Rock Band Draft - Round 6 (Wrap Up)

My opinion on Flea has changed over the years as I've grown to really dislike the Peppers post BSSM, but I think this was a great pick. Easily my favorite pick this round so far outside of my own and maybe Prince.

I agree 100% on modern day bassists, actually this conversation came up elsewhere recently. Seems these days the bassists merely ape the guitar parts, sometimes for the sole purpose of compensating lousy rhythm guitar. Bass is the one area where I'm weighing between several choices that meet all my criteria, though I think I've settled on one. It would be nice if someone would select the other in the meantime, but I'm kind of doubting that :)
 
bozzwell said:
You have to go back 20-30 years for really great bass players and they were mostly of the simple-clean-but-great variety or funk bass players. So, Flea's my man on bass.
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I dunno, I can think of at least two well known bass players from the 90's that defy that statement, and several from earlier that were more than simple-clean-but-great variety or funk bass players. We will have to wait till later to start dropping names.
 
FYI, I have got links to the original post set up on the draft board, so you may want to spice up your posts with pictures and such as voters will be directed there.
 
pdxKingsFan said:
We're in 2008, anything from earlier than the 90s is 20-30 years old now.

I feel ill just typing that.
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You should read the quoted post and my reply again. I said exactly what I meant. I think he is wrong in both of the statements. Both 20-30 years back and current.
 
Kingzrool said:
I dunno, I can think of at least two well known bass players from the 90's that defy that statement, and several from earlier that were more than simple-clean-but-great variety or funk bass players. We will have to wait till later to start dropping names.
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yep, we can discuss that as they get drafted. I am certainly open to the idea, but I will warn you that very recently I participated in an extended mailing list discussion about the subject and most well known bass players of the last 20 years were at least in my mind successfully debunked. That's why I made the statement that music industry/production values may have pushed the bass deeper into background then necessary. Digital processing of music and craze to overcompress/limit everything so it is louder on CD/mp3 has a lot to do with it. Each time you mix/compress/limit bass and drums become more difficult/expensive to handle (or time consuming if you're doing everything yourself).
 
Kingzrool said:
You should read the quoted post and my reply again. I said exactly what I meant. I think he is wrong in both of the statements. Both 20-30 years back and current.
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I read both, I still think its true. Modern bass lines in popular rock and roll are quite indistinct. Its a generalization for sure, but you said you could name 2 modern bassists and several from before that. Can you name 16 (the amount that will likely be chosen in this game) before I could name 100 distinctive 6 string guitarists?

I know its a small sample, and a video game, but play the bass parts in the Harmonix games and see how many from the 90s to now have bass that isn't just a simplified guitar pattern vs. stuff from the 70s and 80s. It becomes quite obvious, both in playing and because in these games they push the levels of the instrument up so that they are less subtle than they are in the original recordings.
 
pdxKingsFan said:
I read both, I still think its true. Modern bass lines in popular rock and roll are quite indistinct. Its a generalization for sure, but you said you could name 2 modern bassists and several from before that. Can you name 16 (the amount that will likely be chosen in this game) before I could name 100 distinctive 6 string guitarists?

I know its a small sample, and a video game, but play the bass parts in the Harmonix games and see how many from the 90s to now have bass that isn't just a simplified guitar pattern vs. stuff from the 70s and 80s. It becomes quite obvious, both in playing and because in these games they push the levels of the instrument up so that they are less subtle than they are in the original recordings.
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I'll just wait to drop names, I cannot really make my point without being able to provide examples.
 
bozzwell said:
yep, we can discuss that as they get drafted. I am certainly open to the idea, but I will warn you that very recently I participated in an extended mailing list discussion about the subject and most well known bass players of the last 20 years were at least in my mind successfully debunked. That's why I made the statement that music industry/production values may have pushed the bass deeper into background then necessary. Digital processing of music and craze to overcompress/limit everything so it is louder on CD/mp3 has a lot to do with it. Each time you mix/compress/limit bass and drums become more difficult/expensive to handle (or time consuming if you're doing everything yourself).
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That may knock out 1 of my examples (he's not even on my list), but the second player on my list is an exception to the rule IMO.
 
Off the top of my head, I can think of exactly two bass players from the last 20 years (three, if I include one of my favorite single bass riffs of the 90s) who would have had even the slightest chance of making my list, were I participating in this draft. One of them has already been chosen. There aren't that many songs I can think of these days where you would even notice the bass being removed completely.
 
