no introduction necessary

As you know, I'm all about the Twitters these days, so when I had a thought in the wake of listening to Badge while writing the Jack Bruce bit, I decided to crowdsource its ass and put it out there to see if the Twitterati could make anything of it:

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

Here are a few suggestions from other people:

@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

Here are a few suggestions that didn't make the cut for various reasons:

• 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

And a couple that I'm still conflicted about:

• 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

I'll leave whether you include either or both of those as an exercise for the reader. Anyway, put all that lot together and you could make a pretty decent playlist, I reckon. Here's a (much shorter) list on a similar theme from a few years back.