Mad respect to those who put Mr. PC, Mingus, Gallup, and both Coheed bassists!
1. Lock
2. Brian Cook - Bassist for Russian Circles, These Arms are Snakes, Botch, and Sumac. The king of distorted bass tones, which add a supreme heaviness to every band he works with. He's sort of like the Geddy Lee of post-metal and metalcore. If you watch him live he will play the synth with his picking hand's pinky finger while also playing the Moog Taurus with his feet. Snakes is probably his flashiest work, but Russian Circles is the major reason why he's up here.
3. Mike Watt - The man in the van with a bass in his hand! Kind of surprised to see some other punk players named Mike revealed but not Watt. For anyone curious, put on Minutemen's What Makes a Man Start Fires or Double Nickels on the Dime and you'll see why he's here. He's funky, he's groovy, he's intensely punk playing some of the weirdest punk music of the 80s. His solo work has a lot of tasty songs too, and if you're curious about his legacy, peep the credits list on his debut solo record Ball Hog or Tugboat or the dedication on a little indie album called Blood Sugar Sex Magic. Seeing so many players I respect cite this guy made me check him out and I hope this inspires others here to check him out.
4. Simon Gallup - His basslines are half the reason I care about the Cure at all. Simple but driving and melodic. No joke, Fascination Street in particular is one of the greatest and simplest basslines ever.
5. Paul McCartney
6. Juan Alderete - Not surprised Juan is this low in the forum rank since it's been 12 years since last playing with TMV and I don't think the forum at large is hip to Big Sir, Deltron, Dr. Octagon, or his pedals and effects channel before his traumatic brain injury in 2020. But he has a really cool approach to the instrument especially in a world where a hip hop act is going to sound bigger than a rock or metal act.
7. Tony Levin
8. Justin Chancellor
9. Tina Weymouth - With about as much experience as a middle schooler picking up the bass she wrote a *ton* of memorable lines that drove Talking Heads, and she only got better doing more with less.
10. Les Claypool
11. Thundercat - One of the most popular new guys on the block along with Joe Dart, and there's a reason for that.
12. Colin Greenwood - He gets overshadowed by Thom, Johnny, and Ed but his bass work is a key ingredient to Radiohead's greatness IMO.
13. Jaco Pastorius
14. John Paul Jones
15. Definitely in the top 4
16. Chris Wolstenholme - A little surprised he dipped so low in the forum rankings. Muse has not been my cup of tea for a long time now, but he's one of my first inspirations to pick up the bass so he absolutely deserved a spot.
17. Dan Briggs
18. Tim LeFebvre - Best known as Bowie's last bassist but I'm consistently impressed with his work every time. Check out his work with Knower, New Age Doom, Tedeschi Trucks, Donny McCaslin, and his solo stuff Whose Hat is This?
19. Steve DiGiorgio
20. No chance
21. No chance
22. Cliff Burton
23. John Deacon
24. Bootsy - It's Bootsy, baby! Come on!
25. KT Chang - Check out Elephant Gym, y'all. She's a monster player and the band is a really cool eclectic mix of jazz and pop.