I won't go into overrated, that's too easy.
Underrated: Pretty much every bass player in the 80s Alternative genre (New Wave). Keyboards may have masked them a bit, but if you really listen to Simple Minds, The Fixx, Scritti Politti, Tears For Fears, Depeche Mode, Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, etc... there's some amazing talent and very musical lines being played.
Ditto!
Especially
Derek Forbes from Simple Minds. His tone on their albums from 1980 to 1982 was so CHUNKY! Actually, they did an awesome job mixing the albums so the bass was actually pretty prominent on those early albums.
Unfortunately most people especially in the U.S. really only know Simple Minds from their huge hit from the Breakfast Club soundtrack (Don't You Forget About Me) from 1985, 8 years after they had been recording/playing and a song not even written by them. Their earlier stuff had a very distinctive sound and a lot of it was due to Derek Forbes unique playing.
Curt Smith from Tears for Fears was also a very talented bassist.
And I've mentioned these already but they can't be mentioned enough:
Andy Metcalfe, a name most of you probably may have never heard of, wrote some of the most melodic lines as bassist in Robyn Hitchcock and The Egyptians... he is VASTLY overlooked!
Ray Shulman, Gentle Giant.
Mike Rutherford, Genesis. Tony Banks' keyboards were really Genesis' foundation, always had been but Rutherford was integral to their sound and he was also very talented on both bass, and 12/6 string guitar, so much so that when Hackett left they never hired a replacement guitar player except for tours.
It's always "Chris Squire" (who I actually worship
), "Geddy Lee" (another hero of mine), hell, I even see Ray Shulman's name mentioned more, where are the Mike Rutherford fans????
Overrated: Ok, I was a big early Metallica fan (lost them after that "Black" album), the best concert I've EVER been to to this day was a Metallica/Guns & Roses double headlining show at Giants STadium in I believe 1992, so I was a fan.
But I've never thought of
Cliff Burton as one of the best bassists of all time. To be honest, his image, tall, long hair towering with his Ric is something that has stuck with me more than his playing
And maybe it's because I'm not a fan of Red Hot Chilli Peppers but I think
Flea's overrated. Obviously he can play, and he's claimed his own space with his slap-happy funk playing within a rock band (they can get the funk out but come on, they've been alternative rock for a while) but his playing bores me. It always sounds like licks you'd hear in some "How To Slap" DvD. Just can't get into. But like I said, I'm not saying he can't play, he is talented but his playing doesn't move me. I like his film work though
And come on,
Jaco???? Adam Clayton could play circles around him!
