Name an indispensable bassist

DonnyMac

Bruce Thomas from the Attractions

PolarityMan

Leland Sklar - the gandalf of bass.

PolarityMan

Actually did not read the premise...although in a track level a lot of stuff he played on would suck without his contribution.

Greatape

+1 for Dave Pegg (all the classic Tull bassists - Glen Cornick, John Glascock, Jeffrey Hammond). 

Wyman (extremely imaginative playing). Daryl is great, but it was not the same. 

Andy Fraser and Simon Kirke were a killer rhythm section. What they achieved at such a young age.... staggering. 

Tina Weymouth.

Tony Levin in Crimson, especially eighties. 

Muzz Skillings in Living Colour v1

Eric Avery in Jane's Addiction. Big part of that sound. They went on to suck hard, underlining the point. 

George Porter Jr

Billy Bass Nelson. 

Larry Graham. 

Johnny Colt

Aston 'Familyman' Barrett

Jim from Cardiacs. Jim Jim Jim Jim. 

Only not mentioning Doug Pinnick because he's a front man. Ditto Colin Moulding. 

Tim Lefebvre (huge part of the KcL sound)

 Allen Woody of Govt Mule. 

RocknRollDave

I can’t imagine Therapy? without Michael McKeegan.

Springywheel

John Paul Jones 

CoolCat

I have not gone over the entire thread so maybe this has already been mentioned.

Stanley Clarke.
Marco Mendoza.

Chuffola

Thread is too long to read so apologies if duplicated:

McCartney's bass is fundamental to the Beatles sound, nevermind his singing, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, piano, songwriting.

But...

I'd go for Colin Moulding of XTC. 

AntonHunter

Ruth Goller always seems to be a vital part of any band she plays in.

Devil#20

Springywheel said:

John Paul Jones 

Bloody hell. I can't believe we got to page 7 before somebody mentioned JPJ. 

Johnspreyer

Niels-Henning Orsted Pederson knew how to swing like no other

darius

I do hope Billy Sheehan is in this thread. 

I can’t be arsed to check because I’m the guitar player. 

guitartango

Jet Harris of the shads

Grumpyrocker

Devil#20 said:

Springywheel said:

John Paul Jones 

Bloody hell. I can't believe we got to page 7 before somebody mentioned JPJ. 

I mentioned him on the first page.

Boromedic

ICBM said:

CaseOfAce said:
John Taylor / Duran Duran - ridiculously underated - listen to Rio...

idiotwindow said:

Andy Fraser (arguably more important than Kossoff).

stickyfiddle said:

Adam Clayton
Paul McCartney

fretmeister said:

Bernard Edwards

AK99 said:

John Deacon. Despite the tank-tops.

munckee said:

Bruce Foxton

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

John McVie

John is on the money (as are those that mentioned them), all these win for me too. Mike Mills also.

fretmeister

Greatape said:

+1 for Dave Pegg (all the classic Tull bassists - Glen Cornick, John Glascock, Jeffrey Hammond). 

Doesn't that show they were dispensable?

EricTheWeary

fretmeister said:

Greatape said:

+1 for Dave Pegg (all the classic Tull bassists - Glen Cornick, John Glascock, Jeffrey Hammond). 

Doesn't that show they were dispensable?

I’ve seen Peggy live several times with Tull and Fairport and he’s the most wonderfully effortless, musical bassist. However, I’m not sure I’ve ever listened to either band and thought oh that’s so obviously Peggy playing. 

Someone mentioned Noel Redding and I’m still struggling with the idea of him as indispensable. He didn’t even play on all the recordings associated with his time in the Experience, contributed very little writing and was replaced toward the end of Hendrix’s life. Had Jimi had a longer career I feel Redding would just be a footnote now. 

But YMMV etc,etc.