Bass is extremely important in Yes, maybe even more than guitar... A good example is Relayer... It's pure instrumental mayhem, but the importance of Squires bass playing on even the most guitar based songs is overlooked, his bass playing provides the structure to many Yes songs, they would be lost without it.

Led Zeppelin also wrote many bass heavy tunes... Page gets all the attention, but anyone who denies JPJs importance is a fool.

A lot of prog is very bass oriented.... A lot of funk and pop is too.

im just saying its not as significant cuz i dont got crazy bass riffs and solos going u got guitar riffs and it is mostly focused on the guitar.

Depends on the style... If it's punk rock or metal, than you are absolutely correct... But many genres such as jazz, soul, funk, reggae, hip hop, new wave and most prog put more emphasis on bass than guitar... Even blues and country would be nothing without the bass rhythms.

Anybody said Kazoo?

Sorry, there is obviously no answer to this question. Each band uses instruments in their own way, and on top of that, everybody takes something different from each song so you'd struggle to get a straight answer debating even one song.

mos def the bass... everybody relies on the pace of the bass :D

they all are equal to an extent
 

There is really no one most important instrument in a band. What makes a band a band is more than one person so it is needless to ask what the most important instrument is. You could vote something like drums but if you took all the rest of the instruments away than it wouldn't be called a band so its a stupid pole if you ask me and you shouldn't vote on this topic.

Where's the option for a computer? Listen to Idiot Pilot, you can make an entire band from just a computer and some synths and such.

Except for those who don't have bass... Though The White Stripes, The Black Keys, The Doors, Sleater Kinney and Kraftwerk are the only bands i can think of who can pull if off.

But The Doors do have bass parts in many of their songs.

Any good song, and more importantly, good band, is more than the sum of it's parts. There really is no right answer.

organs