Love em or hate em, Longview by Green Day is one of the greatest basslines of all time
Also, I've always thought Ramble On has maybe the most underrated bassline ever. No one ever mentions it, but it's the best, Jerry! The best!
You made give Ramble On a re-listen with emphasis on the bass and yes, that was interesting to listen to it differently. I always said that Led Zep is deeper then it first appears when you listen to it with attention.
Longview has a good bass line. I would not put it among my favorites but yes, it is quite good.
Bass is usually unnecessary. It's often even indiscernible. Most acts don't use it very well and it can almost always be substituted with a regular old 6-string.
"Bass is usually unnecessary."
False.
"It's often even indiscernible. Most acts don't use it very well and it can almost always be substituted with a regular old 6-string."
Sadly, this is pretty true The ones who know how to use it are more often than not the best bands, however.
For the most part bass is not meant to be discernible, it's there to give the song its body. But take bass out of songs you love and you would more than notice it. And yes their are a few bands like The White Stripes that for the most part don't use it (even though they created the most famous "bassline" of the last 20 years), but it definitely changes their sound.
Back on page 2 I posted 2 YouTubes that I would love to have your opinions on:
Donna Lee-Jaco Pastorius
Metamorphos-Dave Holland Quintet
I know I am splitting hair here but I would consider the Pastorius to be a bass solo and would not readily think of it when asked about a best bassline. I know, I know I am being an idiot about it.
As for the Dave Holland Quintet, this is a rather typical use of bass in jazz and yes, jazz does really use the bass as an instrument per se, for how beautiful and amazing it works and sounds and not only as an accompaniment to be played in the background as in most of pop-rock.
Comparing jazz bassist to rock bassist is just unfair, very few rocker bassist would even deserve to be heard from that point of view.
Pastorius is definitely one of the great ones. The bass players I know all revere his playing ... even though they never seem to be putting his music on though. I do not know the instrument enough to comment on the technique so I do need to refer to them when it comes to playing.
But when it comes to listening, the bass from Radiohead's may not be technically advanced but it is savagely primal ... Very Bass-ic.
"Getting in tune" (the Who) and "Hey bulldog" (the Beatles) come to mind.
And about 2/3 of Paul McCartney's post-Beatles music (without thinking,"Momma Miss America", "Goodnight tonight", "Sun is shining"... the list is endless).
Two of the most memorable basslines in songs I can remember are the ones in There Is A Light That Never Goes Out and Transmission (and practically almost every single Joy Division song could have this title). I'm surprised they weren't mentioned-as I can see most choices aimed for something less obvious.
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The ones who know how to use it are more often than not the best bands, however.
