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The "real" punk bass....

i have read this thread to this point.. and it's glaringly apparent who the idiots are.. and who actually have digested and defecated the false stereotypes associated with punk and the sub-genres.. and those who have lived it..

i find it funny in some instances..

and really sad, overall..
 
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Use what ever you have, tape the name over because they don't pay you to play that sh*t. Wear it low, and play that mother f**ker like its the last gig you' ll ever play and you don't give a sh*t who gets hurt or goes home with the chicks. At least that's my take on it. Any one see that documentary on the Anthrax on CT?
 
I still listen to punk among other kinds of music. I like Minor Threat, Bad Brains, X, The Replacements. I don't think or know for sure if any of them played a white Fender. John Doe an Daryl Jennifer didn't, for sure.
Before you go bashing punk there's some great and important music in there like any other genre. You just have to find it.
I think we've talked about this before.
 
A stray, mongrel Danelectro/Coral Wasp was the ultimate punk bass. I got one for free after somebody found it in the bathtub in an abandoned house. It was black, with damaged paint, and it had a mother of toiletseat pearlescent pickguard that was huge. And a lot of switches that didn't make any noticeable difference. It didn't have a name on the headstock, a serial number, or any other identifying marks, so most of the time I owned it, I didn't even know what it was or who made it. The neck was non-adjustable and was shimmed up with matchbooks when I got it. I reshimmed it with pennies, and it sounded much better. I ended up selling it on St. Mark's Place in the early 1980s because some guy had to have it and offered me money. So, I took the money. What a sell-out! While I had it, I played it through a record player, a cheap solid state practice amp that should have blown up, and a much bigger combo amp that caused a beer stein to explode and make a huge mess. All highly punk phenomena.

So, there you have it. A P-Bass isn't the ultimate punk bass, especially not a white one. I don't care what anybody else played. If I still had the FreeBass, I would hit you or some other random person with it, just to prove the point.
 
Depends how you define Punk. Do you mean the wanky homoerotic New York arthaus stuff like the New York Dolls and Patti Smith banging on about horses? The cartoon Phil Spector lame brain bludgeonings of The Ramones? The Clash spent a little bit too much time hanging around artschool smoking weed, Sandista?!?! The Sex Pistols were another cartoon band made up by Malcolm Mclaren to suit his closetted sexual and monetary desires.... errr.... The Buzzcocks were limp-wristed tunesmiths... The Stranglers were old men hacking away... Sham 69 were a pub rock band chancing it... The Damned were a goth band in disguise (though Rat Scabies used some sort of Violin bass back in the day). The Velvet Underground are again a blugeoning Phil Spector style band who were the play-things of Andy Warhol. Everything after 1980 is not punk but some subset of punk resulting in horrific punk pop. Ah so we must look at those obscure bands on the Nuggets compilation albums, they are punk right? Or maybe The Monks from Germany....


So... you must mean the uber principled bands of all sorts of styles on SST? Those dudes who lived in vans for ten years and made $2 a week from selling merch... Bad Brains? Sorry but they dug up roots reggae and dub influences half the time... errr....What was Mike Watt using in the Minutemen prior to the SG basses? Is that a P bass on Meat Puppets I? :help::help::help:



Basically see what "punk" bassists were using and don't do that. Don't play Ricks, the market has driven right up since Kim Gordon was uselessly hacking away at one in the 1980s (with a screwdriver probably). Don't buy those apparently no longer inferior 1970s P basses (because the market has driven those right up because in this economic climate and if you drink enough before playing them you might not notice the worse workmanship). Errrrr, even those lucite Ampeg Dan Armstrong basses are expensive. You are doomed.

Good coffee?
 
A stray, mongrel Danelectro/Coral Wasp was the ultimate punk bass. I got one for free after somebody found it in the bathtub in an abandoned house. It was black, with damaged paint, and it had a mother of toiletseat pearlescent pickguard that was huge. And a lot of switches that didn't make any noticeable difference. It didn't have a name on the headstock, a serial number, or any other identifying marks, so most of the time I owned it, I didn't even know what it was or who made it. The neck was non-adjustable and was shimmed up with matchbooks when I got it. I reshimmed it with pennies, and it sounded much better. I ended up selling it on St. Mark's Place in the early 1980s because some guy had to have it and offered me money. So, I took the money. What a sell-out! While I had it, I played it through a record player, a cheap solid state practice amp that should have blown up, and a much bigger combo amp that caused a beer stein to explode and make a huge mess. All highly punk phenomena.

So, there you have it. A P-Bass isn't the ultimate punk bass, especially not a white one. I don't care what anybody else played. If I still had the FreeBass, I would hit you or some other random person with it, just to prove the point.
Haha brilliant!

