Bass driven music

With out doubt, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, particularly their earlier stuff.

Flea's solid bass lines provide a "floor" for which the other players can stand on. Without Flea's bass lines, Frusciante's solos wouldn't happen.
The Chillis really are a band who musically hinge around the bass player.

Also, Thin Lizzy, and The Police revolved around strong basslines.

Peter

Iron Maiden. Their bass player wrote like 85% of their material for the last 25+ years. Led Zeppelin has some great bass, also. You may not think of them as bass driven, but the bass was very present and John Paul Jones is a genius. The Who, John Entwistle was a huge man on the bass.

And, of coure, any of Claypool's bands.

I was always impressed by John Entwistles work on The Who's "Quadraphenia", it has some great bass solos.
Also, never underestimate Paul McCartney, who did some really inovative use of melody in the bass line.

Rush. Geddy Lee is brilliant.

Thanks a lot :o
I already knew the Chilis of course, but it's always nice to see other players appreciating Flea's tallents. If there is anymore stuff you guys wish to add for future reference to me or other players; by all means..

Which bands do you guys find really use their bass player to his/her full potential?

I got 2 words for you: Cake.

Er, um, that was only 1 word... Oh, I know -- they're on their 2nd bassist! (wow, what a save) :shock:

But seriously, folks, check out their version of "I Will Survive", or their own compositions including "Short Skirt, Long Jacket", and "Never There".

Tabs can be found at: http://activebass.com/tab/artist.asp?i=133 or http://www.basstabarchive.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?search=c/cake/ .

I second that motion for Cake (twice).

I'd not noticed it before, but thinking about it, they do use their bassist to their greatest potential. fantastic band too.

When I saw the topic, I immediately thought of Ox (Entwistle) -- so here's a third for him. Wes Claypool is a maniac -- a second there.

Rock: I'll add Jack Bruce (Cream)

Funk/Jazz: Jaco

I'd not noticed it before, but thinking about it, they do use their bassist to their greatest potential. fantastic band too.

Interesting basslines tend to catch my ear -- I've been a Cake fan for years.

Other favorite creative bassline bands (with the bassist's name in parens):

Maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to play anywhere near as well as any of these guys. :roll:

Wes Claypool is a maniac -- a second there.

It's Les, actually.

Which bands do you guys find really use their bass player to his/her full potential? I'd like to learn some bass lines from fresh material; bass driven rock, or funk rock etc..
What are your thoughts/bands?

This isn't a really hard bass line, but "Radar Love" by Golden Earring is indubitably driven by the bass. It sets a vibe that makes you want to crank the volume knob to 11.

Other songs with simple but incredibly compelling bass grooves:

"I Just Want to Make Love to You" - Foghat
"Some Kind of Wonderful" - Grand Funk Railroad
"Papa Was a Rolling Stone" - Temptations
"I Just Want to Celebrate" - Rare Earth

I've posted this elsewhere, but I really like Kevin McCormack's work on the early Melissa Etheridge albums. He's rather subdued when he plays for Jackson Browne, but his fretless slapping and sliding drives the songs for ME.

-Laz

Wes Claypool is a maniac -- a second there.

It's Les, actually.

Duh ... of course!