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Why Cliff Williams = Genius

#61
fourstringburn said:
A genius? what makes him a genius? I love AC/DC and I enjoy listening to Cliffs simple and solid good sounding bass lines. Highway to Hell has still been my personal favorite AC/DC album for over 30 years now. But let's put it into perspective. He doesn't read a single note of music, never composed anything that would be deemed artistically worthy. Past musical genius's would be like Bach,and Beethoven, to more modern accomplished jazz artists like Stanley Clarke, Jaco ,Victor Wooten, and rockers like Steve Vai and Satriani and many others. I understand how much you like his playing, but would you really think he deserves the title of genius considering all the great musicians in the world today who most are unheard of and probably starving?
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I am consistently stunned by the guys who feel like it is their domain to denigrate well-known rock bassists because they don't fit into some dreamy jazz sensibility. This almost always seems to take two forms: "I love "so-and-so", but Jaco could play circles around that guy," or "Victor Wooten could play circles around that guy." Nobody is talking about Stanley Clarke, dude... this is about Cliff Williams. The guy has made a living as the bass player for one of the baddest rock and roll bands in human history and for that reason alone, you should have some respect for what he has done.
 
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#62
bolophonic said:
I am consistently stunned by the guys who feel like it is their domain to denigrate well-known rock bassists because they don't fit into some dreamy jazz sensibility. This almost always seems to take two forms: "I love "so-and-so", but Jaco could play circles around that guy," or "Victor Wooten could play circles around that guy." Nobody is talking about Stanley Clarke, dude... this is about Cliff Williams. The guy has made a living as the bass player for one of the baddest rock and roll bands in human history and for that reason alone, you should have some respect for what he has done.
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Cha-Ching!!!!



I agree, and while I do not think Cliff is anywhere near being "genius" or even close to it, he serves his purpose well in AC/DC.


I love AC/DC but saying that Cliff is a "genius" is about as rediculous as saying that Gene Simmons is "astonishingly mediocre": neither statement is anywhere near being true, yet both of them are madly successful, are still touring and making music, and we all still have day jobs.


;)
 
#64
Granted I've only been playing bass for 1.5 years, but Cliff was the reason I picked it up in the first place. Along with Rudd, they have the greatest rythm section of all time in my opinion. Cliffs bass just chugs, its relentless and has little runs when necessary. You could set your watch to the timing of this band and thats what its all about for me. A lot of my friends put down AC/DC and are into Zeppelin and Floyd because they're more advanced but more advanced and taking a 25 minute intro to get to a 2 minute song just isn't my cup of tea. I listen to everything from CASH and Merle Haggard to 20's and 30's dixieland jazz/swing up to 80's pop and Marilyn Manson, so I dont' want to get put into only liking one category of music, but for me, I agree with all the pro-Cliff posts. For his style and what he does, he is perfect. Take a listen to the run in Soul Stripper vs. the simple 2 note riff in that..just awesome..anyway, done rant!..always enjoy reading the different opinions here..
 
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#67
rydin4lifebass said:
Granted I've only been playing bass for 1.5 years, but Cliff was the reason I picked it up in the first place. Along with Rudd, they have the greatest rythm section of all time in my opinion. Cliffs bass just chugs, its relentless and has little runs when necessary. You could set your watch to the timing of this band and thats what its all about for me. A lot of my friends put down AC/DC and are into Zeppelin and Floyd because they're more advanced but more advanced and taking a 25 minute intro to get to a 2 minute song just isn't my cup of tea. I listen to everything from CASH and Merle Haggard to 20's and 30's dixieland jazz/swing up to 80's pop and Marilyn Manson, so I dont' want to get put into only liking one category of music, but for me, I agree with all the pro-Cliff posts. For his style and what he does, he is perfect. Take a listen to the run in Soul Stripper vs. the simple 2 note riff in that..just awesome..anyway, done rant!..always enjoy reading the different opinions here..
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sorry but cliff was nowhere around when soul stripper was recorded. half their early songs were recorded by mark evans, a bassist not known for greatness in any shape or form, and the other half were recorded by george young. since soul stripper had a line with more than one note, i would bet it was george young who recorded it. cliff's first album with them was powerage.
 
#68
To play simple, solid and make the music feel good, is the most difficult thing in the world. Cliff is not exactly Jeff Berlin, but on the other hand...could Berlin make Ac/Dc sound as good as Cliff does?
 
#73
A critically overlooked aspect of AC/DC as a whole,not just Cliff, is their depth of groove. The way they sit particularly on slower grooves is magical. As mentioned earlier in this thread, players with a lot more chops can look like a$$hats covering a AC/DC song, mostly due to RUSHING the pocket. Tunes like "Hells Bells" or "Rock and Roll ain't noise pollution" are ALL ABOUT laying perfectly into a laid back pocket.

Much respect to the Blues/Rock and Roll machine that is AC/DC.
 
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#74
Cliff is a fantastic bass player, one of my favourites. won't hear a word against him :)

while he does tight and solid better than almost anyone, the bassline to Love Hungry Man is a nicely complex funk-influenced bass riff, up there with the best.
 
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#75
Opas said:
Why all the Mark Evans hate? Mark got canned because he crossed the Young brothers or so I've read. At least he got to play in one of the greatest rock bands of all time...with the amazing Bon Scott no less! Mark's site is
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BTW, I'm a HUGE Cliff Williams fan and Cliff is the reason I picked up the bass.
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i don't hate mark evans. i just don't think he was a particularly good bass player. maybe he is now but he wasn't back then. i've got bootlegs with him where he just can't pound a steady 8th note feel at all. he'd only been playing a year when he joined ac/dc and even he admits that cliff was a better fit.

i wonder if mark still gets paid for old ac/dc albums. wonder what he gets for his contributions.
 
#76
JimmyM said:
sorry but cliff was nowhere around when soul stripper was recorded. half their early songs were recorded by mark evans, a bassist not known for greatness in any shape or form, and the other half were recorded by george young. since soul stripper had a line with more than one note, i would bet it was george young who recorded it. cliff's first album with them was powerage.
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I know Cliff didn't join until later, but was just commenting on the bass in AC/DC songs as a whole. Sin City on that album might not show off his abilities, but thats a great album with great lines on some of the other songs...even current ones on Black Ice like War Machine is a very simple line but the bass makes that song..
 
#80
I'm another "he's not a genius". Let's not use that term lightly, shall we?

I mean I LOVE AC/DC. They flat our rock, and rock super hard. They kick @$$. No band kicks that much tuckus without a good, @$$-kicking bassist. I am also not going to say his job is easy by any stretch. He has incredible endurance to pump out that much energy at those shows, and while he fills the music with a feeling of great freedom and abandon, he is also very much in control and even in his playing. He and Rudd make a great sounding, great feeling thing happen for AC/DC.

But genius? Please.
 

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