Tuesday 21 August 2012

Bottom's Up


Gibson has this 10 Greatest Bass Riffs of the Rock Era list.

Just a little disturbed about the "rock era" bit. Anyway, here's the list:

Beatles, Come Together
Pink Floyd, Money
Primus, Tommy The Cat
The Who, The Real Me
Queen, Under Pressure
Led Zeppelin, Lemon Song
RCHP, Give It Away
Lou Reed, Walk On The Wild Side
Sly & etc., Thank You
Cream, Sunshine of Your Love

Well, grateful Under Pressure made it with that classic two note hook. Doubly grateful that Fleetwood Mac's Dreams didn't make it with that two note mind-numbing ... well, not my favourite Fleetwood Mac v02 song.

The usual suspects appear on the list. McCartney, Flea, Bruce, Waters and Entwistle all deserve to be there, and the songs chosen fit the constraints of the list title.

Except for The Lemon Song. The Gibson writer doesn't mention the main riff of the song, which I bet was written by Page and not Jones. But he gushes over Jone's bluesy semi-soloing. Fine, but now we're not exactly talking about riffs, are we?

Wouldn't Dazed and Confused have been a better choice? The bass riff is the song's signature, and the song was Zep's signature live piece. And who cares if Page or Jones wrote it. That bass hook rivals, Sunshine of Your Love and Come Together any day.

Anyway, fun list. It shows that the bass may be part of the rhythm section, but it can still carry a tune - and define the song.

Speaking of which, and where is War's Low Rider?

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