Greatest Rock Basslines (Revision Version)

[Lew]

Criteria: Each bassline was ranked for the overall quality of its composition, plus originality, complexity, influence, and lasting appeal to rock music fans.

Edited By: Tough Critic
Last Updated: 2005-02-01

https://digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_basslines.html


John Deacon

1. Another One Bites The Dust (Queen)
2. Roundabout (Yes)
3. Money (Pink Floyd)
4. Super Freak (Rick James)
5. Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin (Sly & Family Stone)
6. Ain't No Mountain High Enough (Marvin Gaye / Tammi Terrell)
7. Dazed And Confused (Led Zeppelin)
8. Badge (Cream)
9. Higher Ground (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
10. Taxman (The Beatles)
11. Freewill (Rush)
12. Brick House (The Commodores)
13. Thela Hun Ginjeet (King Crimson)
14. N.I.B. (Black Sabbath)
15. Good Times (Chic)
16. Bernadette (Four Tops)
17. London Calling (The Clash)
18. Sunshine Of Your Love (Cream)
19. Jeremy (Pearl Jam)
20. Ramble On (Led Zeppelin)
21. No More Tears (Ozzy Osbourne)
22. Boris The Spider (The Who)
23. The Lemon Song (Led Zeppelin)
24. The Boys Are Back In Town (Thin Lizzy)
25. Come As You Are (Nirvana)
26. Stand By Me (Ben E. King)
27. Come Together (The Beatles)
28. White Rabbit (Jefferson Airplane)
29. Would? (Alice In Chains)
30. Sweet Emotion (Aerosmith)
31. Schism (Tool)
32. Lowrider (War)
33. Guns Of Brixton (The Clash)
34. Take The Power Back (Rage Against The Machine)
35. Longview (Green Day)
36. Heart Of The Sunrise (Yes)
37. Young Lust (Pink Floyd)
38. The Joker (Steve Miller Band)
39. Pump It Up (Elvis Costello)
40. Should I Stay Or Should I Go (The Clash)
41. Jerry Was A Racecar Driver (Primus)
42. Break On Through (The Doors)
43. Only In Dreams (Weezer)
44. Sober (Tool)
45. Coffee Shop (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
46. Whipping Post (Allman Brothers Band)
47. Summertime Blues (Eddie Cochran)
48. After Midnight (JJ Cale)
49. Last Ride In (Green Day)
50. The Big Money (Rush)
51. Susie Q (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
52. My Name Is Mudd (Primus)
53. The Day I Tried To Live (Soundgarden)
54. Strange Brew (Cream)
55. Peace Frog (The Doors)
56. 46 and 2 (Tool)
57. Soul To Squeeze (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
58. Fire (Jimi Hendrix)
59. Dock Of The Bay (Otis Redding)
60. Under Pressure (Queen)
61. Distant Early Warning (Rush)
62. Truckin (Grateful Dead)
63. Aqualung (Jethro Tull)
64. Maybellene (Chuck Berry)
65. One Nation Under A Groove (Funkadelic)
66. Heat Of The Moment (Asia)
67. Play That Funky Music (White Boy) (Wild Cherry)
68. Run Like Hell (Pink Floyd)
69. Sloop John B (The Beach Boys)
70. Brown Eyed Girl (Van Morrison)
71. Legs (ZZ Top)
72. Carouselambra (Led Zeppelin)
73. Fairies Wear Boots (Black Sabbath)
74. Josie (Steely Dan)
75. Sing A Simple Song (Sly & The Family Stone)
76. Frankenstein (Edgar Winter)
77. Day Tripper (The Beatles)
78. I Feel Free (Cream)
79. 25 Or 6 To 4 (Chicago)
80. Limelight (Rush)
81. Rats (Pearl Jam)
82. Call Me Up (Rick James)
83. Ding Dong (The Frog Brigade)
84. Red Barchetta (Rush)
85. Peace Sells (Megadeth)
86. White Room (Cream)
87. Too Many Puppies (Primus)
88. Sparks (The Who)
89. Jumping Jack Flash (Rolling Stones)
90. Here Come The Bastards (Primus)
91. Tom Sawyer (Rush)
92. Wouldn't It Be Nice (The Beach Boys)
93. I Am The Resurrection (Stone Roses)
94. Rain (The Beatles)
95. Otherside (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
96. (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea (Elvis Costello)
97. Orion (Metallica)
98. Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2 (Pink Floyd)
99. Week and Powerless (A Perfect Circle)
100. Smoke On The Water (Deep Purple)

