Rock bass players more incompetent than Van Halen's Michael Anthony

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

Poll question: Rock bass players more incompetent than Van Halen's Michael Anthony

Eddie Van Halen doesn't like it when Michael Anthony's bass playing "skills" come into question. He doesn't like it when Anthony is referred to as "the luckiest man in show business." During his "Bass solo" spot in Van Halen concerts, Anthony pounds his bass with his fist and contorts his face like Gene Simmons of KISS (and hey, Gene paid for Van Halen's first demo tape, so maybe it's payback).



The boys may throw David Lee Roth out of the band...and they may throw Sammy out...and they may throw Roth out AGAIN and re-hire Sammy after firing the Extreme guy who never should have been in the band in the first place...but one thing's for sure: Michael Anthony will probably be Van Halen's bass player as long as there's a Van Halen.

[flamingyouth]

1. Sid Vicious

No contest.

[Strawman]

7. Yep.

[GOPBasher]

2. Yeah, he sucks a lot. I love Van Halen, though.

[bbernardini]

3. Hey! Peter Tork is actually quite a talented musician!

He really does play guitar, bass and keyboard, and I have live audio and video to prove it! :)

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

8. I saw Tork with the Nesmith-less Monkees at Great America

This was the first big "reunion" tour, when the song "That Was Then, This Is Now" hit the charts. Tork played the little electric flamenco lead guitar bit in "Valleri," which was originally played by either Louie Shelton or Gerry McGee, the two studio guitarists credited on the track. He hit every note perfectly, and looked like he was going to have a small coronary while doing so. It was a deliberate statement made by the band: "Peter can play."

:toast:

[tsakshaug]

4. Stu Stutcliff

the beatles first bass player.
he was not always plugged in

[MrScorpio]

5. You probably didn't know this...

But the Van Halens are Dutch-Indonesian. My own Dutch-Indonesian wife told me this.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

10. I knew about the Dutch part but not the Indonesian part

:toast:

[MrScorpio]

13. More Info

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0887007/bio

My wife can talk to these guys all day in Dutch if she had the chance.

[chicagojoe]

6. Two names come to mind immediately.

Geddy Lee. Les Claypool.

[Systematic Chaos]

9. Oh please get the fuck out of here

If those guys are bad, then just :wtf: is GOOD?

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

11. Hey, just taking a poll here...

Where did I lose you on this one? Was it Herman's Hermits, or the kid from Deliverance?

:evilgrin:

:toast:

[chicagojoe]

14. OOOOPS!!! My bad. I was thinking COMPETENT.

Sorry, been up all night.
MY MOST SICERE APOLOGIES TO ALL INVOLVED!!!!!

[XNASA]

12. Q: How many bass players does it take to change a light bulb?

A: None. The piano player can do it with his left hand.

[ProfessorGAC]

15. I Went With GoGo's, But . . .

. . .i'm not impressed by M.A. at all. The musical weak link in that band. Really good harmony singer, though.

But, the music at least requires more than what the GoGo's required, and i've heard the live cuts of them on VH1Clsc. They were a bad band, doing simple songs, inelegantly. So, picked her.
The Professor

[tigereye]

25. Kathy Valentine played pretty well

and was British to boot, I think. Can't agree, since I think the Go-Gos were ( and quite recenlty too, judging by a release from the past few years) a very good female rock and roll band. Their drummer Gina Shock is quite good also.

[ProfessorGAC]

30. That's Fine

I don't think she was that good. More like the best of a bad bunch. She's still not as good as Anthony, which is not much of a compliment.
The Professor

[tigereye]

31. I just like to defend all the female rock bands,

since there aren't that many of them. ;)

[ProfessorGAC]

32. A Noble Gesture Indeed

Hey, i saw a Runaways video on VH1C Saturday, sans Cherie Currie. Joan Jett sang the Slade tune, Mamma We're All Crazee Now! Lita Ford played a good lead in it. Really short, but tasty.

I'd take them over the GoGo's i think, although i have a thing for Janie Weidlin. I got a thing for Joan, too!
The Professor

[tigereye]

43. what about the Bangles? just curious

The Runaways were a lot of fun at the time. There is a current band called The Donnas who remind me of the Runaways, but more polished.

[last_texas_dem]

16. Hey, Uriah Heep rocks!

Just sayin'...

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

19. I was kind of hesitant to mention Uriah Heep, because...

...when John Wetton left King Crimson, he played with them for a while..."re-paying a favor," as he put it at the time. And despite Wetton's sugary Asia "prog-pop" leanings later in his career, he's one of my favorite all-time musicians.

The Fripp-Wetton-Bruford King Crimson was one DANGEROUS band.

:toast:

[no name no slogan]

27. Wetton is a bass MONSTER

I've always respected his playing. He is what I'd call a "Bass Player's Bass Player"-- he's not overly show-offy, but he lays down a solid bass line that brings the entire song together. Add in the gruff prettiness of his voice, and you've got a decent foundation.

It seems that most bass players have an inferiority complex these days: they're not really guitar players, although most electric basses are shaped like guitars. Theirs is not a traditional "solo instrument", but it is a necessity in almost any kind of instrumental combo.

And I totally agree w/ you re: Crimso '72-'74. They were a KILLER group-- and my favority incarnation, to boot.

