Richest bassist?

[JimmyM]

And..........I come from a family of musicians and was listening to and loving music during this time! I definitely recall seeing them on the Ed Sullivan show and they did nothing for me. Being 5 doesn't mean I was unaware! My family was playing jazz and popular music since the early 50's! I was taking piano lessons at 5!

So yeah, I grew up in the 60's & 70's and The Beatles had NO influence on me as a musician! The only Beatles songs I like these days are Jazz interpretations of a few. Can't stand the originals!

Oh, so you're the one!

Doesn't matter if you liked them or not. You cannot deny their huge influence on culture at large and music in particular. Nor can you deny their staying power. To have #1 albums with repackaged old songs 40 years after the fact is no small feat.

 

[JimmyM]

firststringer, I'm not here to discredit any one but truth is truth. I'm going to end this now because you obviously don't want to acknowledge what I'm saying (and I'm not being sarcastic).

Look, you can go down the timeline of music and trace everything back to its roots, and you will find that white people ripped black people off and black people ripped white people off and black people ripped off black people and white people ripped off white people. One of the biggest ripoffs in the business was Berry Gordy, too. There are plenty of white artists I work with who got ripped off back then by white label owners. Even the black blues artists of the early 20th century who are ultimately credited with starting the modern day of music got a lot of their sound from the white Appalachian folk musicians of the time, who got their sound from European madrigals. Everyone has a tale of woe, so let's not paint an unrealistic picture here that only casts the evil white man as lurking in wait to steal from the black man.

 

[DWBass]

Oh, so you're the one!

Doesn't matter if you liked them or not. You cannot deny their huge influence on culture at large and music in particular. Nor can you deny their staying power. To have #1albums with repackaged old songs 40 years after the fact is no small feat.

No doubt they had a huge influence on America! You can't deny billions of records sold or even Paul becoming a Knight due to The Beatles acheivements and earnings! Again, I'm just saying they've never had an influence on me or my bass playing.

 

[mokkat]

Roger Waters, how much is that guy good for?

 

[DWBass]

Seems to me that McCartney and Sting are both bass players and working. But I think I know what you mean.

Tony Levin probably makes a bundle as a hired gun.

Yeah, my thinking is more along the lines of hired gun or studio rat!

Getting back to Paul, I'll be honest, I never really thought of him as a 'bassist' but a guy who plays bass ocasionally (I've seen him play guitar and piano). But he did catch my ear once. I think the song is called "Silly Love Song" or something like that. I recall saying......."Hmmm...cool bassline"!

 

[JimmyM]

Roger Waters, how much is that guy good for?

He's good for a good amount, but nothing like McCartney.

 

[lambro]

I have my doubts about that.

I don't think he's a great player either, he just happens to be a Beatle. That's just my opinion.

He may be extremely rich...but not due to his bass playing. There's nothing jaw dropping about his playing at all.

[/QUOTE


hilarious...and sad at the same time

 

[pedro]

Yeah, my thinking is more along the lines of hired gun or studio rat!

Getting back to Paul, I'll be honest, I never really thought of him as a 'bassist' but a guy who plays bass ocasionally (I've seen him play guitar and piano). But he did catch my ear once. I think the song is called "Silly Love Song" or something like that. I recall saying......."Hmmm...cool bassline"!

Occassionally? He's been doing it now since 1960 or so on a pretty regular basis.

Anyhoo, you've made it clear that the Beatles aren't your cup of tea which is fine but make no mistake he is an excellent bass player. Everthing in the Beatles catalogue especially from Rubber Soul on is really excellent. Just my opinion.

 

[TimWilson]

He may not be a bassist's bassist, but Prince has laid down some very funky bass and written a lot of great bass parts. I'm betting he's doing pretty well.

 

[DWBass]

Occassionally? He's been doing it now since 1960 or so on a pretty regular basis.

Anyhoo, you've made it clear that the Beatles aren't your cup of tea which is fine but make no mistake he is an excellent bass player. Everthing in the Beatles catalogue especially from Rubber Soul on is really excellent. Just my opinion.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not discrediting anything The Beatles have accomplished nor am I discrediting Pauls bass playing! Just saying on my radar, I've never had the desire to zone in on them. I come from a very different world of musical taste! Funk, Soul, Jazz and Latin/Caribbean being my mainstays musically!