Kingzrool said:
That may knock out 1 of my examples (he's not even on my list), but the second player on my list is an exception to the rule IMO.
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I think I know who you're talking about. Would you then agree that while there was a number of great bass players prior to 1990, and maybe even more prior to the 80's there is just not enough variety and originality today. Considering that in the meantime the bar has been lowered significantly for indie and niche labels as well as self-publishing and DIY artists to flood the market with more music then ever, where did all the great bass players go?
 
When I REALLY concentrate on the bass-player argument, I think it is all about perspective. Mainstream 90's music (grunge) was essentially metal with punk sensabilities (ie, simple bass playing and limited guitar solos), but there were still great bass players out there, just not on the radio/MTV as much. Then grunge faded away into pop more or less, where the music is just what is behind the face and voice of the star... not really band oriented. There still are great bass players and bands making music with a band approach, but most of them are obscure enough to not be considered a viable choice in this game.
 
NoBonus said:
When I REALLY concentrate on the bass-player argument, I think it is all about perspective. Mainstream 90's music (grunge) was essentially metal with punk sensabilities (ie, simple bass playing and limited guitar solos), but there were still great bass players out there, just not on the radio/MTV as much. Then grunge faded away into pop more or less, where the music is just what is behind the face and voice of the star... not really band oriented. There still are great bass players and bands making music with a band approach, but most of them are obscure enough to not be considered a viable choice in this game.
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I agree with that, but that's when we lose either consensus on the board or in any group discussion or if you go far enough off the beaten path (not just MTV/national exposure but if we look beyond college/alt/local radio, Internet only phenoms etc.) we get onto shakier and shakier ground when comparing talent. For example, I know two bass players who I personally consider to have potential to be great. Two problems though, only one of them has published work that is catalogud/written up and available in the market and that's the CD's where producer screwed up his bass parts (along with completely sub-standard drum recording/mixing).
 
bozzwell said:
Flea (Michael Balzary of RHCP) - bass.

I am going to try to draft ultimate Indy rock band. Flea is the only guy that I identified that I must have as he is pretty much irreplaceable. I don't know what happened to music industry/production, but there are simply no great bass player and bass lines anymore. You have to go back 20-30 years for really great bass players and they were mostly of the simple-clean-but-great variety or funk bass players. So, Flea's my man on bass.
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How, on earth, do you pick Flea and not post a picture of him? He is one of the most colorful bass players ever!
blog-grammys-red-hot-chili-peppers-550.jpg
 
bozzwell said:
I think I know who you're talking about. Would you then agree that while there was a number of great bass players prior to 1990, and maybe even more prior to the 80's there is just not enough variety and originality today. Considering that in the meantime the bar has been lowered significantly for indie and niche labels as well as self-publishing and DIY artists to flood the market with more music then ever, where did all the great bass players go?
Click to expand...
Agreed. I think a lot of it is because drums and bass were the first to go electronic. A lot of bass is done on keyboards or samples these days. I definitely know of some incredible bass players that never became successful enough that you would have heard of them.
 
$*&%^#@

I was hoping bass would slip.
Being Flea is the only bass player that matters to me, looks like...I have some research to do.
 
bozzwell said:
Too late to take it back, so I'll just have to laugh with you. If you read it to yourself in Comic Book Guy's voice it's even funnier.
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I haven't laughed that hard in a while. When I read that back over in my head as his voice, I just had to make this.

mailinglistjpg2um9.jpg
 
bozzwell said:
Flea (Michael Balzary of RHCP) - bass.

I am going to try to draft ultimate Indy rock band. Flea is the only guy that I identified that I must have as he is pretty much irreplaceable. I don't know what happened to music industry/production, but there are simply no great bass player and bass lines anymore. You have to go back 20-30 years for really great bass players and they were mostly of the simple-clean-but-great variety or funk bass players. So, Flea's my man on bass.
Click to expand...

You sir, are absolute scum. :p

I already said that I had NO backups for my initial band, and then you go and take a bleeping bassist as your first pick? A BASSIST?

Scum I tell you.
 
Hey all, sorry about the delay. Just got off the plane from DC to Sactown. But now I'm angry because Bozwell took Flea right before I was going to (and didn't even assign him trumpet duties as well!), and I also lost my coveted bookend slot (yes, I know I complained about it initially but I was coming around to it--and now you've taking it from me! I demand a re-seeding:mad:) So I don't feel bad about making the rest of you suffer.

Now, for the pick. After much deliberation about what direction to take the band, I'm going with one that will keep the most options open. So, without further adieu:

Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters) - drums/background vocals

dave-grohl-tama-drums.jpg
 
Last edited:
Me too. :mad:. By the way LP, Kingzrool posted a question to u if u wanted to keep #14 or go with #16. Perhaps u didn't see it?
 
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