Name an indispensable bassist

Clecko

I went to watch Teenage (Middle Age?) Fanclub late last year and the guy they had on bass was really good, but the songs just weren't quite the same without Gerry Love.

I appreciate he's not up there with many of the greats listed on this thread, but it really brought home to me how a change of personnel on bass can fundamentally affect the appreciation of songs you know well and love.

And they didn't do any of the songs that Gerry wrote/would normally sing either, so it was a double bass blow. 

EricTheWeary

Norman Watt Roy in The Blockheads. 

Rocker

Every bassist is indispensable in a band. 

thecolourbox

ICBM said:

All these, and also - surprisingly not mentioned yet, given that the band was even half named after him...
John McVie

I saw that and though....I always though John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers were named after John Mayall alone?! Silly me

monquixote

Verdine White
Bootsy Collins 
Larry Graham
Henrik Linder
Mike Kerr

Moe_Zambeek

The guy that left Rival Sons a few years back. Don’t know his name but they just don’t sound as good without him.

proggy

Chris Squire - Yes

Mick Karn - Japan

Sporky

Rocker said:

Every bassist is indispensable in a band. 

What about the Yeah Yeah Yeahs? 

Philly_Q

Rocker said:

Every bassist is indispensable in a band. 

You don't like these just-for-fun threads, do you?

Jfingers

Thøger Tetens Lund (popping back to read entire thread tomorrow)

mrkb

Bridgehouse said:

mrkb said:

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

You really need to get your hearing sorted mate

It’s only during the bass solos that I really listen

Springywheel

Sting

Bridgehouse

mrkb said:

Bridgehouse said:

mrkb said:

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

You really need to get your hearing sorted mate

It’s only during the bass solos that I really listen

Groan!

scrumhalf

Ray Manzarek's left hand. 

MagicPigDetective

Ben Shepherd of Soundgarden. After Hiro Yamamoto left, in came Sheperd (after a brief Jason Everman interlude). He was a guitarist and hadn't played much bass before, and bought in plenty of creativity and a mad, brooding energy, contributing to and writing a few songs (Head Down, Half, Dusty, Switch Opens, Slaves & Bulldozers, Jesus Christ Pose... ). He has a kind of punk, jazzy style more Avante garde style to the other members. There's no doubt he contributed to the massive step up that Badmotorfinger was, and they would have been a different band without him. 

RustySpanner

Mani - Stone Roses. 
Keith Bailey - Here and Now.
Neil Crossley - Half Man Half Biscuit. 
Klaus Flouride - Dead Kennedys.
Jean-Jacques Burnel - The Stranglers. 
Paul Simonon - The Clash. 

Bellycaster

John Deacon, although he disposed of himself. 

Dominic

Sting

Winny_Pooh

EricTheWeary said:

Norman Watt Roy in The Blockheads. 

Great shout

EricTheWeary

Grumpyrocker said:

EricTheWeary said:

MagicPigDetective said:

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

Geezer was also the one who knew about films and classical music, in many ways the person who took everything in a direction away from being another blues rock band. 

Anyway, I don’t think we've seen Phil Lynott mentioned yet who was a singer, writer and a bass stylist. 

I was avoiding Phil because the OP mentioned not including singing bassist. 

Had Phil been the bassist and someone else was the singer his basslines would still have been part of the defining sound of Thin Lizzy. As would Lemmy’s have been in Motörhead. 

And Sting has been said about three times now as well!