GREAT bassline......LAME song

[Funky Dunky]

Thanks to the quality of session players, or sometimes just sheer luck or brilliance, sometimes awesome basslines appear in the most unusual places. Not necessarily "lame" songs, but......."surprising ones", is maybe a nicer way of putting it.

I would nominate David Hungate's brilliant line in 'You're the one that I want" and Neil Jason's stonking playing on "Fame" as contenders. What about you guys?

NB - I WILL accept "every Level 42 song" as an answer.

Edited July 29, 2013 by Funky Dunky

[Si600]

Every Level 42 song

[nottswarwick]

Wham - "Wake me up..." Makes the song listenable.

[wateroftyne]

The Long and Winding Road.

[yorks5stringer]

Jake the Peg?

[aende]

Zingzillas theme.

Too Shy - Kajagoogoo....

[molan]

For me the 'great bass line' can transform the song from being lame to something really quite good.

Both One That I Want and Fame are perfect examples. If ever I hear the former it always puts a smile on my face (and not just because I'm thinking about Olivia in skin-tight latex!) and Fame was always on the turntable at my 'lads' flat before we went out on a Saturday night when it first came out

Edit - Just realised this isn't true when it comes to Level 42. Awful songs and, purely in my personal view, horrible bass lines. Technically clever but they don't rescue the dire music

Edited July 30, 2013 by molan

[Raslee]

Rio - Duran Duran (Guilty pleasure!).

I think Al Green's 'Lets Stay Together' is a fun bass line too, not an over exciting tune but great bass none the less.

[YouMa]

Teen town.

[Funky Dunky]

Some nice suggestions here guys - Too Shy is a great shout, and you can't go wrong with a bit of Wham - well, you absolutely can actually - but with the great Deon Estus on bass, good basslines are commonplace. Keep 'em coming guys

[skidder652003]

class!
[url="http://www.songsterr.com/a/wsa/grease-you-re-the-one-that-i-want-bass-tab-s36879t0"]http://www.songsterr.com/a/wsa/grease-you-re-the-one-that-i-want-bass-tab-s36879t0[/url]

[Funky Dunky]

Rio! Hells yeah! That bassline is the mutt's nuts!

[chris_b]

[size=4]Good bass lines rescuing ordinary songs?[/size]
[size=4] [/size]
[size=4]Try JJ and 50% of his Motown catalogue.[/size]
[size=4] [/size]

[iconic]

Wham....Young Guns, Club Tropicana and not forgetting Wham Rap...that Deon Estus sure played a great bassline!

[Funky Dunky]

James Jamerson........was Deon Estus' bass teacher....

[PJT]

Blur-"Girls and Boys"

[M-Bass-M]

Silly Love Song by Paul McCartney...

[Japhet]

Abba - Dancing Queen.......................seriously.....listen to it.

[wateroftyne]

[quote name='Japhet' timestamp='1375185167' post='2157719']
Abba - Dancing Queen.......................seriously.....listen to it.
[/quote]

Dancing Queen? Lame? It's a great song!

Most of ABBA's lines are awesome. Rutger's a genius.

[chris_b]

+1

I love Rutger Gunnarsson's playing and his attitude....

"....Today his main axe is a pre-Gibson Tobias 5-string. ''I tried it at a trade show many years ago and just fell in love with it - I strapped it on and decided to buy one without even plugging it in. But don't ask me about strings; I don't have a clue. The current set has been on for five or six years, which doesn't bother me. I don't have a palm-sweat problem, so my strings don't corrode, and since I get no requests for funk I don't need the round-wound 'clonk'.'' In the studio Gunnarsson goes direct, and onstage he relies on rented amps, preferably Hartkes. ''But I'm not that particular about amps. I only use one as a monitor, with the main signal going direct to the PA."

Gear nerds, read and weep!

[Dingus]

[quote name='Funky Dunky' timestamp='1375139798' post='2157301']
I would nominate David Hungate's brilliant line in 'You're the one that I want" and Neil Jason's stonking playing on "Fame" as contenders.


[/quote]

On a pedantic note , I also thought that David Hungate ( great player) played the bassline on "You're The One That I Want " , but after mentioning it on the forum I was duly informed by several members that it was in fact Max Bennett . If you have evidence to the contrary then please let it be known , because that would mean that I might have been right after all . It sounds a lot more like David Hungate than Max Bennett to me .

Edited July 30, 2013 by Dingus

[Painy]

Night Fever. Anything that brings to mind an image of John Travolta in his white suit and striking that cheesy pose has to be pretty lame but I do love the bass line.
Hmmm..... Maybe its just a John Travolta thing.

[ern500evo]

[quote name='iconic' timestamp='1375178410' post='2157563']
Wham....Young Guns, Club Tropicana and not forgetting Wham Rap...that Deon Estus sure played a great bassline!
[/quote]
I love Deon Estus' playing, and his tone on Wham Rap is to die for!

[Funky Dunky]

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1375190236' post='2157873']


On a pedantic note , I also thought that David Hungate ( great player) played the bassline on "You're The One That I Want " , but after mentioning it on the forum I was duly informed by several members that it was in fact Max Bennett . If you have evidence to the contrary then please let it be known , because that would mean that I might have been right after all . It sounds a lot more like David Hungate than Max Bennett to me .
[/quote]

The proof I have isn't particularly definitive unfortunately, I checked numerous bios of Hungate, all of which list him as the bassist on the aforementioned track. These bios include AOL and BBC as sources.

[Bilbo]

Great bass-line bad song is an oxymoron to me. I find myself often being in a minority of one when I say that Jamerson never works for me because the songs are mostly s*** (there are a few exceptions but very much the minority). To my mind, a great line is a great line precis[size=4]ely because of where it is not in spite of it. [/size]