Great bass lines in punk

[W1_Pro]

Gotta Gettaway by SLF. Got me into wanting to play bass, all those years ago. Still a great, catchy bassline.

[rushbo]

Almost anything by the Minutemen.

Do Public Image Limited count as punk? If so, anything with Jah Wobble on. 

[meterman]

1 minute ago, rushbo said:

Almost anything by the Minutemen.

Do Public Image Limited count as punk? If so, anything with Jah Wobble on. 

+1 for the Minutemen, and “Public Image” has to count as one of The great punk basslines

 

[Old Man Riva]

Pretty much everything Segs ever played with the Ruts is excellent, IMO.

Creative, driving, groovy, tight as anything with Ruffy... He was a massive influence on me when I was really getting into (learning) the bass, across different styles.

I spent hours trying to learn his lines and never got anywhere near...

 

[Dad3353]

1 hour ago, Doctor J said:

 

A drummer's dream. 

[Jus Lukin]

-

Edited March 12, 2022 by Jus Lukin

[pineweasel]

48 minutes ago, rushbo said:

Almost anything by the Minutemen.

Also check out Firehose, the band formed by Watt and Hurley after D Boon’s death

[TheRev]

Longview by Green Day?

Down in the tube station at midnight by The Jam. (Are The Jam mod or punk?)

 

[RussFM]

The Horse - A Wilhelm Scream (the only punk song I know of with tapping!)

Jack of all Trades  - Hot Water Music

Want - Jawbreaker

[Killed_by_Death]

 

[PaulWarning]

1 hour ago, Old Man Riva said:

Pretty much everything Segs ever played with the Ruts is excellent, IMO.

Creative, driving, groovy, tight as anything with Ruffy... He was a massive influence on me when I was really getting into (learning) the bass, across different styles.

I spent hours trying to learn his lines and never got anywhere near...

 

it's the all downstrokes (I think) that kill me, same with Bruce Foxton, you can do it up and down but it's not the same

[Lozz196]

9 hours ago, Old Man Riva said:

Pretty much everything Segs ever played with the Ruts is excellent, IMO.

Creative, driving, groovy, tight as anything with Ruffy... He was a massive influence on me when I was really getting into (learning) the bass, across different styles.

I spent hours trying to learn his lines and never got anywhere near...

 

I was fortunate enough a few years back to play the Babylon’s Burning bass. We were in the dressing room and I was drooling over it so Segs said I could have a go on it, very decent chap, and very very decent bass.

[tegs07]

10 hours ago, nilebodgers said:

I only discovered rancid recently believe it or not. Most of the USA stuff passed me by.

 I’m going to have a look at playing roots radicals at some point, that has a nice bassline.

Me too and largely due to Jimmy Cliff’s cover of Ruby Soho

Edited March 5, 2021 by tegs07

[christhammer666]

defo Maxwell murders by Rancid. I have wanted to learn that for years but im frightened ill fail miserably and end up hating the song

[Dan Dare]

A lot of punk bass parts wouldn't be what you'd call "interesting" in isolation. That's not really the point of them. They're all about keeping it solid and driving the band. The bass playing here is a great example of that - Sex Pistols live @ Phoenix Festival 1996 (complete MTV broadcast 1of2) - YouTube. Might not win any compositional awards, but boy does it do the job.

Edited March 5, 2021 by Dan Dare

[diskwave]

For simple but effective Ampeg madness it has to be Algie Wards playing on the Damneds Love Song....bliss!

But the Rezillos mentioned above is killer too as is Olivers Army but its not really punk

Edited March 5, 2021 by greavesbass

[Crusoe]

Whilst not strictly punk, they do tend to get lumped into the genre, so, anything by Ian Dury and the Blockheads, especially Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick.

[nilebodgers]

11 minutes ago, Crusoe said:

Whilst not strictly punk, they do tend to get lumped into the genre, so, anything by Ian Dury and the Blockheads, especially Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick.

+1. There is a load of great music that sidled through the door that punk opened.

[PaulWarning]

3 minutes ago, nilebodgers said:

+1. There is a load of great music that sidled through the door that punk opened.

or, a lot of great music got labelled as punk because it happened to come to the surface about the same time, the blockheads are a lot nearer to Jazz funk than punk

Edited March 5, 2021 by PaulWarning

[nilebodgers]

1 hour ago, Dan Dare said:

A lot of punk bass parts wouldn't be what you'd call "interesting" in isolation. That's not really the point of them. They're all about keeping it solid and driving the band. The bass playing here is a great example of that - Sex Pistols live @ Phoenix Festival 1996 (complete MTV broadcast 1of2) - YouTube. Might not win any compositional awards, but boy does it do the job.

Wow - that was terrific. I'd not seen that before. 👍

[Fozza]

The Descendents have some nice lines.

Love Bad Brains too.

 

[Dan Dare]

55 minutes ago, nilebodgers said:

Wow - that was terrific. I'd not seen that before. 👍

Glad you liked it. My favourite live Pistols recording. Ten strings, a drum kit and three voices and sounds as fat as a full orchestra.

[Leonard Smalls]

Can't go wrong with a bit of Suicidals, or their Infectious offshoot...

 

[MrCrane]

Jane Munro of the Au Pairs came up with a few interesting lines.

 

 

[Adee]

Matt Freemen of Rancid had done some 'Bass Bunker Session' just love his busy melodic bass lines !!