Jun 212012
The “money shot,” that big payoff moment… In the first installment of our Money Shot series we examined rock’s most influential vocal money shot moments. While we await the return of Townsman tonyola before exploring mellotron money shot moments, let’s turn our attention to the bass guitar.
Putting aside outright bass solos (sorry, John Entwistle on “My Generation”), what brief, shining moments in a song are brought to new heights by something as simple as a bass lick. I will suggest John Paul Jones‘ measure-long bass fill following the first chorus in “Good Times Bad Times,” heard at the 54-second mark of the following clip.
Imagine how many kids bought a bass guitar in hopes of learning that lick. Now what’s your bass guitar money shot?
Hands down: Jah Wobble’s dub pyrotechnics on PiL’s “Metal Box”. Specifically, Albatross and Careering.
Argue with me if you will.
Tremendous moments in bass playing, indeed, but they are entire songs over the course of a double album. I’m looking for the Money Shot, that one brief moment you could skip to to knock your socks off.
Macca’s litle bass lick around 1:10 in “The Word.” So subtle but it’s this little moment of coolness.
The entrance of the bass in “Paperback Writer.” Those high notes (and the fact that they were so up front in the mix) were the first indication that the instrument could be a key component of hard rock. I pick this not as necessarily the best McCartney bass money shot but as the first of its type.
I’m curious–can anyone pinpoint the first rock and roll song where the guitars dropped out and the bass and drums played on their own for a few moments? I don’t mean a solo (as in “My Generation”) but rather a groove.
Intro to the theme from Barney Miller
Gene Simmons goes “ba-woo!” in the intro to “Cold Gin.”
Yes! I can’t tell you how many bass players I knew as a kid who played that riff! Also the Pink Panther theme.
Entwistles’ angry opening salvo in The Real Me off Quadrophenia
The bah-woo baa whoo a whoo whoo Foxton thingie at the beginning of But I’m Different Now is a definite money shot.
I would have cited Paperback Writer too. Since that’s off the board, I’ll go with Elvis’s Shabby Doll. As the song fades out, B.T. does all these complex trills, a quick wolf whistle lick, and even throws in bass harmonics. It’s the whole bag of tricks. All access pass.
Paulie does have a ton of those moments
There’s the little woodleDoo thing he does to answer Ringo’s entry after the strings do the lugubrious intro in I Am The Walrus that lets you know the song is now ON.
I would cite the two string thing Thomas does in Human Hands throughout the verse “all you toy soldiers and scare mongers” after a fairly subdued effort through the rest of the song. That’s the highlight of that album for me.
He’s the king. The last fill where he and Ringo do complimentary fills in Rain before the backwards singing coda is another platonic ideal.
I better put on a pot of coffee if we’re going to trade our favorite Bruce Thomas and Paul McCartney money shots.
Count me in on this lovefest!
WE REACH!
His work throughout “I Want You (She’s So Heavy),” esp., perhaps, the little runs during the “chorus,” such as around the 2:00-2:15 mark. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW6G3nh5S3I
But, yeah, there are literally scores of McCartney killer bass moments.
New thread!
The late, great Dee Murray from Elton’s best band makes me wanna kick a steel door off its hinges when he arrives 16 seconds in:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSA_RLCriHs
On “House Burning Down” from Electric Ladyland: Hendrix plays bass, and there’s this quick bit where he has to transition between the Red House-style guitar intro and the first verses and he does it playing what pretty much sounds like the prototype for ’70s disco walking bass.
I think Mike Dirnt is the best thing happening in Green Day. The bassline that runs through this song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8dh9gDzmz8 is generally good but he really gets at it after the bass swoop around 2:20.
He does some stuff on Shabby Doll that is other worldly — almost zen-like in the notes he hits in the end of that song. And of course Lipstick Vogue.
Sorry Chicken — didn’t read your post before I posted. You beat me to it, but at least we think alike!!!
Also … Moulding’s bass slides on Senses Working Overtime really make that song for me.
One of the things that I love about the much maligned (on RTH) Jefferson Airplane is Jack Casady. He has an incredibly loose rhythmic feel and he’s frequently totally on top of the mix, in a way that you can hear him playing like you’re sitting in a room with the amp, rather than once removed with that recording studio sheen. The song below, Watch Her Ride, is front to back a pretty over the top bass performance, starting out with an aggressive and clumsy feel. But as the bridge hits at about 1:25, he drops into a long low note and then into a really swinging walk with some unusually odd notes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNJA55uQA78
Another San Fran Favorite. Phil Lesh’s opening line on New Potato Caboose from Anthem of the Sun. He come in at about 0:28 but start at 0:20 so you can get the sense of the guitar set-up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQoYkL6nTW4
I’m not JUST doing this to be perverse.
Another bass guy that was really swell was the Sir Horace Gentleman from the Specials.His line in the opening verse of Concrete Jungle is way cool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OGFIugDX8Q
Good call on that one.
That riff is sort of expanded into an even better Macca bass tour de force overall — but with no specific money shot — on “Hey Bulldog”.
Ha! I was going to point out the monster riff through the chorus of “(I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea”, but I realize I am out of depth in Bruce Thomas appreciation.
Oh, that one is great! I never noticed it before.
Benjamin Orr’s riff from 0:12 to 0:16 of “Bye Bye Love” on the Cars’ debut is super cool. Also a nice part that leads into the chorus at 0:59.
http://youtu.be/U1EOV84pRvY
Terrific on “Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding” as well.
Very hard for me to zero in on one song, much less one moment, but Bootsy’s work with the JB’s is, of course, spectacular. The one that comes first to mind at the moment is “Talkin’ Loud and Saying Nothing.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZkjo3mNmsA
Absolutely a favorite bass player of mine, whose little fillups always serve the songs well. I can’t think of a tune where I disagree with his choices.I’m a big fan of that band even though many time the sameness of their sonic approach bugs me. Never a rattle to the snare, the bass is always trebly, and the guitars are set once an album it seems.
fil·lip/ˈfiləp/
Noun:
Something that acts as a stimulus or boost to an activity.
Verb:
Propel (a small object) with a flick of the finger.
Synonyms:
noun. stimulus – incentive – spur – flick – flip
verb. flip
i meant to spell it phillip
For the future record I can attest to chickenfrank having recorded a couple of bass outros that approach the all-access pass work of Bruce Thomas on a number of Costello fades (how about “Pidgin English” for another bass-tacular fade out!).
(Can’t quantify any Paul Simonen licks)
(Can’t adequately describe Sir Paul’s jaunty single-note bouncy-note from “And Your Bird Can Sing)
How’s about the dive-bomber bass skid from Perky on the outro of “19th Nervous Breakdown”?
aloha
LD
19th Nervous Breakdown bass line descending riffs is a great one. Is Perky a knickname for Bill? I’ve never seen that before.
Yeah, his real last name is Perkins. I think in one of the concert movies Mick introduces him as “Bill ‘Perky’ Wyman.”
aloha
LD
Great money shot! I didn’t know about that nickname either.
Strike that: Bill Perks. How did I blow that? I blame excessive bachelorhood while my wife and boy are on the mainland for a week. Shit, I used to be good at these “Back to College” breaks.
aloha
LD