9 underrated bassists you should know

An intimate look at the musicians that provide the “base” to your favorite band’s sound.

Now there’s no doubt that Floyd Pepper (above) of the famed Electric Mayhem is a great bass player (just listen to his part on “Can You Picture That?”), but even he is more notable than virtually all the bassists on this list.

Bassists are almost always infamously in the background, and unless you are one of the lucky few to be the frontman (Paul McCartney of The Beatles or Roger Waters of Pink Floyd) or are a virtuoso player (John Entwistle of The Who or Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers), you’re most likely going to stay there. Unfortunately, all of these bassists stayed there.

There’s no bassists from obscure bands on here, so hopefully this list will help you look at some of your favorite groups in a different light.

1. Bill Wyman

Band: The Rolling Stones

Standout Track: “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”

The “inventor” of the fretless bass, Wyman’s playing was initially not thought very highly by The Rolling Stones. However, the oldest member of the group soon developed an inventive style that included the counter riff on “Satisfaction” and possibly the best disco bass line on “Miss You.” He didn’t just stick to bass playing: he was the only Stone outside of Jagger/Richards to write a song (two in fact: “In Another Land” and “Downtown Suzie”) and had a decently successful solo career. It’s quite unfortunate that Keith Richards took over on bass for some of The Rolling Stones most famous songs, but it’s clear listening to Wyman’s lines that Keith should stick to composing his legendary riffs.

2. Keith Richards

Band: The Rolling Stones

Standout Track: “Sympathy For The Devil”

Hey, now isn’t this cheating? And didn’t you just say that it was unfair that Keith Richards played bass on some tracks that Bill Wyman should have? Yes I did, but that’s not to say that Keith’s work is not good. His bass work on “Sympathy For The Devil” and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” have as much drive and energy as his memorable guitar riffs. He even said himself in the documentary Keith Richards: Under The Influence that he actually feels more comfortable on the bass guitar. While I prefer Wyman, Keith’s bass playing is nothing to sneeze at.

3. Pete Quaife

Band: The Kinks

Standout Track: “Wicked Annabella”

“I’d say one of my favorite bass players was Pete Quaife”, The Who bassist John Entwistle told Goldmine Magazine, “because he literally drove The Kinks along.” On such early hits by The Kinks like “You Really Got Me” and “Waterloo Sunset”, Quaife’s punctuated bass lines were the anchors that held down Dave Davies’ erratic lead guitar playing and Ray Davies’ increasingly introspective songs. Unfortunately, due to being fed up with the Davies brothers fighting and controlling behavior, Quaife left the band at the end of the band’s so-called golden era. Before he left though, he did his most inventive piece of playing by inserting a line from Bach’s Jesu, Joy Of Man’s Desiring in “Wicked Annabella.”

4. Chris White

Band: The Zombies

Standout Track: “She’s Not There”

Not many pop songs in the 1960s were being driven by a bass guitar, but The Zombies’ most popular songs (“She’s Not There” and “Time Of The Season”) were. Although it helped that White was one of their primary songwriters, it’s rare when a bass player outshines a guitar player; I can barely remember the guitar parts on those songs. As a result of his work with them, White more than Entwistle or Jack Bruce of Cream propelled the bass guitar out of the rhythm section.

5. Dee Murray

Band: Elton John

Standout Track: “Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)”

“Someone put this heavy thing over my shoulder and said, ‘Here, you play this!'”, Murray said as he recalled his first introduction to playing bass. It would be safe to say he played it well and with an expressive streak. While most bassists generally play the root notes on softer songs, he preferred to add high note flourishes on a song like “Rocket Man.” Of course when John rocked hard, so did Murray; his thundering triplets that open “Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)” show that Murray could switch between soft and hard rock and not lose any flair.

6. Tom Hamilton

Band: Aerosmith

Standout Track: “Sweet Emotion”

Tom Hamilton was regarded as the “funny one” in Aerosmith, but his menacing bass line that open up “Sweet Emotion” shows a different side of him. Hamilton often played exactly whatever lead guitarist Joe Perry played, so in doing so, he gave the riff extra power. It’s also no wonder why his bass playing on “Sweet Emotion” is so memorable; he composed the three part song (possibly the most musically complex song they did) and also wrote “Janie’s Got A Gun.”

7. Bernard Edwards

Band: Chic

Standout Track: “We Are Family”

Personal feelings aside about disco, some of the best bass beats came out of that era, and Bernard Edwards was the composer of the best of them. His bouncy and danceable lines from “Good Times”, “Le Freak” and “We Are Family” were imitated throughout that era, and none of them ever got to close to his funk style of playing. His bass playing was influential on bassists outside of disco; John Deacon of Queen wrote “Another One Bites The Dust” after being inspired by “Good Times” and even Wyman’s bass playing on “Miss You” owes a debt to Edwards.

8. Peter Hook

Bands: Joy Division

Standout Track: “Candidate”

Simplicity became the name of the game with the rise of punk rock, and nobody defined that on the bass guitar more than Peter Hook. Unlike many of the bassists on this list, Hook hardly ever used a walking bass style or added flourishes. His main style was his repetition of notes, but it was this simplicity that gave the necessary ominous atmosphere to frontman Ian Curtis’ songs. As George Starostin said about Peter Hook: “Everybody can play bass like Peter Hook- after hearing Peter Hook play, that is.”

9. Andy Fraser

Band: Free

Standout Track: “Mr. Big”

Fraser was very young when he founded Free (he was 15), but his jazz influenced playing helped him stand his own ground. When you listen to any of Free’s songs, it sounds like he’s on autopilot concocting his own melodies. Like a good bass guitarist though, he’s perfectly in sync with the rest of the group. Five years after John Entwistle performed the first rock bass guitar solo on “My Generation”, Fraser performed one of the longest on the song “Mr. Big”, with Paul Kossoff the guitarist taking the backseat. It’s also worth mentioning that Fraser is the primary reason you know Free: he wrote “All Right Now”, undoubtedly their biggest hit.