today's Twitter survey: can you name some famous tunes whose opening riff is mostly if not exclusively played on the bass guitar?
— Dave Thomas (@electrichalibut) October 28, 2014
I can think of two by Queen: Another One Bites The Dust and Under Pressure. Only other one that springs to mind is Badge by Cream. Others?
— Dave Thomas (@electrichalibut) October 28, 2014
As with all questions of that sort, it's not as simple as it might sound - are there allowed to be any other instruments playing? Does the bass have to be the first thing you hear? How long does the bass-driven bit have to be? As always the lines that get drawn here are pretty arbitrary, but having posed the question I felt entitled to be the one to draw them.Anyway, after a few valuable contributions from various people we ended up with what I think is a pretty good list covering a wide range of musical genres. There were a whole host of otherwise excellent and interesting suggestions that fell foul of one or other quibbly rule I pulled out of my arse, though.
These are the ones I thought of:
- Another One Bites The Dust by Queen
- Under Pressure by Queen & David Bowie
- Badge by Cream
- Lucretia My Reflection by The Sisters Of Mercy
- Time Is Running Out by Muse
- White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane
- Summer Nights from the Grease soundtrack
- Come Together by The Beatles
- Feel Good Hit Of The Summer by Queens Of The Stone Age
- How Many More Times by Led Zeppelin
@electrichalibut Bass intros: I Wanna Be Adored, Stone Roses. Dazed & Confused, Zeppelin. Bullet In The Head, Rage Against The Machine.
— Joe Ivory (@joeivory) October 28, 2014
@electrichalibut how much bass do you need? Dazed & Confused starts with the bass, but not for long. Similarly Would? by Alice in Chains.
— Andrew Gosling (@andrew_gosling) October 28, 2014
@electrichalibut Keep the Faith - Bon Jovi.
— Angela Phillips (@AngelaMPhillips) October 28, 2014
@electrichalibut would mine pass the rules? Ace how long... animals we've gotta get out of...
if not best you hush.
Or indeed hush hush.
— The Black Rabbit (@DougMackDodds) October 29, 2014
From all the suggestions these are the ones I deem acceptable:- Orion by Metallica
- Higher Ground by The Red Hot Chilli Peppers
- Would? by Alice In Chains
- Dazed And Confused by Led Zeppelin
- Bullet In The Head by Rage Against The Machine
- We Gotta Get Out Of This Place by The Animals
- How Long by Ace
- I Wanna Be Adored by The Stone Roses - 40-odd seconds of ambient noise before the bass kicks in
- Twisterella by Ride - intro too short to be meaningful
- Street Tuff by The Rebel MC & Double Trouble - brief spoken intro
- Groove Is In The Heart by Deee-Lite - slightly less brief spoken intro
- Steady As She Goes by The Raconteurs - a few bars of drumming before the bass bit
- One Of These Days by Pink Floyd - some swirly atmospheric noise first
- Money by Pink Floyd - all that business with the cash registers first
- Keep The Faith by Bon Jovi - few bars of guitar drone first
- Too Shy by Kajagoogoo - few bars of synth and drums first
- Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes - actually a regular guitar fed through an effects box
- Ace Of Spades by Motorhead - genuinely a bass but so trebly it doesn't really sound like one