Is The Bass an Endangered Species?

[thirsty moore]

I guess y'all don't remember the video to Spinal Tap's "Big Bottom".  It pulls at the heartstrings, it does.

[kosmo vinyl]

neds atomic dustbin was great with their two bass lineup.  most of the time it was one of the bass players that was providing the melody line and the guitar player was just rhythm guitarist.

[mjnova]

Originally posted by thirsty moore:
  I guess y'all don't remember the video to Spinal Tap's "Big Bottom".  It pulls at the heartstrings, it does.

Play that for a bass player and he'll weep for days.
 
 So does this new fad mean I won't get any gigs?  Cause my bass has been gathering dust of late.

[vansmack]

While the instrument may be gone in some of these bands, the sound clearly is not.  this genre of music doesn't drive like the late 80s when the bass was the beast.  The White Stripes for example, just use a sub-octave pedal for the intro to "Seven Nation Army" (and others) and as was pointed out earlier, Rush, for a selection of songs used a keyboard instead of the bass.
 
 I think there will be lots of room for bass players in the future and the uber-talented bass players will still be the back-bone of sojme bands, like the Chili Peppers and Primus.  
 
 And lets admit it - Metallica has never been as good since Cliff Burton died.

[ggw]

Originally posted by vansmack:
 And lets admit it - Metallica has never been as good since Cliff Burton died.

word

[Sir HC]

Originally posted by thirsty moore:
  I guess y'all don't remember the video to Spinal Tap's "Big Bottom".  It pulls at the heartstrings, it does.

Greatest sound check experience was seeing Soundgarden on the Louder than F**k tour sound check with that song.