• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Smokin' bass lines from the 80's

#61
Whoa we talkin eighties? Yea baby.

You guys are mentioning all of my record collection!!! I've seen about 10-15 titles I have... maybe 20...

First off: Abacab's line is synth. But check out "Me And Sarah Jane" from the same album. That's freaky good.

Anyway...
Smokin' bass in the 80s?... more like a BIG wildfire:

Town Called Malice, Circus, Funeral Pyre, Down In The Tube..., Precious - The Jam

Man In A Suitcase, O My God, Masoko Tanga - The Police

Is There Something I Should Know, Rio - Duran Duran

Back To Basics, I Love Lucy, Certain Kinda Girl - The Producers

The Right Thing - Simply Red
Mystic Rhythms - Rush
Stay With Me Tonight - Jeffrey Osbourne (Alphonso in da house)
Would I Lie To You - Eurythmics (with Nathan)
Reap The Wild Wind - Ultravox
Keep Feeling Fascination - Human League (they had a bassist for a while)
Let's Go To Bed - Cure
Original Sin - INXS
Kids In America - Kim Wilde (no bassist in video but you can sure hear it)
Video Killed The Radio Star (1979 but still) by Bugles
Red Skies - Fixx
Shout - Tears For Fears
Isolated Case - The Vapors
One Step Beyond - Madness
One On One - Hall and Oates
Come Back And Stay - Paul Young (Pino Power)

And the list goes on and on and on...

wow!
 
#69
Most of the good ones have been covered - I'll second the Fixx, Rush, U2 (mostly Boy and October), must mention The Producers - and a surprising omission - "Whisper to a Scream" by Icicle Works - that's a damn fine bassline, melodic.

Thanks for the tip on Paul Young's bassist - I love the fretless sound in "Come Back and Stay" - it drives the whole song

Also a fan of early Police, XTC, etc.

Like I said, you all pretty much covered it all . . .
 
#72
A great track that I remembered about today - 'And The Beat Goes On' by The Whispers (1980).

Also, 'All This Love That I'm Givin' by Gwen McRae (1979/80 I think) - one of all my all-time favourite dance tracks.

Edit: add 'Moody' by ESG as well. It's mostly just two notes as well!
 
#73
Tony Levin gets another vote from me, listen to SO by Peter Gabriel, and Peter Gabriel's "Plays Live". The man is a monster, I remember having to learn a live version of "Solisbury Hill" while in a cover band in the late 80's, it's a VERY cool line, and he doesn't play the same part twice for virtually the entire song, but it works flawlessly with the drummer.
Of course the usual Rush, Mark King and Billy Sheehan nods have to be given too, and I too have to add my name to the list of SAGA fans.
I don't know if anyone's mentioned him yet, but another serious player from the 80's is David Hungate, his work with TOTO was great, it was often overlooked because of the slick pop he was playing, but there are some GREAT basslines there.
 
#76
Originally posted by NewWaveBasser
By "IV", Porcaro had taken the bass role, but there's "Endless" which is very nice. Hungate played that one IIRC.
Click to expand...

Hungate did all the tracks for IV...did he not? I'm pretty sure he did(by the tone/sound, etc).
Also, the liner notes & photo collage from the original album have Hungate's face/name all over them(IIRC). Porcaro did start doing the MTV videos at about this time as Hungate had begun his migration to Nashville & its studios.
 
#80
Have we mentioned Graham Maby's work with Joe Jackson yet??

As in:

"Breaking Us In Two"

"You Can't Get What You Want"

??


We keep comin' up with stuff. Why would many say the 80s were so bad??? The hair was for sure, but the music is another story.

IMHO it was a nice time to be a bassist...

(Oh yeah, me ignorant boy didn't know... Tony Levin was John Lennon's last bassist... on 1980's "Double Fantasy"...)
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back