Name an indispensable bassist

Grumpyrocker

MagicPigDetective said:

Geezer Butler. The perfect accompaniment to Iommi's riffs. Plus he wrote Ozzie's lyrics. 

And a man of supreme taste when it came to clothing.

AK99

John Deacon. Despite the tank-tops.

munckee

Bruce Foxton. 

DiscoStu

Tony Levin.

chromatuna

At the prog end of things Mike Rutherford and Chris Squire. For the weird and wonderful Mike Howlett in Gong. Oh and the guy in Kraan Hellmut Hattler. Edit… how could I forget Phil Lesh!

roberty

Peter Hook innit. I reckon Andy Rourke too, he was no average especially for that tender age

Reverend

Donald Dunn
James Jamieson
Geezer Butler
Steve Harris

roberty

Krist Novoselic did some good hooks and all. Part of what made Nirvana so irresistible was the chemistry between him and Dave 

DesVegas

Simon Gallop from The Cure

mrkb

munckee said:

mrkb said:

From our jam sessions - Bridgehouse is definitely the person I want on bass when Im drumming.

 Crawler. I think he’s awful he makes me sound all out of time….

So who is responsible for making you sound out of pitch at the same time?

blobb

Richard Sinclair & Hugh Hopper. Fundamental components of the 'Canterbury Sound'.

munckee

mrkb said:

munckee said:

mrkb said:

From our jam sessions - Bridgehouse is definitely the person I want on bass when Im drumming.

 Crawler. I think he’s awful he makes me sound all out of time….

So who is responsible for making you sound out of pitch at the same time?

That’s on you mate you need to own it. 

fretmeister

Reverend said:

Donald Dunn
James Jamieson
Geezer Butler
Steve Harris

How did I forget Duck Dunn?!?!

He's probably my favourite player.

Mattharrier

Jeff Ament - Pearl Jam. Plus if you take him out you lose the writing he does which is very much part of their sound.

drofluf

Paul Chambers, Chris Squire, Jaco Pastorius

scrumhalf

Martin Ace of Man. A great bassist, literally the Ace of Bass. 

Winny_Pooh

Danny1969 said:

Winny_Pooh said:

No singing bassists like Mcartney, Sting or Mark King.

Just a player that is core to the band's sound or image.

Here's mine:

Flea
Aston Barret of the Wailers
Rocco Prestia of Tower of Power

I'm leaving out Entwistle because the Who could have managed without him in my opinion.

That makes no sense because it was Entwistle who created The Who sound, the guitar is quite sparse ...  it's the crazy way he plays that drives the whole sound of the band. 

Obv in the minority here but I just dont like what he does musically and Pete and Roger make up the core of what we know and love of the songs. 

Same can't be said of Marley's One love or Exodus, take that specific bass part away and you don't have the same song.

Good shout on Tony Levin, KC MkII literally cant run without that stick & bass playing.
And that possibly counts for Gabriel's So album too.

I was going to mention the double bassist Jon Thorne of Lamb, but in their stupidity they have made albums that featured him less or not at all and they sucked compared to Fear of Fours. 

More obscure: 
Robin Richards of Dutch Uncles, he writes and arranges a large part of the music and all the string parts.

Bass drives alot of the songs compositionally:

SurfinSirFari

Every reggae band, ever! 

equalsql

Another vote for Andy Fraser, just a  perfect player. Gary Thain, Percy Jones. Jaco (obviously), Jeff Berlin.
Mark King is exceptional when not slapping two shades of crap out of his bass.. and for anyone doubting the Ox's contribution to the sound of The Who, I give you 'The Real Me' from Quadrophenia as an absolute feckin'  masterclass in rock bass playing:

fretmeister

equalsql said:

Another vote for Andy Fraser, just a  perfect player. Gary Thain, Percy Jones. Jaco (obviously), Jeff Berlin.
Mark King is exceptional when not slapping two shades of crap out of his bass.. and for anyone doubting the Ox's contribution to the sound of The Who, I give you 'The Real Me' from Quadrophenia as an absolute feckin'  masterclass in rock bass playing:

An amazing song.

And yet Johnny Rod managed to improve the bass part when Wasp covered it.