Most Iconic (not best/most technical) basslines

[CaseyVancouver]

Barney Miller tv show theme!

There was a time (‘75) every bass player worth 4 strings was playing this.
The show was a sitcom about NY cops.

The original player was Chuck Berghofer.

 

[Grinderman]

Tom Tom Club - Genius Of Love

 

[Grinderman]

Curtis Mayfield - Billy Jack

 

[Renegade bass]

Not sure if these have been posted before but.

Fever - Peggy Lee
Valley Girl - Frank Zappa

 

[Grinderman]

David Bowie - TVC 15

 

[Grinderman]

Elvis Costello - Beyond Belief

 

[Grinderman]

Pretenders - Space Invader

 

[vvvmmm]

Pretenders - Space Invader

As a aside, I saw this on their first tour and they had a reel-to-reel behind Chambers for the SFX. At that point, seeing a lot of bands in college, the only other band I'd ever seen with tapes on stage was Soft Cell ("Tainted Love" was their hit - a cover). JH-S's Zemaitis is cool.

 

[FilterFunk]

"Rock On" - David Essex:


"More Bounce to the Ounce" - Zapp and Roger:

 

[ELG60]

I find it difficult to believe that I failed to include this. My apologies if someone mentioned it already.

Simple and iconic:

 

[MattZilla]

The Pretenders - My City Was Gone

The following is NOT about politics. It is just an observation of the facts on the ground.

I used to work in radio. I sold ads for a new rock and a classic rock station. Our company also owned several other stations, including a talk radio station. Rush Limbaugh used to use that hook as the opening music for each of his three hours daily. 23 million people a day heard that song. I couldn't TOUCH talk radio ratings so my sales were an uphill battle in Eastern NC military towns. I grew to hate that song back then, even though the bass line is awesome, and easily identified by millions.

The funniest part is that many of those millions would have no idea that it was The Pretenders. They just thought it was his theme song.

(Don't go off on a political tangent!!!!! This was just literally an answer to the question.)

neat story! Never heard that song before.

Is there a song with a longer snare? I’ve played guitars with less sustain!

 

[two fingers]

neat story! Never heard that song before.

Is there a song with a longer snare? I’ve played guitars with less sustain!

I haven't heard it in a while. But I seem to recall a lot of verb and delay on the snare.

 

[vvvmmm]

 

[Michael Favata]

James Jamerson. Pick one.

 

[bass12]

Based on interviews, that's real bass from the bassist of the group with synth bass added, AFAIK.

Apparently none of the Frankies played on “Relax”:
Frankie Goes To Hollywood 'Relax' | Classic Tracks

 

[Oldbasslover]

Aint No Mountain High Enough - Michael McDonald
Under The Boardwalk - The Drifters

 

[The Owl]

Another Curtis Mayfield bass gem

 

[Renegade bass]

Superstar - From the Jesus Chriat Superstar Motion Picture Soundtrack

 

[twinjet]

What do you mean?

The flanged sound of Anthony Jackson as heard on "For the Love of Money".

 

[Polkatronixx]

The flanged sound of Anthony Jackson as heard on "For the Love of Money".

Oh, I thought you were saying non-musicians knew who you were talking about. I was confused, as I'd assume most people would confuse Anthony Jackson with the guy from American Idol!

As an aside, I think it's a phaser, not a flanger.