Who’s the leader of your band?

Think of your all time favourite band.  Now think of your all time favourite song.  I want to ask you a question:  Who is the leader of the band?  Is it the lead singer or is it the lead guitarist or…?  I am guessing that the majority of my readers will not choose the drummer, but I wonder how many will agree with me and choose the bass player? 

For me; as in business, I find that the best leaders are those that are content to lead from behind, only stepping to the front when they really need to. It’s not important for them to show off, front of stage.  They are absolutely fine with simply coming up with the strategy and vision and then letting their team achieve the results and reap the glory.  After all, that’s what a leader needs to do if they want to keep everyone motivated.

To illustrate my point I have come up with my all time favourite backstage leadership, bass driven songs.

  1. Robbie Williams: Let me entertain you
  2. Ian Dury: Hit me with your rhythm stick
  3. Pink Floyd: Money
  4. Bob Marley: Jammin’
  5. Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush: Don't Give Up
  6. Stevie Wonder: Think of me as your soldier
  7. Jeff Beck: Cause we’ve ended as lovers (with Tal Wilkenfield on bass)
  8. Gene Chandler: Get Down
  9. George Michael: Cowboys & Angels
  10. Led Zeppelin: Whole Lotta Love

Now some might say “where is Lou Reed’s ‘Walk on the wild side’ or Rory Gallagher’s ‘Messin’ with the kid’?”  But the choice is almost impossible.  The common denominator must be that the bass should drive the song without becoming the solo instrument (so in a way Pink Floyd’s ‘Money’ should really be excluded).  The trick is to listen to the song by focusing only on the bass.  If you take time out to listen closely to only my first two choices, I think you will find that they illustrate my point perfectly?

As an alternative approach try taking a really crass song like Queen’s ‘Under pressure’ (sorry Queen fans) and remove the bass line and you are left with absolutely nothing.  On a bass line like that you could literally play anything on top and it would sound great.

So, let me ask you one more question: what are your top ten bass driven tracks? And do you agree that often the real inspirational leaders are playing bass, rather than singing upfront?

Have a good week.

Harley

Submitted by harley on Tue, 11/09/2010 - 09:10

Comments

now in english
... as we just discussed about the job of a drummer being the time keeper in the first place, Abe Laboriel who even syncs himself with his metronome came to my mind. This shows real dedication to the composer of the song. Here a closer look.

Bert

Submitted by Bert Oberholz on Mon, 11/29/2010 - 11:46.

... as we just discussed about the job of a drummer being the time keeper in the first place, have a look Abe Laboriel who even syncs himself with his metronome came to my mind. This shows real dedication to the composer of the song. This show real dedication. Here a closer look.

Bert

Submitted by Bert Oberholz on Mon, 11/29/2010 - 11:44.

Hey Harley,

I would like to add these gentleman to your list ;-)

Bert

Never eat more than you can lift!
-- Miss Piggy

Submitted by Bert Oberholz on Wed, 11/24/2010 - 22:48.

Wow,

Bach, Joy Division, Philip Glass in one comment! an impressive summary indeed!

Thanks for your contribution, it's nice to see where an idea can end up.

H.

Submitted by harley on Tue, 11/16/2010 - 22:53.

Chris,

Your experience shines through and although I can imagine many bands without drums.  Music without a bass line is difficult to appreciate.

However, I must admit the excitement I feel when it is impossible to separate the sound of the bass drum and the bass: when they are working in perfect harmony.

Thanks for your contribution, much appreciated

Harley 

Submitted by harley on Tue, 11/16/2010 - 22:50.

Hi Harley,

As musician who has been on stage a lot in the good old days, I must say you are partially right. The real heart of a good band is the rythm section, not only the bass. The rythm section is often composed of more than one player (bass, drums, percussion, ...) And so again it comes down to team work. If there is no teamwork, it pulls down the quality of the music. At the end, which instrument they take for forming the rythm section (guitar, bass, keyboard, drum, percussion or a mix) doesn't matter. As long as those rythm section people come out strong, the band will survive a mistake by the front people, or will go up in smoke. Not a lot of people will notice if the singer makes a mistake in the text, as they will sayer, singer's interpretation, but everybody will notice when the rythm section doesn't keep the beat or even falls out.

For me this is not different in an organisation. Everybody must understand his role, which has nothing to do with hierarchical position. Take the drive away (rythm section), not a lot you can do to keep the company on the right track, because you miss the heart beat in your song. They are the glue in the band.

But I agree, real leaders are enablers, not necessarily front men, and the real leaders are mostly not alone, but a team of like minded people keeping the heartbeat going, just like in music.

My 2 cents,

Chris

Submitted by Chris Van der Schueren on Tue, 11/09/2010 - 13:30.

Hi Harley,

Instead of offering a list of 10 songs, I'll offer you a few thoughts. I don't know when the bass became more prominent, but maybe a good starting point would be Bach's cello suites ? The story goes that a lord offered a price if somebody could write a good piece of music for solo cello, which was deemed to be impossible. Bach took it as a challenge and wrote 6 suites that together are some of my favourite music, ever.

I haven't studied it in-depth, but I think the bass oriented sound came into Western pop music through the blues and rock'n'roll. It was definitely an established sound in the 1970 when disco pumped up the beat. Think of "Born to be alive", which is another track that just doesn't exist without the bass. Going back to a more rock oriented sound, Joy Division reversed the roles of the guitar and the bass at the end of the 1970s: the guitar played the rhythm and the bass carried the melody. This approach influenced large numbers of bands including anything that calls itself goth or dark these days. Going back to something more electronic, I'd like to point to the 1990s genre that didn't even attempt to hide this influence by merely being named "drum&bass". Exquisitely complex rhythms and solid bass lines make up 90% or more of the sound of this form of electronic experimentation. But even as that genre was coming to a close by the end of the last century, a more classical composer was using the bass as the foundation of a soundtrack for a 1930's horror movie: the soundtrack of Dracula by Philip Glass would be plainly hollow if it wasn't for the dark bass that grounds it all.

There you have it, a short sweep over a giant history of bass in Western music !

Peter.

Submitted by Peter Leyssens on Tue, 11/09/2010 - 10:10.

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