# Favorite Basslines **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 5, 2007, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-basslines/421661 "2007-10-05T18:00:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2007, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-basslines/421661/41 "2007-10-06T06:39:05Z")
The Police’s “Walking on the Moon” has an infectious bassline. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2007, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-basslines/421661/42 "2007-10-06T06:45:06Z")
I’ve always LOVED John Paul Jones’s work on _Ramble On_. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2007, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-basslines/421661/43 "2007-10-06T14:14:19Z")
The Cure is a great place to start, just because the bass is very prominent in the mix, and the bass lines really drive and define those songs, which makes it more fun to play than, say, Ramones bass parts. A fun one to learn, which sounds harder than it is, is “Detroit Rock City” by Kiss. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2007, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-basslines/421661/44 "2007-10-06T15:10:46Z")
Bernard Edwards’ bassline on, well, just about anything. “Thinking of You” by Sister Sledge, for example. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2007, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-basslines/421661/45 "2007-10-06T15:37:45Z")
Two groups - Joy Division and Pixies. Also, thirding The Cure. For **Joy Division** - _Twenty Four Hours_, _Dead Souls_ or _Atmosphere_. The last is the greatest melodic bassline I’ve ever known. Bar none. Peter Hook is king. For **Pixies**? _Bone Machine_, _Gigantic_ or _Planet of Sound_. That last…just _ROCKS_ man, like Nitrous to the bloodstream. I wanna have Kim Deal’s babies. The offspring of Kim and Hooky would be, like, the Jesus of Bass! ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2007, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-basslines/421661/46 "2007-10-06T15:46:49Z")
Two groups - Joy Division and Pixies. Also, thirding The Cure. For **Joy Division** - _Twenty Four Hours_, _Dead Souls_ or _Atmosphere_. The last is the greatest melodic bassline I’ve ever known. Bar none. Peter Hook is king. For **Pixies**? _Bone Machine_, _Gigantic_ or _Planet of Sound_. That last…just _ROCKS_ man, like Nitrous to the bloodstream. I wanna have Kim Deal’s babies. The offspring of Kim and Hooky would be, like, the Jesus of Bass! ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2007, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-basslines/421661/47 "2007-10-06T16:39:17Z")
[QUOTE=MrDibble] For **Pixies**? _Bone Machine_, _Gigantic_ or _Planet of Sound_. That last…just _ROCKS_ man, like Nitrous to the bloodstream. I wanna have Kim Deal’s babies. The offspring of Kim and Hooky would be, like, the Jesus of Bass! [/QUOTE] Yeah, the Pixies have some great, simple bass lines. And the bonus to “Gigantic” is that if you can play the bass part and sing it, you’ve basically got the whole song there. There aren’t many songs where you can just sing and accompany yourself on the bass and not have it sound lame. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2007, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-basslines/421661/48 "2007-10-06T17:48:52Z")
Apostrophe from Frank Zappa’s Apostrophe CD 2nd/3rd/4th? for Victor Wooten - Flecktones ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2007, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-basslines/421661/49 "2007-10-06T17:53:53Z")
I second Peter Hook, but would also like to add pretty much any of Andy Rourke’s (The Smiths) stuff. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2007, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-basslines/421661/50 "2007-10-06T17:55:14Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] The theme to _Barney Miller_ is pretty cool. [/QUOTE] Absolutely, as is the _Night Court_ theme, though I know some people who dismiss it as “Spyro Gyra jazz.” ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2007, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-basslines/421661/51 "2007-10-06T18:32:46Z")
I like the beginning of Conan O’Brien’s theme song. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2007, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-basslines/421661/52 "2007-10-06T23:20:19Z")
_Atomic Dog_ - P-Funk ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-basslines/421661/53 "2007-10-07T00:28:04Z")
**Birdland** - Weather Report. Jaco’s bass gets way up in the high registers to play lead, then drops down to do rhythm when it’s called for. Still a great song. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-basslines/421661/54 "2007-10-07T02:25:46Z")
“Rock Lobster” is the song that turned me on to the B52s, and it was that amazing bass line that did it. Captain Beefheart’s bassist did some amazing stuff. I’m blanking on the title, but I saw them perform live once and the bassist went out there and soloed for five minutes to start their set, and it was amazing. The intro to “Halo of Flies” by Alice Cooper is incredibly catchy. Almost all of Atlanta Rhythm Section’s stuff has wonderfully lilting bass lines. There’s also a nice bass solo in “Champagne Jam.” ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-basslines/421661/55 "2007-10-07T03:25:24Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] _Atomic Dog_ - P-Funk [/QUOTE] Thank you for putting that song in my head! I just youtubed it, and I am jammin’ now. Is that a bassline, though? I think now that I don’t really know what a bassline is. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-basslines/421661/56 "2007-10-07T03:44:48Z")
A couple of my favorites are: [Sisters of Mercy’s “Lucretia (my reflection)”](http://youtube.com/watch?v=ikGu1eyd-BM) [The Cure’s “Fascination Street”](http://youtube.com/watch?v=E_nSETaWNzY). ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-basslines/421661/57 "2007-10-07T04:26:05Z")
[QUOTE=pulykamell] I’ve always LOVED John Paul Jones’s work on _Ramble On_. [/QUOTE] Here’s a second for that. When we did this song in my college _a cappella_ group, we had to split into 16 parts to cover the craziness at the end of the song. As a bass singer it took me almost two hours to learn to sing the part properly – I suspect you’ll learn to play it about as quickly. Enjoy! ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-basslines/421661/58 "2007-10-07T04:43:39Z")
[QUOTE=AskNott] … and look into Klaus Voorman’s work with Nillsson (Jump Into The Fire, for example.) [/QUOTE] Fantastic. Sample [here](http://www.amazon.com/Nilsson-Schmilsson-Harry/dp/B000159ELA/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/102-1274766-4547342?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1191731660&sr=1-2), but it doesn’t include the bass solo. And it is Nilsson, not Nillsson. Nitpick hat off. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-basslines/421661/59 "2007-10-07T04:45:12Z")
[QUOTE=K364] “Let The Sunshine In” from Hair as done by The Fifth Dimension. As seen in this [quite remarkable video](http://youtube.com/watch?v=KFj09TEbXBw) starting at 2:22. [/QUOTE] Fantastic. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-basslines/421661/60 "2007-10-07T04:49:32Z")
[QUOTE=Phase42] Another Japanese band called Zone had a song called Hanabi with a freaking awesome bass line: ![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/dlw84-zb2Q4/maxresdefault.jpg)https://www.youtube.com/embed/dlw84-zb2Q4?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque It’s even cooler when you know that Maiko Sakae, the bass player, was maybe 16 or 17 years old when the song was recorded. And yes, the girls in this band really played their own instruments. (They were all students at a performing arts high school, similar to the one portrayed in the movie _Fame_.) [/QUOTE] Wow. Very good. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-basslines/421661.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-basslines/421661.md?page=4)