Bass players don't often get the love they deserve. I know this, because I'm a bass player. While the lead vocalists and guitarists get to be front and center, the bassists, and drummers, often go unnoticed. Frankly, though, a lot of bassists like staying in the background, so it's all good, but it's still nice to recognize their importance and role in a song and band.
The bass guitar is an important piece of any band. Without the bass and drums locking into each other, a band has no heartbeat and no soul. Not to be overly dramatic, but the bass guitar is important.
Now, one song from 1981 is being recognized as having one of the greatest bass lines of all time. It still hits.
1981 Rock Hit Has One of the Greatest Bass Lines of All Time
That song is Blondie with "Rapture." What makes this bassline stand out? It's got that disco vibe that was popular in the 1970s and early 1980s. It still rocks but also represents the disco movement that was happening during that time period. It also represents Blondie.
The staff at Classical Music has named "Rapture" one of the best bass lines ever. Nigel Harrison played it.
"Nigel Harrison's disco-infused bassline in Blondie's 'Rapture' perfectly captures the band's infectious fusion of new wave, funk rhythms and hip-hop energy," they note in the feature. "The bass has a thick sound, sitting at the low end of the register and providing a rich foundation for the rest of the song's layers. 'Rapture' also features rap – the first U.S. No. 1 single to do so."
According to Chris Stein, founding member of Blondie, it was an exciting time when "Rapture" came out.
"It was just super exciting and eye-opening to see all this going on at the same time as the downtown music scene, but there was really no connection between these two scenes at that point," she said during a 2022 podcast interview on Sing for Science. He added, "We had heard 'Rapper's Delight' [The Sugarhill Gang] on the radio, so I had a basic conception of it, but seeing it in person was really eye-opening." This song still hits decades later, so Blondie and "Rapture" certainly deserve to be named among the best bass lines ever.
from Men's Journal https://ift.tt/U5w3EKA