[chicagojoe]

34. Original UH bassist Gary Thain was real good.

[Squeech]

17. It's all true

I forget what song it is, but I remember listening to a bit on one of the early (pre-1984) albums where Anthony has to double one of Eddie's lines. You could practically hear the sweat beading on his forehead. So yeah, I think he's way out of his depth in that band.

I thought John Deacon was out of *his* depth in Queen, but apparently he had business management skills to offer, especially after they booted their rapacious original manager (cf. "Death on Two Legs").

Re Uriah Heep, while Gary Thain (the original bassist, now deceased) was nothing to write home about, they did hire John Wetton for a while, and he's a monster.

I am a bassist myself, and it's interesting to see the extremely divergent skill sets and statures of today's practicing bassists. Some of them clearly suffered the four-string demotion (the other guitarists are all better than you, so you have to play bass), while others have made the instrument a strong and independent voice on its own (Les Claypool and Flea being two prominent examples). My own heroes growing up were Jack Casady (Jefferson Airplane), Jack Bruce (Cream), Phil Lesh (betcha can't guess :hippie: ) and, gotta admit it, McCartney-- I was always intrigued by how he tended to play an octave higher than anybody else would have and still made his part a foundation for the song.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

20. I have a Jack Casady moment for you, my friend...

...get THIS:



...on the DVD, Casady sits in with the band on Jimi's "Voodoo Chile."

I've heard more cover versions of "Voodoo Child - Slight Return" than I care to remember, but this...to my knowledge...is the only "Voodoo Chile" cover, and definitely the only one with ORIGINAL bass player Casady on the track (and yes, Warren Haynes reminds the audience that Jack played on the original).

You like Claypool, he's on this set too (for about 18 minutes on the DVD, on three Mule originals).

:toast:

[rppper]

41. i love gvt mule........

awsome....best garage band on the earth.......

[Beware the Beast Man]

18. The White Stripes' Bassist

[Kire]

35. he never even makes appearances

I mean, there are no interviews with him anywhere!

[GOPisEvil]

21. Whoever played bass for The Doors. Man, that guy sucked!

;-)

Yeah, I know...but I couldn't resist. Sue me. :evilgrin:

[Cornjob]

39. Ray always had that 'skating rink' sound!

I guess they couln't afford a real bass guitar player!

[Redleg]

22. John Entwistle's corpse plays better bass than Michael Anthony.

Jeebus, I used to wonder why I could never really hear the bass in Van Halen's music.

[bobbobbins]

23. The bass is such an easy instrument

I don't understand how anyone who plays it more than a couple months isn't competent enough to play damn near anything.

Now I know there are people who take it to the next level...victor wooten, les, mingus..etc...but for someone to be a shitty bass player, theres really no excuse

[no name no slogan]

28. Any dolt can play bass-- but not everyone is a BASS PLAYER

The bass is deceptively simple: four strings, usually played one at a time, nothing special. Any moran can pick a note on the bass and play a simple pattern.

A BASS PLAYER, OTOH, is somebody who knows her/his instrument in and out. S/he knows when to play, but especially when not to play. S/he knows where the 'spaces' in the music should be, and doesn't try to clutter it up with unnecessary wankyness.

I'm primarily a guitarist/singer/songwriter, but I got my start playing bass, and I still play it on occassion. However, I am in no way a Bass Player, and have the utmost respect for those musicians who are.

[chicagojoe]

36. I switched from guitar to bass when some friends needed

someone to fill avoid in their band for a while. Not that don't pick up a six string anymore, but I've basically never gone back. I love playing bass, and my guitar background adds another dimension to it.
Plus, there is no shortage of people looking for a good bassist.
I've even started working with an electric upright bass.

[arcane1]

24. all of them

:shrug:

[no name no slogan]

26. Sometimes, the best bass player is the one that shows off least

I know a number of excellent bass players (IMHO) who never feel the need to do a "bass solo" or show off how "cool" they are because they are too damn busy holding down the backbeat with the drummer.

Most wanky "soloist" bass players are as ridiculous as "keytar"-playing synth players. Give me somebody who knows how to count and how to keep the drummer from going too far off the deepend over some flashy-assed wannabee guitar-playing bass monkey any day.

Speaking as a singing git-tar player, I sure as hell don't want some jack-offy wankitudinous bass player putting his little piddly-diddly "solo" bits into a song that does not need them. Most of the time, it's distracting as hell and adds nothing to the song.

Bass players are the bedrock of every band. They're the ones who keep everybody in time, and in check-- from the showoffy Randy Rhoads wannabee on guitar to the tubthumping drummer who only knows how to play "loud" and "louder". S/he's the one who pulls it all together, and does so with a quiet dignity AND the respect of her/his bandmates, to boot.

</rant>

[Dedalus]

29. I came into this room...

...to yell at all the people saying "Krist Novoselic," but it would appear that no-one said Krist Novoselic.

...Wait a minute--I guess, in a way, I just did.

...Oh shit--I have to go yell at myself now.

[peekaloo]

33. hey

it takes skill to throw a bass in the air and catch it with your forehead!

}(

[MrSlayer]

37. He's always been their best singer though.

Having a bad bass solo does not necessarily make you a bad player. He has some good moments on bass but his high point has always been his background vocals.

[KG]

38. did it ever really matter who was playing bass in van halen?

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

40. In the grand scheme of things, probably not.

And while I agree with the folks who have said that Anthony does contribute some solid background vocals to the band, when it comes to his bass playing, he truly is "the luckiest man in show business."

:toast:

[Crackingham]

42. Anyone who's ever played bass for AC/DC