Household names?

[pfretrock]

You can have fun with Google Ngram viewer which shows when things came out of the wood work (in books). You can set the date range and corpus and enter multiple names (case sensitive, get the spelling right). I tried a few bassists I could think of. McCartney does not work - too famous and there must be another famous John Paul Jones.- may apply to other names if not unique (ish)

Here is my bassists list:

[url="http://bit.ly/1QbeSYu"]http://bit.ly/1QbeSYu[/url]

EDIT - only seems to accept 12 inputs at a time.

Edited December 12, 2015 by pfretrock

[sunburstjazz1967]

Dave peacock if you show them a picture of chas and dave?

[RhysP]

[quote name='pfretrock' timestamp='1449948513' post='2928343']
...there must be another famous John Paul Jones.
[/quote]

I think he was a pope.

[pfretrock]

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1449948818' post='2928347']
I think he was a pope.
[/quote]
Doh!

[LayDownThaFunk]

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1449936883' post='2928183']
There are no people who are 'household names' as bassists.
[/quote]
Except Paul McCartney.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='LayDownThaFunk' timestamp='1449949401' post='2928354']
Except Paul McCartney.
[/quote]

McCartney probably is (or is near to) a 'household name' but not as a bassist nor because of being a bassist - 1 Beatle, 2 singer, 3 musician and 4 guitarist and that includes bass.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='walshy' timestamp='1449947058' post='2928323']
Flea?
[/quote]

Who?

He's in RHCP.

Who?

The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Who?

Never mind.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='sunburstjazz1967' timestamp='1449948696' post='2928346']
Dave peacock if you show them a picture of chas and dave?
[/quote]

Most of the people who know Chas & Dave, which in fact is not most people, don't know which one is Chas and which one is Dave.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1449948818' post='2928347']
I think he was a pope.
[/quote]

Maybe you're confusing him with Francis Rossi the First - who is not a bassist.

[The-Ox]

ahh I was gonna chime in with Entwistle obviously haha

perhaps Roger Waters, Brian Wilson and Jack Casady? The first two are probably better known as the brains of their bands however

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='pfretrock' timestamp='1449948513' post='2928343']
You can have fun with Google Ngram viewer which shows when things came out of the wood work (in books). You can set the date range and corpus and enter multiple names (case sensitive, get the spelling right). I tried a few bassists I could think of. McCartney does not work - too famous and there must be another famous John Paul Jones.- may apply to other names if not unique (ish)

Here is my bassists list:

[url="http://bit.ly/1QbeSYu"]http://bit.ly/1QbeSYu[/url]

EDIT - only seems to accept 12 inputs at a time.
[/quote]

... and if you use British English the results are quite different ... but still, being in some books doesn't make you a household name.

[Maude]

Bizarrely Sid Vicious could almost be one, but I agree that there probably isn't one.
I still maintain that at almost every gig with our rock band you could line up the three 'guitarists' at the front and ask the crowd to point out the bassist and no one would be able to.
Not so much with the acoustic band as I play doublebass, which is a bit more obvious, although most still don't know what it is. How many more times can a comedy genius point out that "that's a big violin"?

[The-Ox]

Chris Squire also?

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='Maude' timestamp='1449951160' post='2928374']
... How many more times can a comedy genius point out that "that's a big violin"?
[/quote]

I think you'll find that it is many many times.

[RhysP]

[quote name='The-Ox' timestamp='1449950838' post='2928369']
ahh I was gonna chime in with Entwistle obviously haha

perhaps Roger Waters, Brian Wilson and Jack Casady? The first two are probably better known as the brains of their bands however
[/quote]

Jack Casady a household name? Are you insane?

At best a small percentage of people might think he was a member of the Partridge Family.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='The-Ox' timestamp='1449951263' post='2928377']
Chris Squire also?
[/quote]

Are you serious?

[The-Ox]

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1449951799' post='2928382']
Jack Casady a household name? Are you insane?

At best a small percentage of people might think he was a member of the Partridge Family.
[/quote]

was thinking more on the maybe list.

[The-Ox]

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1449952033' post='2928385']
Are you serious?
[/quote]

please elaborate

[lojo]

[quote name='sunburstjazz1967' timestamp='1449941438' post='2928256']
Did anyone read my OP?
[/quote]

this is basschat my friend


Bass players are like the Men in Black , nobody knows what we do , but their lives would be different if we stopped

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='The-Ox' timestamp='1449952564' post='2928393']
please elaborate
[/quote]

Chris Squire is no kind of household name. Even most of the musicians I play with wouldn't know who he is.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='sunburstjazz1967' timestamp='1449941438' post='2928256']
Did anyone read my OP? I did say that knowing what a bass guitar was or indeed that is what they played was secondary, Kim Kardashian is a household name and she does nothing at all!
[/quote]

So playing bass was secondary but not irrelevant.

I still say only two of your names have any chance of being recognised, and that's McCartney and Sting.

Otherwise you are most probably looking for someone who is on X-Voice or The Factor.

[The-Ox]

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1449961787' post='2928468']
Chris Squire is no kind of household name. Even most of the musicians I play with wouldn't know who he is.
[/quote]

fair enough - perhaps just from my experience quite a few people know him - however taking into account what I think household means to the OP, then he probably isn't

[sunburstjazz1967]

I think this is being overthought, imagine showing a group of various people a flip book with pictures of various bass players, singing or not, mindless noodling, rocking out, whatever.
Answers like "yes thats Paul McCartney from the Beatles, wings and the frog chorus" is a 100% hit, but I'll take a "ah thats the boys are back in town guy" or a "him with the tantric sex thing" as 50/50s etc, chris Squire for example, no chance really is there?

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='sunburstjazz1967' timestamp='1450005749' post='2928648']
I think this is being overthought, imagine showing a group of various people a flip book with pictures of various bass players, singing or not, mindless noodling, rocking out, whatever.
Answers like "yes thats Paul McCartney from the Beatles, wings and the frog chorus" is a 100% hit, but I'll take a "ah thats the boys are back in town guy" or a "him with the tantric sex thing" as 50/50s etc, chris Squire for example, no chance really is there?
[/quote]
Sting might be a 50/50 but I'd say the back in town guy get's a 'who?'

With any random group of 10, 20, or 100 people, there's not even a guarantee for McCartney.

Edited December 13, 2015 by EssentialTension

[timmo]

Jools Holland would be a familiar name . Dave Swift is probably one of the better known bass players on bass chat, but I bet outside bass forums, so few people would have heard of him, The same goes with Chris Squire, and virtually any other bass player . When people go to work, pub and visiting family, ask them if they know Paul Mc cartney, then ask what instrument he plays. I bet most people will say guitar..