 

[pedro]

Don't get me wrong. I'm not discrediting anything The Beatles have accomplished nor am I discrediting Pauls bass playing! Just saying on my radar, I've never had the desire to zone in on them. I come from a very different world of musical taste! Funk, Soul, Jazz and Latin/Caribbean being my mainstays musically!

Understood. FWIW, Motown, Stax are my main gig. The first stuff I learned was mostly Wilson Pickett but that doesn't mean there isn't room for lots of other music too. Over the years I've enjoyed everything from classical, jazz, Latin, pop, rock, fusion, etc.

 

[Pj,Rj,Hj]

Thought Brian Wilson would be way up their til I remembered his dad sold the Rights.

Purely hypothetical considering he's dead ( and still wouldn't have been the richest) but I'd imagine Bernard Edwards estate would be doing alright, probably picked up by Nile Rogers. Bernard and Nile's credits are long and illustrious also the fact that Bernard is arguably the most sampled bassist out their but I doubt those copyrights have been respected.

 

[Lo end PUNCH]

Well I can honestly say that Paul McCartney was NOT an influence at all to my playing, nor the cats that I came up with. I was brought up in urban America, the Beatles didn't even get PLAY on urban radio. In fact the only time I even recognized Paul as a bassist truly, is when I heard "Silly love songs", and that wasn't even the Beatles, I even covered it with a funk ensemble after we "funked" it up a little bit. Coming up in Southfield Michigan we all knew who Jamison was and Chuck Rainey later down the line. MY influences were early soul and funk players such as James Alexander with Otis Redding who was just a teenager and whoever was playing with James Brown at the time. Furthermore I thought the Beatles were corny until the later years, surely in the songwriting department, "I love you yeah, yeah, yeah" just didn't qualify as great songwriting to me. I DO NOT DENY THAT HE HAD AN INFLUENCE on some BASS players, just not as far reaching as one might think, especially in certain parts of the country. Maybe his influence as a nice guy and die hard worker were more apparent than his bass playing.

 

[JimmyM]

Why do all the people who don't claim McCartney as an influence refuse to accept that he was an influence on so many others? Just because he wasn't an influence on you doesn't mean he wasn't a tremendous influence.

 

[j.a.e.r.i.p]

i feel like flea has gotta be way up there with the (selling out) more recent releases.

 

[DWBass]

Why do all the people who don't claim McCartney as an influence refuse to accept that he was an influence on so many others? Just because he wasn't an influence on you doesn't mean he wasn't a tremendous influence.

I don't recall reading into that at all. Don't make a mountain out of an anthill! I don't doubt for a minute that he DID have an influence!

 

[DWBass]

MY influences were early soul and funk players such as James Alexander with Otis Redding who was just a teenager and whoever was playing with James Brown at the time.

I think you meant Dexter (The Awakening) Redding, Otis' son.

 

[JimmyM]

i feel like flea has gotta be way up there with the (selling out) more recent releases.

One thing about Flea is he splits the money with 3 other guys. Don't know if it's an even split, but he splits it and the other three guys are rich because of it. But after 1970, McCartney kept all the money for himself and put his bands on salary, and from what I hear it was a pretty lame salary. Makes a huge difference. Plus Flea doesn't have near the sales of McCartney.

 

[JAUQO III-X]

Why do all the people who don't claim McCartney as an influence refuse to accept that he was an influence on so many others? Just because he wasn't an influence on you doesn't mean he wasn't a tremendous influence.

For the record I think he was an incredible influence on countless bass players but he like every other bass player in history has not been an influence on all bass players.

 

[Visirale]

Goodness, how many times do I try to have to make this point.

Imagine the whole music market as a pie. At any given time, at the VERY most, rock is only 50% of that pie. I will give McCartney the influence on that half of music. But 40% of the remaining half is soul/funk/r&b/disco and for all those genres, Jamerson was the main influence. So yes, McCartney had a huge influence, but Jamerson did too, and yes there were MANY players who the Beatles did not influence at all. 10% is the atonal or eastern music that no one but the hippies listened to .

And don't get me started on Beatles vs. Beach Boys. I think the beach boys were far more talented, but probably above the heads of most common folk. Brian Wilson was a genius as a composer/song writer. None of the Beatles stuff really clicked for me except for some of their later career more serious music.