BURRN! Readers Poll Results

I don't know about the talents of some of the names above Glenn but Nikki Sixx?????? He could barely play when Motley Crue started and has never come up in discussions among musicians I know as being a great bass player. Wrote good songs and riffs but above Glenn in bass talent???? HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!! Baka!!!!!

Sayonara,

John

Good to see Glenn beating some talented guys on there. Hats off to Billy Sheehan for winning. Since the loss of John Entwistle there's next to nobody to rival him in my book.
Still, it's a magazine poll so I'm wondering if the readers just voted off the top of their heads or picked from a list. I'm surprised Yngwie made the bassist list but Pino Palladino and Jack Bruce didn't!

JG

"How can you lose, when you're destined to be a winner?"

Hmmm I thought I'd posted on this one - anyway if there was a top 5 for singer/bass players Glenn Hughes would be way out there at N0.1. Bass players? 1)Glenn Hughes 2) Roger Glover 3) Mark King of Level 42 4) Paul Mc Cartney 5) Jack Bruce and a mention for Eric Bloom of Blue Oyster Cult, a persoanl fave of mine. But maybe all this reflects my age group. Nikki Sixx is my new entry at 106 while Thingy at No.8 gets my vote as top Japanese bass player (whispers: er who is he guys?????) Steve Arris has always been the great pretender - excellent marketing though!

How about the following also.....

Phil Lynott
Trevor Bolder of Uriah Heep is an underated assist
Pete Hurley of Lone Star (the 70's Bsh Rock Band - see off topic) is a fine funky bassist.
Bomber Harris is probably the best HM bassist as he uses a bit of imagination
Thats my lot....

Hey Keith, never hurd of thingy at No 8. The lead singer of the band was called whatsisname, the geetarist was called thingermijig n the drummer was called Bob....

Hi,
a few additions to the mentioned...
Tony Franklin
Tony Levin
Tony Scalzo (listen to fastball's first two Albums, then you know what I mean)
John Wetton (my personal favourite in the 70s)
Paul McCartney
Mark Clarke
Jeff Berlin
Doug Wimbish
just to name a few...
Chris

"Just groove to the Funk Music"

How about Geezer Butler and John Paul Jones? My brother threatened to kill me if I didn't mention those two.
John Deacon as well.....a very under rated bass player and tremendous songwriter.
And of course Neil Murray and Rudy Sarzo!

And right up there in my top five, Gene Simmons. Okay, he may not be as technical as some of the others mentioned here, but none of the other guys spit blood and breathe fire.

JG

"How can you lose, when you're destined to be a winner?"

...sure Old Geezer and Gentleman John would be in the top ten. JPJ would also be top church organist! Neil Murray aye. Gene Simmons might squeeze in there for the fire breathing. Bob Daisley (Rainbow, Ozzie). Always respected Sting for his acoustic stuff - very classy.

I have always enjoyed Glenn's bass playing, and it's nice to see he's still held in high regard by BURRN readers. In my personal list of amazing bass players would be people like the great Bob Daisley, Neil Murray, the superhuman Marcel Jacob, John Wetton and Pino Palladino.

Nikki Sixx shouldn't even be on the list. Nor should Yngwie Malmsteen - sure he can play bass, but he's not a 'bassist', nor does he play like one. Joey DeMaio is a quick and powerful metal bassist, but I'd be interested to hear him try something new. Steve Harris has been playing the same galloping triplet bass lines since 1981 - that gets old really fast.

I don't even own a Rush album, but I think Geddy Lee will knock most contenders' socks off. Billy Sheehan is quite good, but not my cup of tea.

There's no disputing talents like Jack Bruce, Paul McCartney and John Entwistle. By now, they're well beyond reproach.

Lastly, special mention to Phil Lynott, Sting (check out some of the Ghost In The Machine material), and I don't think I've seen anyone mention Chris Squire.

In the end, it's not necessarily who can play the fastest or cram the most key changes into one piece - rather, it's about who can best serve the song with their playing. Whether it's funky, hard rocking, folk, whatever. In my mind, with Glenn's tendency to migrate all over the musical map, I feel he's more well-rounded as a bassist than many others. This makes him stand out, IMO. I think many of you will agree.

Hmm..makes me wonder what kind of guitarists would make a similar list.

Cheers...Todd