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Who's Overrated? Who's Underrated?
- Thread starter plangentmusic
- Start date
That's funny, I don't care who you are.
Not sure if they're underrated, but I don't see them mentioned much:
Louis Johnson-The Brothers Johnson
Jerry Seay-Mother's Finest (I saw them live once and he played a solo that included the theme from Green Acres completely funked out-fabulous)
+1 for John Illsley-Dire Straits (always solid and perfect for the song, recorded or live)
I don't consider myself to be all that great so I wouldn't call someone overrated. If I've heard of them they must be better than me. No one's ever heard of me. But in my opinion bass solo albums/shows are pretty overrated. They're obviously good but it gets old quick and they use so many effects it doesn't sound like a bass. Might as well be fartin around on a kmart synth.
I agree about Nick Beggs! Recently saw him on tour with Steve hackett, great bassist.
But I have to disagree about Victor Wooten, IMHO.....I know he's all flashy when soloing, but he's tight as a Mufu in band mode!
If you do not understand Entwistle, you do not understand bass history. If I were you, I'd google him and his life, his equipment and most of all, check the year in which it was all going on. Sorry, it irritates me when someone calls a true bass lord overrated when everyday, not saying you did, I see someone masturbating over Jaco. Which reminds me, Jaco has to be the most over-extremely-rated bassist ever. Yes, he was a virtuoso, but no different from Eddie Van Halen if you have comparison skills. They're not very different in their accomplishments.
No, no he wasn't. John Entwsitle was miles ahead of him in terms of everything. Add that John influenced the whole Rock genre, which is one of the wider, if not widest, genres in history while Jaco influenced Jazz, Fusion and some other people by chance, like DiGiorgio. Is it really that amazing that someone played fretless? I know it was electric, but the bassist from Genesis did it first and nobody sacrifices three virgins for him everyday. People have been soloing on fretless for countless years. Jaco did it on electric, of course he added his sound to it which does sound amazing but not what it's hyped up to be, and somehow he's voted to be the best electric bassist of all time? Pfft. It's just like EVH, he modified his own instrument to fit his needs, he took further an already established technique, sounded great while doing so.
Wow, lets all go summon Beelzebub so we can give him 3 pints of virgin blood to thank him for his gifts. I'm not saying that Jaco wasn't a virtuoso, I'm saying that everyone looks up to him as the de facto bass god, plus mention his name every five seconds. Matter of fact, how many people play eletric fretless? Then ask yourself how many people play with roundwound strings, aggresive, piano tones with active electronics. Why do you think roundwounds are so famous? People back then mostly used flats.
Edit for irony: Jaco used the strings John Entwistle designed.
I'm sorry, but what you said about Entwistle also applies to Jaco, especially the "understand bass history" part.
BTW, I love Entwistle, one of my earliest heroes.
I guess you should be more specific. I know a lot about Jaco, and I like a lot his playing. How does it apply? I don't see Entwsitle being mentioned in every thread, or being used in infamous quotes (i.e. Jaco only needed 4) all the time. I acknowledge Jaco's virtuosity, but I think he is overrated. Overrated because everyone gives him the god status on bass, which I think he doesn't come close to. I think Entwistle changed the instrument in a very deep way, the same can't be said for Jaco. I'm not saying he didn't change it, but really, how many bassists in comparison with the greater mass use a sound that descended from him or that was created by him? I think that says a lot.
Also, I got called an idiot, it's been said before. I would like to know why, though.
Also, I got called an idiot, it's been said before. I would like to know why, though.
Your comments concerning Entwistle are a bit condescneding for me.
Your comments about Jaco are ironically bizarre.
Probably because the comments about Jaco show a lack of understanding -- which would be fine, if you didn't come off like an expert on musicology and bass history, as you did when defining Entwistle .
And BTW, Entwistle is not at all like Van Halen. The comparison is silly.
Lack of understanding? I'm all for learning, please explain. And no, Entwistle isn't anything like Van Halen because Entwistle created a technique, didn't just develop one. He tried to improve his technique and most importantly the bass as an instrument rather than just improving his technique. I know it may disrupt wet dreams about Jaco, but the guy is over-hyped.
So I've seen Matt Freeman's name come up as overrated a couple times...
I know it's easy to say he's overrated when he's been on the cover of BP, and every 15 year old is trying (and failing) to play Maxwell Murder. But seriously, he has excellent tone, a really original style (one of the most imitated punk players), and he does a great job of support the song with a creative combo of roots and counter melodies.
I'd say he's definitely rated, neither over or under.
People who aren't Rancid fans probably don't know, he actually sang a lot on their first self-titled record. Listen to what the bass is doing on "Adina" and keep in mind he's the one singing the first and second verses:
I know it's easy to say he's overrated when he's been on the cover of BP, and every 15 year old is trying (and failing) to play Maxwell Murder. But seriously, he has excellent tone, a really original style (one of the most imitated punk players), and he does a great job of support the song with a creative combo of roots and counter melodies.
I'd say he's definitely rated, neither over or under.
People who aren't Rancid fans probably don't know, he actually sang a lot on their first self-titled record. Listen to what the bass is doing on "Adina" and keep in mind he's the one singing the first and second verses:
I think Matt Freeman is a great bassist. You have to realize that there's not many virtuoso punk bassists, only a handful really, because of the obvious nature of punk. Thus, he gets mentioned a lot. I think Chris Barker is an amazing bassist with great sense of melody, none of that pocket bass.
Maybe Fieldy thinks his tone is his signature and at this point in his career he can't change it? Like how Gallagher probably feels like he can't stop smashing watermelons.
I have come to feel that Peter Steele from Type O Negative was pretty underrated. I won't flame any bassist as being overrated, but I tend to agree Fieldy gets more accolades than he deserves.
