Compiling lists has always been one of journalism’s passions especially when copy has been in short supply. As long as I can remember I’ve been lazily obsessed with reading lists of the Best Movies, Best TV, Best Food, Best Holiday Destinations, Greatest Footballers (it’s never ‘Best’ Footballers), and to be honest practically anything else. Part of the charm is of course the ability to dip in at your leisure, but mainly let’s face it it’s really so that you can disagree with them!
As Rock Music goes these types of lists are just as prevalent, littering the pages of magazines from Rolling Stone and Sounds back in the day to Mojo and Classic Rock today. But what’s the value of such lists you may ask? Well they do get you thinking, maybe even get you to throw on a record or two, and that can’t be bad can it? And of course as a ‘failed’ bassist myself, as the author quite rightly says in his introduction, there’s hundreds of lists of guitarists and singers but not so many for the purveyors of the 4-string (or 5, 6, 8 or 12 I guess)…
The list of course is of ‘Rock’ bassists though I do note that the guy who in my opinion is the greatest bassist of all time for a number of reasons – James Jamerson, who in no way could be called a Rock bassist, also makes the list. Jamieson was not just a very fine musician, but also a man who in my opinion did more than any other in defining an entire musical genre through his work, well that and the fact that I love my Motown.
We caught up with Author Greg Prato to ask him a couple of questions about his latest work.
The Rockpit: Several of the bassists listed are sadly no longer with us,who would you most like to have spoken to about the bass?
Greg Prato: Jaco Pastorius would have been great to chat with…although after viewing the must-see documentary, ‘Jaco,’ it would depend on what era of Jaco I would be interviewing him in, as he seemed to be getting more and more unpredictable towards the end of his life. Cliff Burton too, just because I remain such a fan of his bass playing – and he remains one of the most tragic figures of rock bass (I would have loved to see what he and Metallica would have gone on to do together if he had lived longer). And of course, John Entwistle, although judging from many of his interviews, he could be a man of few words!
The Rockpit: You’ve listed a hundred bassists scored and waited on a certain criteria but who is your favourite tickler of the four string and why?
Greg Prato: Les Claypool. Partly because it’s amazing how his personality and sense of humor comes out through those four strings (and sometimes, six strings), and also, in the era he came up, most bassists were rather “same sounding,” and he stuck out from the get-go. Also it may have to do with the fact that he emerged during an era when I was cognizant of what was going on around me music-wise and bass-wise, and I have been able to chart his bass progress almost from the dawn of his recording career. And lastly, because I consider him a friend (as I’ve interviewed him several times over the years, and we worked on a book together, ‘Primus, Over the Electric Grapevine: Insight into Primus and the World of Les Claypool’)!
The Rockpit: Name a couple of songs where you feel without the bass they’d be lame ducks?
Greg: Just about any Primus tune – “Tommy the Cat,” “Jerry Was a Race Car Driver,” “My Name Is Mud,” etc. The reason being that since Les’ bass serves as the lead (and most prominent) instrument on most Primus tunes, they would sound extraordinarily sparse and naked w/o bass.
The Rockpit: And finally,do you wake up at night wondering if you’ve missed anyone?
Greg: I think I listed everyone I wanted (in addition to the countdown, I also included an “Honorable Mentions” section, out of respect!). So…I remain confident.
Of course the whole point of lists is to debate them and disagree and to that end I’ve made my own Top 10 purely based on how much I feel they defined the music they helped create.
1. James Jamerson (pretty much the entire classic Motown catalogue)
2. Michael Anthony (Van Halen)
3. Tom Hamilton (Aerosmith, if only for ‘Sweet Emotion’)
4. John Deacon (Queen)
5. Trevor Bolder (David Bowie and the Spiders from Mars, Uriah Heep)
6. Ronnie Lane (The Faces)
7. Noel Redding (Jimi Hendrix Experience)
8. Jack Bruce (Cream)
9. Kyle Kyle (Bang Tango, for that funked-up debut album Psycho Cafe)
… and of course
10. Lemmy (Motorhead)
… who played the bass more like a guitar.
I don’t expect of course that anyone in the Universe would agree with that list, let alone replicate it, even I found myself disagreeing with it as soon as I penned the last name. So rather than ruin it for you I’ll say no more other than that Greg Prato has produced an entertaining read which is great considering the limitations of the format. And if you disagree with him there’s a huge list of ‘Honourable mentions’ that I think just about lists anyone who picked up the instrument!
The highlight of the book for me though are the interviews Greg has conducted with the likes of Billy Sheehan, Glenn Hughes and Dave Ellefson, Dough Wimbish, Doug Pinnick and Les Claypool (all of whom we’ve interviewed over the years at The Rockpit) and Mike Watt, Glen Matlock, John Myung and Chris Kirkwood (who we haven’t yet).
Sure it would have been nice to have had a few more interviews in there especially some of those that reached the upper end of the list, and personally I would have loved to have heard from the likes of Geddy Lee and Steve Harris but then again those buggers do so few interviews!
Read the press-release below:
NEW BOOK, ‘THE 100 GREATEST ROCK BASSISTS,’ COUNTS DOWN AND ANALYZES THE BEST OF THE BASS
There have been seemingly countless “Greatest Rock Guitarists” lists assembled over the years – for articles or books. But…what about bassists? In ‘The 100 Greatest Rock Bassists,’ author/journalist Greg Prato courageously attempts to level the playing field, single-handedly. In addition to counting them down from the bottom to the top, each entry contains info on each player – including background data, standout tracks, similar players, preferred makes/models, etc. And that’s not all!
Also featured are ten all-new interviews for this book, with some of the greatest rock bassists of all-time (Billy Sheehan, Les Claypool, John Myung, Mike Watt, Doug Wimbish, Doug Pinnick, David Ellefson, Glenn Hughes, Glen Matlock, and Cris Kirkwood), as well as vintage/rarely-seen photos of many of the top names.
So…put down your bass for a bit, pick up this book, and discover just who are ‘The 100 Greatest Rock Bassists.’
Greg Prato is a Long Island, New York-based journalist, who has written for Rolling Stone, Classic Rock, and Vintage Guitar, and has authored such books as ‘Shredders!: The Oral History Of Speed Guitar (And More),’ ‘The Yacht Rock Book: The Oral History of the Soft, Smooth Sounds of the 70s and 80s,’ and ‘Grunge Is Dead: The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music .’
‘The 100 Greatest Rock Bassists’ is his 24th book overall.
‘The 100 Greatest Rock Bassists’ is available as a paperback version [258 pages, $14.99], a Kindle download [$9.99], and a Nook download [$9.99].