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New Wave / Punk forebears...

OMG I just found this thread!! This is like my life soundtrack LOL. I grew up in OC/socal in the late 70s - 80s, so much of the artists mentioned were on regular radio rotation. I didn't pick up the bass until much later, but still my favorite bands/artists from this time had a huge music influence on me. I've been involved in making music in some form or another since I was 8.

Sorry for not mentioning bass or bass players specifically.

my favs in no particular order, all mentioned previously:
early REM
smithereens (I argue they had serious postpunk cred)
early U2
split enz/crowded house (still a HUGE Neil Finn fan)
X
siouxsee and the banshees
roxy music/bryan ferry
oingo boingo (can't be from socal 80s and not love boingo. they're like an institution, like REM is to athens).
social distortion (what can i say. I grew up in dinnyland)

Really above all, X, and early REM and U2 were what I listened to constantly.

Also mentioned previously. Not necessarily favs, but a fan nontheless:
guadalcanal diary (saw them at coach house in '89)
echo and the bunnymen

Surprised I didn't see these guys mentioned:
Plimsouls

 
OMG I just found this thread!! This is like my life soundtrack LOL. I grew up in OC/socal in the late 70s - 80s, so much of the artists mentioned were on regular radio rotation. I didn't pick up the bass until much later, but still my favorite bands/artists from this time had a huge music influence on me. I've been involved in making music in some form or another since I was 8.

Sorry for not mentioning bass or bass players specifically.

my favs in no particular order, all mentioned previously:
early REM
smithereens (I argue they had serious postpunk cred)
early U2
split enz/crowded house (still a HUGE Neil Finn fan)
X
siouxsee and the banshees
roxy music/bryan ferry
oingo boingo (can't be from socal 80s and not love boingo. they're like an institution, like REM is to athens).
social distortion (what can i say. I grew up in dinnyland)

Really above all, X, and early REM and U2 were what I listened to constantly.

Also mentioned previously. Not necessarily favs, but a fan nontheless:
guadalcanal diary (saw them at coach house in '89)
echo and the bunnymen

Surprised I didn't see these guys mentioned:
Plimsouls



Damn that's a good list. I love the Smithereens.
 
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OMG I just found this thread!! This is like my life soundtrack LOL. I grew up in OC/socal in the late 70s - 80s, so much of the artists mentioned were on regular radio rotation. I didn't pick up the bass until much later, but still my favorite bands/artists from this time had a huge music influence on me. I've been involved in making music in some form or another since I was 8.

Sorry for not mentioning bass or bass players specifically.

my favs in no particular order, all mentioned previously:
early REM
smithereens (I argue they had serious postpunk cred)
early U2
split enz/crowded house (still a HUGE Neil Finn fan)
X
siouxsee and the banshees
roxy music/bryan ferry
oingo boingo (can't be from socal 80s and not love boingo. they're like an institution, like REM is to athens).
social distortion (what can i say. I grew up in dinnyland)

Really above all, X, and early REM and U2 were what I listened to constantly.

Also mentioned previously. Not necessarily favs, but a fan nontheless:
guadalcanal diary (saw them at coach house in '89)
echo and the bunnymen

Surprised I didn't see these guys mentioned:
Plimsouls


Ha never knew who sang that song. Welcome aboard!
 
Never liked U2. For me they were the ones who transformed one of the most interesting era of music (Postpunk / New Wave from 1978-1983) into the most boring mainstream stadium rock we still suffer from today. Hated Bono as a jesus-clone, hated him even more when he became a buddy of Blair, Bush and Versace. And this idiotic glasses.
Many of those musicians from that era had a great taste and style. Bono never. When U2 started I just thought they were not too intelligent and had no taste but would be well intentioned. I later had to change this opinion. They are not too bright AND a**holes.

Couldn't resist.
 
Again, sorry to distract from primarily bass talk, but this is all a major part of my musical roots. And to me, postpunk was first and foremost song driven. If there was great and/or prominent bass with it, all the better.

Speaking of... It was late last night - forgot to mention a few. Most notably, Talk Talk. Paul Webb gets mentioned quite a bit on TB, I've noticed.

It's My Life was one of my all time favorite songs. And not just because of the brilliant bass line. Strange I never really got into them, even though I absolutely loved all the singles that got regular play during the time on radio and MTV (Talk Talk, Life's What You Make It). No Doubt tried hard to ruin It's My Life, though. Too bad, because No Doubt is a great band. Never go full diva, I say.

In term of post-punk in the pop sense, I'm a big fan of the do-it-all singer/songwriters of the time, too - Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Joe Jackson, etc.... Once I started trying to write songs I revisited these guys a lot. Writers like Nick Lowe not only can write incredible hooks, but can play every part and/or instrument of the song. Over the years I've realized just how rare that really is to do well.
 
Never liked U2. For me they were the ones who transformed one of the most interesting era of music (Postpunk / New Wave from 1978-1983) into the most boring mainstream stadium rock we still suffer from today. Hated Bono as a jesus-clone, hated him even more when he became a buddy of Blair, Bush and Versace. And this idiotic glasses.
Many of those musicians from that era had a great taste and style. Bono never. When U2 started I just thought they were not too intelligent and had no taste but would be well intentioned. I later had to change this opinion. They are not too bright AND a**holes.

Couldn't resist.

Well, I think you're not alone in your opinion. Particularly among musicians. But apart from the pretentiousness (it was the 80s, for gawds sake), I could never figure out why musicians in general hated them so much critically/musically.

They really did take new wave to the next level, and brought it to the masses. But then they kept going..... You gotta wonder how the Police would have ended up if they could've kept it together without killing each other.

I am not ashamed to announce publicly on a musician forum that I am/was/is an early U2 fan. Ever since I heard first heard War, and that live Red Rocks recording. Absolutely brilliant in every way, as far as I'm concerned. Even some of their live recordings are masterpieces in their own right (Bad on Wide Awake in America, 11 O'clock Tick Tock on Red Rocks, etc...). The live version of Sunday Bloody Sunday was the MTV video for the single at the time. At a time when MTV decided single releases, that was unheard of.

I will say that with the exception of the song Heartland, Rattle and Hum just lost me. Could never really get what they were pushing after that. The constant "Greatest Band in the World Reinvents Itself, Again" got old quick sometime in the early 90s.
 
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Well, I think you're not alone in your opinion. Particularly among musicians. But apart from the pretentiousness (it was the 80s, for gawds sake), I could never figure out why musicians in general hated them so much critically/musically.

They really did take new wave to the next level, and brought it to the masses. But then they kept going..... You gotta wonder how the Police would have ended up if they could've kept it together without killing each other.

I am not ashamed to announce publicly on a musician forum that I am/was/is an early U2 fan. Ever since I heard first heard War, and that live Red Rocks recording. Absolutely brilliant in every way, as far as I'm concerned. Even some of their live recordings are masterpieces in their own right (Bad on Wide Awake in America, 11 O'clock Tick Tock on Red Rocks, etc...). The live version of Sunday Bloody Sunday was the MTV video for the single at the time. At a time when MTV decided single releases, that was unheard of.

I will say that with the exception of the song Heartland, Rattle and Hum just lost me. Could never really get what they were pushing after that. The constant "Greatest Band in the World Reinvents Itself, Again" got old quick sometime in the early 90s.

Early U2 is some of my favourite music - I even like October! I still think Boy is one of the greatest debut albums of any band ever, to my ears it still holds up so well. I think that later U2, especially some of the stuff going on outside of music for them, has tainted a lot of people's view of just how great they were early on.