in the 80's and I still listen to those CDs today. World Machine and Running in the Family are my 2 absolute favorites. Mark's lines are terrific on these 2 CDs. I always hated the fact that he could sing while playing the coolest lines. Just not fair.
 
#9
i've never been a fan of him but he inspired so many people to pick up the bass. I don't know how it was in de states but in the 80's every musicshop in europe you came you could hear somebody trying to play mark king lines.(at one point at the frankfurter musicmesse there was every 5 meters somebody playing his basslines)
He didn't create that style of slapping but he shure made it popular to the public. and don't forget he was also the leadsinger of the band, so while his was playing these lines he was singing on top of it .only for that he has already my respect.
 
#11
In the early to mid 90's many of the bass players on the south side (Chicago) Gospel, R&B and Blues circuit knew his work quite well, knew his licks and quoted him quite freely which I always considered a compliment of the highest order.

For a while, in the shop I used to teach in, Mark King's "Dune Tune" and "43" had replaced Stanley Clarke's "School Days" as
the standard wankery for people auditioning gear.
Was kind of a nice. ;)
 
#12
Matt Till said:
It's strange that you should talk about his influence in the states... very little, if any. Noone out here really knows who he is. The equivilant to Mark King in Europe is Flea in the US. Different genres, but they made slap popular.
Click to expand...

However, Mark King SPANKS Flea.... do the Brits win?
 
#13
Matt Till said:
It's strange that you should talk about his influence in the states... very little, if any. Noone out here really knows who he is. The equivilant to Mark King in Europe is Flea in the US. Different genres, but they made slap popular.
Click to expand...
i agree that they are very similar in their influence on young bassplayers .however I disagree that they both made slap popular. when flea came around(he had actualy the same impact in europe as in the US) slap had been already very popular all over the world and in my opinion it has never reached the same popularity in flea's time
 
#17
I think we should give respect to both of them for making so many people pick up the bass (It wouldn't suprise me if both inspired more than all other bassplayer together)
and who is the best? that very personal I would say


p.s.
I am not a english speaker so I apologize for my spelling mistakes
 

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