SIMPLE bass lines that make the song...

[JKT]

"What does it Take" Junior Walker and his All Stars

"Expressway to Your Heart"

"LaGrange" ZZ Top

"Black Magic Woman" Santana

"Put it Where you Want it" Crusaders

 

[T-MOST]

"Low Down" Bozz Scaggs. Understated, funky & Cool.

 

[Tony In Philly]

good shout. definitely Transmission, New Dawn Fades, 24 Hours, loads of them. all perfect.

Yep - the bass was a real lead instrument throughout the Joy Division catalog.

 

[aikakone]

No song to suggest, but I'm sure glad to see all the Paul S. Denman love on this thread. He's one of my favorite bassists!

 

[rutty24]

portrait of tracy - jaco pastorius

o wait it doesn't statify the first criteria

 

[Insanity^2]

Dreaming of you - The Coral

 

[Elrend]

Rappers Delight

Sir Duke and Mothership Connection (Star Child)

 

[Mr.Phil]

Papa was a Rolling Stone - Temptations
Oye Como Va (sp?) - Santana

 

[shriekback]

Psycho Killer- Talking heads. Gooo Tina!

+1

Weymouth's line on the Heads' version of "Take Me To The River" is also quite remarkable for its simplicity and definition. Hell, can you imagine the Heads with another player on bass, especially the early material? I can't. Her work stands as final testimony that imagination and taste will outweigh pure chops every time (not that she didn't achieve the latter eventually, too).

 

[MtManiac]

My City Was Gone (Ohio) - The Pretenders.

My drummer and I jam on this sometimes at rehearsal while the guitar players are trying to figure out where to plug in their cables.

 

[Jay Corwin]

My City Was Gone (Ohio) - The Pretenders.

My drummer and I jam on this sometimes at rehearsal while the guitar players are trying to figure out where to plug in their cables.

HA - I had that song in my head as I was trolling through this thread.

 

[Hoover]

David Bowie - Let's Dance.

PS: Someone should make a Wikipedia entry for Carmine Rojas.

The entire Let's Dance album is an unsung goldmine of killer basslines, performed by Mr. Rojas (and, in one wonderful case, Bernard Edwards). Tunes like "Richochet", "Without You", "China Girl" et al are chock full of fantastically funky, quirky, angular lines that just squiggle and ooze mojo.

Not sure any of them qualify as "SIMPLE", but they definitely are cool...

 

[ksandvik]

The entire Let's Dance album is an unsung goldmine of killer basslines, performed by Mr. Rojas (and, in one wonderful case, Bernard Edwards). Tunes like "Richochet", "Without You", "China Girl" et al are chock full of fantastically funky, quirky, angular lines that just squiggle and ooze mojo.

Not sure any of them qualify as "SIMPLE", but they definitely are cool...

Yep. It's really the golden age of bass lines -- wish that came back, maybe soon! --Kent

 

[Co.]

Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer
Miles Davis - All Blues

 

[sleepy]

Caught In A Mosh-Anthrax
Rikki Don't Lose That Number-Steely Dan
Sliver-Nirvana

 

[Hans Gruber]

Maybe I missed this, but GIVE TO ME BABY! Rick James BIATCH!!!

 

[jsirish]

No More Tears- Ozzy
Sure Know Somethin'- Kiss
That is Why- J-Fish

 

[Twiggy Jr.]

seeing how you were talking about your students, i'll try to name some songs that are more current, or if they are older they'll atleast be able to be heard on rock stations that play newer songs, too

longview - greenday
dance, dance - fallout boy
rearranged - limpbizkit
only - nine inch nails
that nirvana song from the nevermind album that starts with a slide on the "e" string from the 3rd to 7th fret...lounge act maybe?

and some old songs i haven't seen mentioned

you can't touch this/brickhouse
another one bites the dust
hmm....mind went blank, but there ya go

 

[King Biscuit]

How bout Thin Lizzy, "The boys of summer", AKA "The boys are back in town"?

Dan

 

[bamaky1]

Sublime- What I Got
Santana-Soul Sacrafice