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rule-breakers, otherwise known as pioneers

Actually Paul McCartney and George Martin were pioneers in bringing the bass out front and louder in the mix of “modern” music. Real rule breakers!
McCartney played guitar before he reluctantly became the bass player so he improvised runs and made the bass guitar an equal partner to the guitars. He wanted to be upfront in the band so he played as an equal to the others. Many bands place the bass player as a backup support to the song...not an equal.
 
Jaco
Michael Manring

+1 for Michael Manring. My first real gig was with a guy who was a huge Michael Hedges fan, which sealed the fretless deal for me back in the mid 80's, far more than Jaco ever did. This is us doing a Live Aid thing in 1985...
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+1 for Michael Manring. My first real gig was with a guy who was a huge Michael Hedges fan, which sealed the fretless deal for me back in the mid 80's, far more than Jaco ever did.

Ya know, I haven’t thought about Michael Manring for 30 years, but his work on “Visiting” by Will Ackerman was probably the first time I was ever struck by how beautifully expressive a bass could be. It sowed the seeds of a fretless purchase a few years later.
 
Mike Kerr from Royal Blood:



I believe he uses two amps, guitar amp + bass amp + these only on the guitar amp: octaver (up) + fuzz


Jeff Matz of High On Fire fame reportedly does that same thing, he references Lemmy as an influence in his self-describedly "lead-bass" style/sound :O


(I love the horrible sound quality of almost every live video on youtube when it comes to metal)