Bass for your face: Five dope bass lines

(Based on a series of tweets from 4/20/09.)


"Why don't you make like a bass player and be inaudible?"
--Metalocalypse

5. Jamiroquai, "Space Cowboy (Stoned Again Mix)"
Bassist during the "Stoned Again Mix": Stuart Zender. The ultimate 420 anthem.



4. Jack Elliott and Allyn Ferguson's Barney Miller theme
Bassist during the recording: Jim Hughart. Rarely does a Jew on TV get a theme this funky.



3. Freddie Hubbard, "Red Clay"
Bassist: Ron Carter. A Tribe Called Quest fans know this bass line from "Sucka N****," which sampled Jack Wilkins' cover of "Red Clay."

2. Slave, "Just a Touch of Love"
Bassist: Mark Adams. His bass line was sampled by De La Soul ("Keepin' the Faith") and Das EFX ("Shine").



1. The Smiths, "This Charming Man"
Bassist: Andy Rourke. His bass work is the coolest part of the tune.



Bonus dope bass line: Tina Weymouth's performance during "Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)" at a 1980 Talking Heads concert in Rome

Later... with Jools Holland

I recently discovered this awesome BBC Two live music show on Fuse, where it airs weeknights at midnight weekdays at 8am and suffers from really horrendous trims to make room for more of our wonderful American commercials. (It celebrated its 200th episode in February.) I didn't know a British music show could be this cool. I thought all their music shows were like the terrible Top of the Pops. I stand corrected, after catching Later... and VH1 Classic's reruns of The Old Grey Whistle Test.

I love the circular set-up of the studio--each episode opens with the camera circling the studio to introduce the guest acts as they all participate in a jam session--as well as the cutaways to a guest performer dancing to another guest's number. Where else can you see Cee-Lo from Gnarls Barkley grooving to Franz Ferdinand or Thom Yorke rockin' out to the Red Hot Chili Peppers?

Certain songs sound better live. I thought the Chili Peppers' 2006 hit "Dani California" was an alright tune, even though it was overplayed that year, but now I like it even more after watching the Chili Peppers perform it live on Jools Holland.

Now Later... is how you do a music show, whereas Top of the Pops--a show that was made for Ashlee Simpson--was the opposite. The Top of the Pops producers forced their acts to lip-synch or sing live against pre-recorded backing, so the producers frequently wound up with disgruntled bands that plotted to make their show look stupider than it already looked, like when Morrissey lip-synched into his gladiolas during the Smiths' "This Charming Man," or when Nirvana basically told the producers to go fuck themselves by giving a hilarious "performance" of "Smells Like Teen Spirit," one of my all-time favorite TV moments. The best part is Dave Grohl's fake drumming.