LeftyBassist.com

Andrew - this was a great pick! I loved this guy and I'm embarrassed to admit I haven't listened to NoMeansNo in years so I kind of forgot about how great they were so thanks for refreshing my memory! Time to dig out the vinyl....

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned Bill Wyman yet... truly a huge reason why Stones songs have such feel to them....

I don't think I could do a top 5; there's just too many I respect and admire. If I went with those that I liked early on I'd go:
1) James Jamerson
2) Donald 'Duck" Dunn"
3) Billy Cox
4) Dave Brown
5) Glenn Cornick

If I moved on to those that came later I'd have a top 20 list at the minimum; among those on that one would be Mike Watt, Andy Rourke, Greg Norton, Chris Squire, Phil Lynott, John Deacon, John Taylor, and on, and on, and on!

Bart

Looking at this, I'm not sure if I should grow up or catch up.

1. Mick Karn
2. Vern Rumsey (Unwound)
3. Bill Laswell
4. Colin Moulding (XTC)
5. David J (Bauhaus, Love & Rockets, etc)

Fantastic list! With the exception of Colin Moulding I'd put the other 4 in my top 20 favorite bassists list. Cool that you have Vern Rumsey on your list, never expected Unwound to pop up.

Thanks! IMHO Vern's second only to Karn in terms of they way they contribute new stuff to the harmony instead of just holding down the fundamental.

I kind of wanted to have a top five of songwriters who are bassists (hence Moulding), and bass players who are just cool (Suzy from the Soviettes would probably top that one).