Barking Spiders

I'm a big fan of Rammstein and being bilingual in German I understand the lyrics. If they sang in English it wouldn't work half as well. The harder edge to German lends itself better to their music and the dark nature of the songs

A long time ago I once saw the John Bon Jovi and the guitarist busking on acoustics in Covent Garden. They did draw a big crowd though. I'm not a fan though but they weren't half bad

I sit back on my settee, bass on my chest, beer to the left, nibbles to the right, TV to the front and the missus giving me a neck massage. If there's music on the TV or YT i'll play along to it .

I really don't understand English speakers who confine themselves only to a . music with lyrics and b those lyrics being in English. There's so much good music that's come out of the non-English speaking world that's actually far better than anything that's come out of the US and UK over the last decade or so. The great thing about instrumentals is that nationality doesn't matter. My advice? learn two or three foreign languages and then you can enjoy songs sung in them

Rachid's great, got a fair few of his albums, the best being Tekitoi. He sang in Arabic, French and English on his rock-dance-arabic fusion but only arabic whenon his rai albums. Sad that he died last year. was only 58-59.

I'm not a fan of shorties generally but was almost tempted by a natural ash Chowny SWB in Bass Direct a while ago. plays very nicely too and not bad at £495 though they're out of them at the mo

My fave down and dirty funk mob is Troublefunk. In Big Tony there's a bassman who knows how to keep the slap in control. He lets rip occasionally but mostly his playing is about keeping a steady heavy groove

Mostly a diet of Family Guy songs such as You've Got Aids, Mr Booze, Down Syndrome Girl and ....

Slap bass playing needs to lock in supertight with the drums and is best heard in funk, where BPM average 90 -115. To my ears slapping at speeds of 130 BPM goes against what slap was originally meant for; getting down and dirty to on the dancefloor! That superfast way of playing is as self indulgent, unlistenable and ultimately pointless as guitar shredding.

Superman. Here are a couple of ditties for rock fans...

What's particularly irksome about Amazon is they've been taken to task ages ago about overpackaging but still continue not to take the blindest bit of notice. Then again Jeff Bezos is hardly noted for his 'green' credentials.

Ay caramba! WTF these companies playing at!. The other day I received an A4 plus size plastic coated jiffy bag, containing a digipak CD!!!. I emailed Amazon saying it was a bit unnecessary when a CD size cardboard envelope would've been sufficient

This is for all the naysayers here 😊

I'm afraid to say, slapping my bass is one of my dark sordid secrets. Before I get around to slapping I make sure no one else is in the house, lock the doors, draw the curtains and get out my slap bass tutors out from under the mattress and get to work. These days it's not something I'd do in public as people would look at me with a mix of disgust and confusion. Back in the 80s -early 90s I and others were less ashamed about slapping in public and nowadays I only open up about this on fora under aliases.

I'm also not one of those people who says they can find good stuff in every genre. Far from it, there are entire genres and musical output from whole countries that i dislike 100% and have yet to come across any exceptions. I'm not passionate about music and am not a music lover. On the whole I'll even go far as saying I generally cannot abide music and wish 99.999r% of it stopped being made. However, I thoroughly enjoy a tiny sliver of all music I've ever heard and what I still like after many years I have on CD. But I reckon more people are actually like this but don't want to be seen as being narrow minded.

Hah hah, I am one myself but would rather slam my fingers in the car door than be in a band and compelled to play widdly Blues-based or metal type solos that go on form what seems like an eternity

I've no objection to keeping a bassline simple at times. Some of the most effective moments in some great tunes are when the bass comes in or goes out with just a note or two e.g. the opening 15 seconds of Le Freak by Chic. ah, Nile, Nard and Tone..the coolest dudes in popular music..probably ever Anyway, I digress. Er where was I? I picked the Lovefool and Stranglehold basslines as they help make those two songs unlistenable to me. Viz Nugent it's the aimless widdlethon that irks more, there he is just a-w@nkin' his frets any old how while a monotonous rhythm goes on and on and on...

😱...no sirree . That sounds like sacrilege but over the weekend I heard two songs from yesteryear that have always bugged the hell out of me and one of the main reasons is each have dull, repetitive, undemanding basslines that simply hurt my eardums . One is the irritatingly twee ditty Lovefool by The Cardigans, a half forgotten and unlamented pop band from Sweden and the other is this tedious noodelthon by the terminally terrible (IMO) Ted Nugent So what basslines do you think are a poor advert for the instrument? I'm not saying simple basslines are bad by any stretch but monotonously repetitive ones are.

Ah another one of us. Well I don't feel shame everyday but I had the same initial reaction to this story. That said I'm happy with my 50% Italianità

I guess for some, like me, who like slap and fretless bass playing, the 70s and the 80s were a high point. However, there are also many peeps who can't abide these styles and who praps consider these eras as low points! As far as pop is concerned I don't think bass playing has been as to the fore since the heydays of Level, 42, Japan, Paul Young and Wham.

I'm no fan of Led Zep but in their defence, the Blues is such a basic, formulaic and predictable genre of music, due to the very limited number chord progressions, inevitably all songs are gonna sound more than similar to many others anyway. There are just so many times you can wake up in the morning feeling a bit p1$$ed!

As a young scrote I always waited for Henry's bit on Rockschool but tuned out when the other two were doing their thing and that was even before I took up bass. Maybe subconsciously Henry was my biggest inspiration

What about the breakfast Talksport show with Alan Brazil and chums? You don't have to be a huge footy fan to enjoy it as they also cover golf, cricket , tennis, racing, motorsport, rugby and general random banter. The mood is light and Brazil has always had good sparring partners like Ally McCoist, Ray Parlour and the late great Ray Wilkins. R4's today programme generally makes me feel suicidal and TBH 99.9% of music on the radio bugs me whether its rock, pop, classical whatever so i never tune in to any music show

A while back I posted a thread here on least favourite musical instruments, prompted by having just had to listen to summat like Hold Your Head Up or it might've been Deep Purple. Anyway, soz, but along with the flute and mouth organ the sound of the Hammond is a signal for me to run. A chacun etc. Then again I like the sound of bluegrass banjo, which is a turn off for many.

People at work who know I play bass, guitar etc couldn't give a monkey's left t1t about the fact. While a broad range of topics is covered - body depilation, Nextflix, rugby union, skin conditions, decluttering, pet frogs, Fitbits - (and that's just today) one topic which hardly ever gets discussed is music. I even have a bass (in its gig bag) by my desk . Someone once asked why I have a guitar in the office and that was about as much interest expressed. At home in the living room I have guitars on stands in the corner. The only interest they arouse is if a small offspring picks a string or two. In my social circle I have one mate who shares my taste for ambient electronica and another who's a fan of punk and dub and that's shallot. On the whole, among those I know, music appears to be something just to have on in the background while doing dull chores.