LOL!! Don't forget about Bernard Edwards and John Entwistle--both great bass players--better IMO then Geddy and Flea....
Yes they're great Andre, but they also both happen to be dead. I was comparing JT to his living contemporaries. Of course there are plenty of other bass players in history who were bass geniuses and technically better than John Taylor (in fact there are probably many unknown session musicians who are technically better than John Taylor). Nevertheless JT still happens to be pretty damn good, and IS under-rated by the rock snobbery.
I guess you are right but Geddy can't sing IMO--good bass player--horrible vocalist!!
Half the bass players on that list can't sing. It's about how they play that guitar mate, not if they can vocalise as well. And I find the irony about calling Geddy a horrible vocalist, compared to John Taylor who was proficient but hardly a great singer himself, particularly delicious
I have read that article before, and it's nice seeing a legitimate music site giving Duran Duran some credit. But as per always they still have to preface it by criticising the band and writing "Duran Duran is not the first band you think of when it comes to bass lines. In fact, some of you might even think, “Duran Duran counts as a band?” before they go on to praise JT.
And sadly Andre for every comment on a respected musicians' website that praises a member of Duran Duran, there are ten denigrating them. Thankfully I don't care or let that sway my opinion of the band at all.
But you will NEVER see John Taylor in the top 10 list of the best bass players of all time from your likes of Rolling Stone etc. His name and reputation would be lucky to get him in the top 50.
But just as I still love Duran whether they chart or not, I still love JT whether he charts or not
Flea in my opinion sounds the same..what I like about JT is he changes up the bass playing..I keep hearing the same Flea sound on every record from RHCP...don't get me wrong he is good but I don't like repetition! I feel a lot of musicians--yes you Edge--seem to have their signature sound on every single song!!
Hmmm, you're entitled to that opinion mate, and I think it is an interesting one actually, but I disagree. When the Chili Peppers were younger they tended to make more frenetic, punkier, sort of music. Then they tended to mellow out as they got older, but would still have a small collection of funk and funk/rap every record. And as the music changed, so did Flea's bass playing. Compare his work on a record like By The Way, which was very mellow by the Chili's standards, to anything off Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Then he could lift it again on Stadium Arcadium, and was a little more low-key on I'm With You.
The difference between Flea and John Taylor is that Flea is more like a reggae bass player - his basslines tend to lead the Chili Peppers songs. He was lucky that he had a gun guitar player who gave him the space that he wanted, and also a gun drummer. Seriously the Chili Peppers are a lot more advanced musically as indidividuals - Chad Smith is a much more technically advanced drummer than Roger Taylor, Flea is noticeably better than JT, and John Frusciante has (or should I say had, all I know about Josh Klinghoffer is what he played on I'm With You, and to be honest none of his work was a patch on Frusciante's) Dom Brown covered. The only area where Duran wins is that Simon is a better singer than Anthony Kiedis, who is a bit like Nick Rhodes in a way. Not the best at his instrument, but a great songwriter and an indispensable and vital member of the band.
Anway, back to Flea. His style is different to John Taylor's. John is quoted as saying that he believes you should "feel a good bass player, and not hear him", whereas Flea is more like "Listen to me, listen to me"!!!
So I can't agree with you that Flea's lines are all the same. As the Chili Peppers have changed over time, so has his bass playing.
And some people even think that JT's lines are all the same. Check out
from about 1.15 on. I don't agree with him about the bass God, but there are people who do.
PS: you could argue Warren was a virtuoso on guitar when he was in the band...
Yeah, of course he was. Anybody endorsed by Frank Zappa was a virtuoso at their instrument.
But Warren hasn't been in the band for about 13 years or so. The closest virtuoso Duran Duran have is John Frusciante on a few songs. Nile is the duck's nuts on guitar, especially funk chords where he is the king, but whether he is a virtuoso or not is up for debate.