Not much really when you think of it. Yet bass players are nearly always underrated. Most people will be able to name a list of singers, guitarists, drummers and even keyboard players when asked, but they will struggle with listing bass players.
The bass is real the base of music, it is the foundation together with the drums. The vocals, guitars and keyboard are the rest of a song., the melody that makes a song recognizable. But without a solid foundation the melody would collapse. The bass is the most important part of that foundation.
I could mention 1000s of bass players but I will limit it to a few of my favourites.
Robbie Shakespeare-Sly & Robbie
Mark King- Level 42
John Deacon-Queen
Lemmy -Motorhead(performing with Metallica)
Peter Hook-Joy Division and New Order
Tina Weymouth-Talking Heads
Suzi Quatro
Chuck Wright-Quiet Riot
John Entwistle-The Who
James Jamerson was an American bass player. He was the uncredited bassist on most of the Motown Records hits in the 1960s and early 1970s (Motown did not list session musician credits on their releases until 1971), and is now regarded as one of the most influential bass players in modern music history.
“Silent Night” (German: Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht) is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in the small town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria.
The song was first performed on Christmas Eve 1818 at St Nicholas parish church in Oberndorf, a village in the Austrian Empire on the Salzach river in present-day Austria. A young priest, Father Joseph Mohr, had come to Oberndorf the year before. He had already written the lyrics of the song “Stille Nacht” in 1816 at Mariapfarr, the hometown of his father in the Salzburg Lungau region, where Joseph had worked as a co-adjutor.
The melody was composed by Franz Xaver Gruber, schoolmaster and organist in the nearby village of Arnsdorf. Before Christmas Eve, Mohr brought the words to Gruber and asked him to compose a melody and guitar accompaniment for the church service.[2] Both performed the carol during the mass on the night of December 24.
1965, The Beatles had the No.1 album in the US for the third Christmas in a row. Rubber Soul was at the top of the LP chart, following Beatles For Sale in 1964 and With The Beatles in 1963.
1976, The Eagles sixth album, Hotel California spent the first of eight non-consecutive weeks at the top of the Billboard chart. The band’s first LP with Joe Walsh and last with bassist Randy Meisner which has now sold over 16 million copies.
1945, Born on this day, Lemmy, English musician, singer, and songwriter who founded and fronted the rock band Motorhead. Lemmy played in several rock groups in the 1960s, including the Rockin’ Vickers and worked as a roadie for Jimi Hendrix and the Nice, before joining the space rock band Hawkwind in 1971, singing lead on their hit ‘Silver Machine’. He died on 28 December 2015 following a short battle with an extremely aggressive cancer.
1946, Born on this day, Jan Akkerman, guitar, Focus, (1973 UK No.4 single ‘Sylvia’, 1973 US No. 9 single ‘Hocus Pocus’).
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