Barking Spiders

is that Demis Roussos second from right?

superb knitwear 👌

I cant listen to music where the bass guitarist is just playing 8ths or 16ths on the root, always on the beat, while usually doubling up with the rhythm guitar and playing with a pick. Stand up and take the shame! You know who you are Adam Clayton, Judas Priest bloke, AC/DC bloke, whoever you are in Coldplay and Travis etc. It's possible to keep the lines simple but at least while being ahead or after the beat

The 80s were the heyday of slapping in mainstream pop as they were also for fretless malarkey. Most slapping on pop tunes was pretty tasteful, with little of the machine gun type winkery many object to. As well as Too Shy by Kajagoogoo and some very nice chops by Deon Estus on Wham tunage I'd point you to tracks on ABC's Lexicon of Love and Simple Mind's New Gold Dream. Another good example is the bassline on Money Go Round by the Style Council. And then there's Louis Johnson's playing with Jacko. Check out ...

If i was a young man in 1960s Detroit and faced with this choice, I'd go with the car assembly line, mainly because I can't abide the 60s Motown sound. Besides, I'd learn useful engineering skills😊

I'm not talking about session backing vocalists but the backing vocalists in vocal groups from Motown acts like the Supremes, Four Tops etc through to boy/girl bands like Take That, Boyzone etc where there is one principal singer.

I've never understood why anyone would want to be a backing singer in a vocal group, occasionally twirling around and singing the chorus, especially when they don't even take lead vocals or contribute towards the writing. Maybe some BCers might've added a few sharp moves and doo-waps while covering some Four Tops numbers.

Disappointment, I thought this was going to be the German Propaganda. I think it's Derek Forbes who plays bass on some tracks. There's one with a bit of low end thumbing but I don't recall any octave popping. Don't think anyone could object to it as it suits the song. IMO the slap bass in 80s pop tunes like Too Shy, some ABC tracks and Wham tunes like Club Tropicana add much needed muscle to what are often pretty insipid songs.

Good call and fully agree. Another tune, though a bit less well known is Hard to Beat by formally hyped-to-the-max-but-nowt-ever-came-of-it indie merchants Hard Fi. This the original, which I like lot... but this is the London Elektricity remix, which I firkin love

Trawling through stuff on Bandcamp and stopped to play to all the albums in B12's Archive series. Well recommended to electronica fans, esp of the Warp variety. B12 were on Warp's initial roster alongside The Black Dog, Boards of Canada, Squarepusher, Aphex Twin and Autechre in the early 1990s. Lovely stuff.

some people have mastered two recorders at once

...and especially if at the end of them there are socks and Jesus sandals...even if it's 50 deg C in the shade!

cripes, listening to that lot would make me want to jump into a hole in the ground

The posts are negative because in my OP I ask WHY do so many BCers not like slap. I wasn't expecting to hear from people who like slap as their reasons are probably similar to mine

with you there. saw them play it in full at last year's Blue Dot festival. Great fun they were too

The mention of U2 in another thread prompted me to play some Apollo 440 remixes of U2 songs e.g. Even Better Than The Real Thing. This is the only way I can listen to U2. Similarly, I can't listen to Smashing Pumpkins except when their stuff has also been remixed for the dancefloor as Fluke did with End of The Beginning. So, are there any 'artists' whose songs you just can't listen to unless they've been severely tampered with by others?

Damnation, you beat me to it 😀 Surely it's just not possible to ruin a U2 song?

If it's a cremation then it's Feeling Hot Hot Hot by Arrow If a coffin then it'd be Dont Box Me In by Stanard Ridgeway and Stewart Copeland

then again the Van Halen brothers aren't exactly known for their endearing personalities, as Michael Anthony could attest

Damn great stuff. It was the bassline on Fascist Groove Thing that got me into Heaven 17 and slap bass. Yeah, he disappeared after this though he was only around 19 when he played on this. On their P & P tour a few years ago it was Julian Crampton on the bass.

During lockdown I've spent quite a bit of time checking out what are claimed to be 'greatest' basslines to see which are worth adding to my repertoire. Some are right-on the money and deserve their reps. Others leave me thinking, 'really?!!' Among those leaving me a tad underwhelmed is 'Orion' by Metallica, which I believe is meant to have cemented Cliff Burton's place in basstory. I'm not saying there's owt wrong with it but I don't see why it often appears is best basslines lists. Another One Bites The Dust is also often mentioned yet it's derivative of Good Times. On the other hand I never see the lines to Party Fears 2 or Club Country by The Associates mentioned yet these are worthy of any greatest bassline list. Feel free to be outraged etc 😊

I got dragged along to see the Stereophonics at some festival. Absolutely charisma-free and no communication with the crowd. Boring as f***. Terrible band. Remember, around the same time many people were castigating the organisers of the Cheltenham Gold Cup festival for going ahead with covid spreading, the Stereos snuck in under the radar and did a stadium gig in Cardiff!

They sure are. Definitely my fave funk band ever. If there's any one player who I'd point to and say that's how to play slap bass in a funk band it's Big Tony Fisher.

I've got that one and very good it is too. I'm a big slap fan but I get exasperated with all these 'professional' bedroom slappers on their YT channels who seem more focused on showing off their machine gun thumbing and fitting in as many ghost notes as possible. Problem is they don't seem to know how to create a groove.

When you're going through their back catalogue, don't forget the first class The War Room EP. Yep, live they always deliver. Very good at festivals.