The bass player provides one the more interesting components of a band’s output. Often, when put against the vocals, lead guitars, and drums, they’re simply in the back, providing supporting rhythms and harmonies, seemingly just rounding out the sound that the other instruments have designed. Mediocre basslines are frequently only noticeable once they’re gone; strong basslines are heard automatically. S-tier basslines, though–they’re impossible not to immediately groove with.
A potentially defining factor for a golden bassline is a high level of crunch. Merriam-Webster defines bass crunch as, simply, the raw crunchiness of the sound. Here, I want to recognize a couple great songs which are made complete by their über-crunchy basslines.
Incubus – Drive
Drive’s bassline kicks in at the 10-second mark and singlehandledy ratchets the song’s driving beat from decent to fantastic. It’s not exactly in-your-face–but it effortlessly fills the headphone cups with a gooey, dense sound that’s impossible to get away from and begs you to turn the volume to max. A solid funk to it, too.
Crunch meter: 8.5/10
Radiohead – All I Need
I read somewhere that All I Need’s bass guitar was modified to allow all of its strings to simultaneously play the same note, or something along those lines. Whatever it was, It certainly comes through here; the song’s bassline shines despite being contained in an already flawless work. Colin Greenwood is laying his soul bare on this one–you can see him getting real heartfelt in the From the Basement recordings (highly recommended).
Crunch meter: 9/10
Tame Impala – The Less I Know the Better
Yeah, it’s one of the most famous “indie” songs out there. Still got a house-shaking bassline.
Crunch meter: 8/10