As far as I know Jack is usually considered THE most talented member...!

Is their (Airplane) first album any good?

Please do! Thanks

Ahhhh...

Don't worry, that doesn't lessen my appreciation of Babbitt ...Mercy Mercy me is so good

Should I add Mr Watkins to the 'possibles' list??? Cheers

What's funny is everyone on the internet and otherwise (other than hipster fucks, whose opinion is irrelevant) seems to agree that the 80s and the 00s were the sucky decades...here's to the '10s being better!

You can't go wrong with any of their first 7-8 albums really.
Jeffeson Airplane Takes Off is awesome.

I'mma buy Surrealistic Pillow soon, looking forward to it!

Thinking the 18-28 people should go something like this:
18. Phil Lesh/Jack Casady
19. Phil Lesh/Jack Casady
20. Cliff Burton
21. Stu Hamm
22. Steve Harris
23. John Deacon

with LaRue, Babbitt, and Dunn dropping below this area. Thoughts? And where the heck does Barrett go? Definitely in that 18-24 stretch I just roughly ordered, but where? Probably above Deacon I'd reckon

That's because in those decades the Record companies had the tightest control over what music was put on record. That means music that sells the most while creativity and anything that is different is discouraged. When the bands and musicians have more control there is more creativity and more chances taken. There was a period in the 60s and 70s where the record company executives had no idea what would sell so they put all kinds of stuff on record and hoped it would sell. Variety was king.

I found the Bass Player Magazine article from the Bass Giants issue from 2006. Some interesting things about Jack Casady. His early influences were the upright guys, Mingus and LaFaro. His electric bass influences are the usual suspects...Jamerson, Dunn, The James Brown guys...then later Entwistle, Bruce, Macca, etc. ..Working with a non conventional jazz oriented drummer with JA...Spencer Dryden, necessitated him to alter his style and provide more fills and rhythms in the band. Perhaps his biggest part of his distinctive style was his interest in electronics and his incorporation of distortion in his output. He credits that largely to the Versatone amp he aquired and pushed to the limit.

Cliff Lee Burton...Great promise and some highly innovative stylistic innovations. Question becomes...how "great" (all-time) can a guy be (through no fault of his own) whose entire significant career was encapsulated in three short years featuring only three studio albums of note? Obviously, longevity can't be a factor, nor can growth, versatility, and consistancy be objectively viewed as career factors. Potential can't really be factored in as an element of greatness.

Eddie Watkins Jr...Detroit based (and later Los Angeles) player who did play on some significant hits for several artists and boasts some very solid performances. That said...stylistically not all that versatile and really didn't innovate much if anything. Might rank on an all R&B list, but I'd have trouble making a real strong case for him on this list...not that I don't see several names throughout this list that Eddie could play circles around.

Tony Newton...a few early Motown sessions, but mostly the touring guy with Motown. Some nice tracks on Invictus though, and performed and recorded with some other significant artists.

Casady > Lesh.

Am I wrong?

Tough to say. Lesh is really good and his melodic improvisational style was very influential. Back in the 70s he was considered one of the best bassists in Rock.

18. John Deacon/Steve Harris
19. John Deacon/Steve Harris
20. Phil Lesh
21. Jack Casady
22. Stu Hamm

I'd see Burton's ranking in the 30/40 field.

DJ...Harris/Deacon (especially)...not so sure about those lofty numbers.

Probably right about Burton. Can't rank a guy on what could have, should have, or likely would have been. A lot of significant and innovative work...just not a large enough body to justify such a high placement. No way to tell if his artistic growth and personal stylistic advancement would have stood the test of time.