101. Ticks and Leeches (Tool)
102. Lie (Dream Theater)
103. Epic (Faith No More)
104. Dear Prudence (The Beatles)
105. Black Dog (Led Zeppelin)
106. Can't Stop (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
107. Moondance (Van Morrison)
108. Riddles Are Abound Tonight (Sausage)
109. Around The World (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
110. Roadhouse Blues (The Doors)
111. Cosmic Highway (The Frog Brigade)
112. Crazy Train (Ozzy)
113. Happy Jack (The Who)
114. Californication (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
115. Living In The Past (Jethro Tull)
116. Crossroads (Cream)
117. Drive My Car (The Beatles)
118. Substitute (The Who)
119. Falling To Pieces (Velvet Revolver)
120. Oh Darling (The Beatles)
121. Paradise City (Guns N' Roses)
122. Baba O'Riley (The Who)
123. Geek Stink Breath (Green Day)
124. I Just Wanna Have Something To Do (Ramones)
125. What'd I Say (Ray Charles)
126. Lovely to See You (Moody Blues)
127. Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma Ma (Steve Miller Band)
128. Blood and Roses (The Smithereens)
129. Can't Stop Loving You (Last Word)
130. Time Won't Let Me (The Outsiders)

[ManPerson]

Billie Jean seems like a glaring omission.

[Zach]

I'd think top 20 for "Billie Jean," easily.

Even by the editor's criteria, "Another One Bites the Dust" at #1 seems a hard sell. Original and complex it ain't--and whatever influence it has is pretty clearly subordinate to Chic's "Good Times."

[ManPerson]

I'd think Good Times would be a good number one actually.

[Zach]

It gets my vote.

[Tim]

Found this list on old forum:

Thela Hun Ginjeet isn't that amazing of a line by Tony's standards also. This is how I'd do the list (again):

1. Good Times - Chic (Bernard Edwards)
2. Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin - Sly and the Family Stone (Larry Graham)
3. Money - Pink Floyd (Roger Waters)
4. Roundabout - Yes (Chris Squire)
5. Another One Bites the Dust - Queen (John Deacon)
6. N.I.B. - Black Sabbath (Geezer Butler) (First major bassline with effects)
7. Under Pressure - Queen (John Deacon)
8. London Calling - The Clash (Paul Simonon)
9. Super Freak - Rick James
10. Taxman - The Beatles (Paul McCartney)
11. Whipping Post - The Allman Brothers Band (Berry Oakley)
12. Schism - Tool (Justin Chancellor)

Also it's not in my own Top 12, but I'd probably put "Caught in a Mosh" by Anthrax and "For Whom the Bell Tolls" by Metallica in the Top 50 or 60.

No Jamerson is a flaw but I'd say it's an improvement over the old list.

Yeah, that criteria always works well. How about we list some basslines and order them later? The names on that top 12 are all great contenders, and I would consider also Billie Jean, Little Green Bag, Heart of the Sunrise, Sunshine of Your Love, Badge, I Heard It Through the Grapevine (Jamerson is hard because there are SO MANY, we could make a list of only Jamerson  ), Come Together, I Want You, Something, Rain, By the Way, Dazed and Confused, How Many More Times, Dock of the Bay, Feel Good Inc....Damn, lists of songs are hard 

In a week or so I'll have more time to look into acclaimed basslines and all that, and also, could somebody post little lists of lines for some of the players? Examples of great basslines (according to the criteria) by guys like Chuck Rainey, Tony Levin, Louis Johnson....mainly the session guys who have a big discography or are less known.

There seems to be no editor for the list, though we could make a good list as long as we have a few people contributing.

And that's what Fido suggested.

[ManPerson]

Stand by Me would be up there I think.