Double X

Three reasons why he is cool:
1. He plays the bass lower than anyone I've seen
2. She's Lost Control
3. His name is PETER HOOK...sounds like some stage name like Joe Strummer or Sid Vicious. But it's his actual name.

Mirrorball95

Peter Hook is an excellent bassist but he couldnt outplay Victor Wooten

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LiquidFlesh

Alex Webster from Cannibal Corpse is my idol when it comes to playing bass

boo boo

Well I consider Wooten more of a fusion bassist.

And while this list covers many diverse styles of music, fusion bassists would stick out like a sore thumb, because they're playing a genre of music where bass is really more of a lead soloing instrument.

Trying to compare bassists from genres as varied as Pop, R&B, Funk, Metal, Prog, Psychedelic, Alternative, Punk, Rockabilly, Folk Rock and Reggae is challenging enough as it is.

I'm not really into the "shred" bassists like Wooten and Manring, what they can do is certainly mind blowing, but they also seem to forget that bass at it's core is a rhythm instrument, they treat it as something strictly for making flashy and elaborate solos. Do they even know what a bassline is?

UPDATE: Rick Danko added, Dave Alexander removed, Waters now above Gordon and Lemmy.

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boo boo

For the record, my top 10 favorite bassists.

Chris Squire
Tony Levin
Paul McCartney
John Paul Jones
Tina Weymouth
James Jamerson
Mike Watt
Bootsy Collins
Louis Johnson
Ray Shulman

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cheezyridr

this confuses me when i see mcartney on your list. yes, he wrote alot of great songs, but as a bassist, i don't hear anything from him, throughout his entire catalog that was all that special. when i see your synopsis on noel redding, i mostly agree, but in my mind, the general theme of it could apply to mcartney. i just don't see what it is that makes him so special as a bassist.

boo boo

McCartney is an insanely influencial bassist, he was one of the early players along with Entwhistle and Bruce to elevate bass playing to a more prominent role in rock music, the bass is the star of many Beatles songs, Paul was easly the most skilled Beatle and it was his bass playing that especially allowed for the band to cover such a great variety of musical styles.

Listen to Something or Hey Bulldog or Two of Us, that's some real rich melodicism going on there basswise. His basslines were actually quite intricate. He popularized the use of Rickenbackers, which were reknown for their distinctive, fuzzy and percussive tone.

It's easy to write him off because he's in the biggest band in the world and is more known for his work as a singer and songwriter. But he's just as influencial a bassist as he was a songwriter, especially on prog bassists like Chris Squire and Mike Rutherford.

UPDATE: Changed Levin's essential album to THRAK.

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boo boo

I added some honorable mentions. I'll probably expand the list eventually.

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It's only knock n' knowall, but I like it

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sweet_nothing

He is quite an amazing bassist, while sure he may not be as technical skilled as (insert funk bass player here) he makes up for in making simple things sound great and carrying the rhythm of New Order and Joy Division. Also Peter Hook sounds like a pirate name, so that's already 10 cool points out of the bag.

As for boobs list I'm glad to see Jah Wobble on the list, great dub bass player. If he wasn't in PiL they would've been largely shit.

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boo boo

Hey Keith Levene deserves some credit too, he had that great reverberated guitar sound.

UPDATE: Lemmy moved up a bit, Hill is a bit lower.

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It's only knock n' knowall, but I like it

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