I was in a punk band called the abortions. I played a beat up squire strat with a nail in the headstock to hang it in my friends loft!

It's spray painted, it has writing down the fret board, rusty strings..I wrote a ton of songs on it. It is complete poopie! I still have it. I used to throw it around and it buzzed like f***!
 
Depends how you define Punk. Do you mean the wanky homoerotic New York arthaus stuff like the New York Dolls and Patti Smith banging on about horses? The cartoon Phil Spector lame brain bludgeonings of The Ramones? The Clash spent a little bit too much time hanging around artschool smoking weed, Sandista?!?! The Sex Pistols were another cartoon band made up by Malcolm Mclaren to suit his closetted sexual and monetary desires.... errr.... The Buzzcocks were limp-wristed tunesmiths... The Stranglers were old men hacking away... Sham 69 were a pub rock band chancing it... The Damned were a goth band in disguise (though Rat Scabies used some sort of Violin bass back in the day). The Velvet Underground are again a blugeoning Phil Spector style band who were the play-things of Andy Warhol. Everything after 1980 is not punk but some subset of punk resulting in horrific punk pop. Ah so we must look at those obscure bands on the Nuggets compilation albums, they are punk right? Or maybe The Monks from Germany....


So... you must mean the uber principled bands of all sorts of styles on SST? Those dudes who lived in vans for ten years and made $2 a week from selling merch... Bad Brains? Sorry but they dug up roots reggae and dub influences half the time... errr....What was Mike Watt using in the Minutemen prior to the SG basses? Is that a P bass on Meat Puppets I? :help::help::help:



Basically see what "punk" bassists were using and don't do that. Don't play Ricks, the market has driven right up since Kim Gordon was uselessly hacking away at one in the 1980s (with a screwdriver probably). Don't buy those apparently no longer inferior 1970s P basses (because the market has driven those right up because in this economic climate and if you drink enough before playing them you might not notice the worse workmanship). Errrrr, even those lucite Ampeg Dan Armstrong basses are expensive. You are doomed.
There's two minutes of my life I'll never get back....
 
puNk picked me up, tossed me into a wall and got me into the music world. I am a classically trained musician basically from birth and was fortunate to have been around when puNk "started". We got the best we could with what we had to make the loudest sound-PERIOD. I pined for a Fender P because other players I saw had them and they sounded alright. In the end, it came down to what felt good in MY hands and I still tell players this...use what you WILL play. If ya don't like it, ya won't play it and God Help ya, if puNk is ANYTHING AT ALL, it's gigs! Almost 40 years on, I love MY Fenders and I hope you love what you play...kiss, kiss~
 
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I have been doing some serious research into my punk roots again. Was looking through a whole bunch of books, album sleeves, and even a ton of my old pictures from back in the day.


After noting a few things, this one stands out for all. The majority of all the pictures I have or saw had one bass standing out:

Fender Precision, Olympic White, Black pickguard, white pickups.

Dee Dee, Sid, yada yada. Just a whole lot of pics of tons of bands with this particular bass. I'm guessing they were readily available and cheap back in the day, although I never owned one....
Yes. Clash too. Now, question is maple or rosewood. Sid- rosewood. Dee Dee- maple. Paul Simonon- seen him with both.
My favorite P colors schemes are: white/black guard and black/black guard. Close behind is blond, the transparent cream on ash/tortoise shell guard. I kind of liked the black/gold guard, but tired of it.
 
Yes. Clash too. Now, question is maple or rosewood. Sid- rosewood. Dee Dee- maple. Paul Simonon- seen him with both.
My favorite P colors schemes are: white/black guard and black/black guard. Close behind is blond, the transparent cream on ash/tortoise shell guard. I kind of liked the black/gold guard, but tired of it.
Maple for me...takes a beating and cuts right through!
 
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A real punk bass is whatever bass is being used to play punk rock music (in it's various forms). It doesn't matter what kind it is, what it looks like. Anything from a beat up, pawn shop/garage sale p.o.s. p-bass copy to an upright to a custom 6 string fretless will work. If it sounds good to you and you like it....done. Shut up and play.

Close thread. ;)
 
i have read this thread to this point.. and it's glaringly apparent who the idiots are.. and who actually have digested and defecated the false stereotypes associated with punk and the sub-genres.. and those who have lived it..

I think the first group later went on to start the New Age movement, after a false start with New Wave. ;)
 
I started out playing a PJ bass and I had a terrible amp so I didn't have the nice punkrock tone. Then I noticed that most of my bass player idols played a Stingray at some point and it sounded massive and aggressive so I eventually bought one and now it is my primary bass... I throw in some ovedrive in there and crank everything and it's simply the best thing for playing fast punkrock stuff.