Bass Lines
- 2 minutes read - 221 wordsSongs that have a killer bass line
Skunk Anansie “Twisted (Everyday Hurts)”
This song opens with 24 measures of badass bass. There’s a lot of reverb on the bass so that it almost sounds watery. Then the guitar comes in heavy and powerchord strong: with the palm muffle it almost sounds like the Edge or Johnny Marr with the closing measure meshing with the bass on a three-note whiplash of duh-reeeer-duh. Then it repeats. When Skin’s voice, light and vulnerable as rose petals comes in you know they’re working up to a big scream, and it comes.
It feels so quintessentially 90’s, but in reality it was a last gasp for rock music in pop. After this it would go pretty much pop, shiny suits, former Disney stars until maybe the White Stripes.
Porno for Pyros: “Tahitian Mood”
I’m not sure how that bass came in with some feedback whine, but it is an awesome start to a robotic, thrumming, driving bass line. It’s a for measure mantra for surfers and psychonauts (in the case of P4P, they are the same). The riff repeats twice before a chromatic scale, strumming guitar comes in. When the song hits its bridges and goes calm the bass is silent. But then it comes back in driving and merciless. It’s a hell of a riff.