Rate these bassists!

[TRrEiTxIxRiE DTrash]

A bit of UM sludgin' for all of you to answer hehe. Coming soon... rate these drummers, guitarists and vocalists also. Thought I'd start with the most boring ones to rate and move through to the best (Sorry bassists haha!)

As with on the Sludge things, rate them out of 10. Ten being somebody who is a bass god and 1 being somebody who sucks.

Steve Harris (Iron Maiden) =
Cliff Burton (Metallica) =
Dave Ellefson (Megadeth) =
Gene Simmons (Kiss) =
Nikki Sixx (Motley Crue) =
Jason Newsted (Metallica) =
Dana Strum (VVI, Slaughter) =
Tom Araya (Slayer) =
Steve DiGiorgio (Death, Iced Earth, etc) =
Jerry Dixon (Warrant) =
Joey DeMaio (Manowar) =
Frank Bello (Anthrax) =
Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath, Ozzy) =
Blackie Lawless (W.A.S.P.) =
Duff McKagan (Guns N Roses) =
Rachel Bolan (Skid Row) =
Bob Daisley (Ozzy) =
Jimmy Bain (Dio) =

 

[TRrEiTxIxRiE DTrash]

Here are my ratings:

Steve Harris (Iron Maiden) = 10+ absolutely brilliant
Cliff Burton (Metallica) = 9
Dave Ellefson (Megadeth) = 9
Gene Simmons (Kiss) = 7 just for his basslines in Love Gun and Detroit Rock City
Nikki Sixx (Motley Crue) = 9, simple but effective
Jason Newsted (Metallica) = 8
Dana Strum (VVI, Slaughter) = 10, love his melodies and a great writer
Tom Araya (Slayer) = 4 don't like him as a bassist or singer, he sucks.
Steve DiGiorgio (Death, Iced Earth, etc) = 9 great talent but not my thing
Jerry Dixon (Warrant) = 7
Joey DeMaio (Manowar) = 7
Frank Bello (Anthrax) = 8
Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath, Ozzy) = 8
Blackie Lawless (W.A.S.P.) = 6 for bass but great singer/songwriter
Duff McKagan (Guns N Roses) = 8
Rachel Bolan (Skid Row) = 9 great grooves on Slave To The Grind album
Bob Daisley (Ozzy) = 8
Ian Hill (Judas Priest) = 7
Jimmy Bain (Dio) = 8

 

[Spruce Goose]

John Myung - 10
Tony Levin - 10
Dave LaRue - 10

 

[Wrathchild]

Where... I say *where* are Geddy Lee, Phil Lynott and Jack Bruce?

Pay attention, boy! I keep pitchin' em and you keep missin' em .

I'll stop with the Foghorn Leghorn impressions now and just rate the players I've heard from that list.

Steve Harris: 10
Cliff Burton: 9
Gene Simmons: 6
Jason Newstead: 5
Dana Strum: I dunno, I can't hear him over Vinnie's constant shredding
Steve DiGorgio: 2 (bass on Horror Show would have been much better if Jon played the whole lot)
Frank Bello: 9
Geezer Butler: 9
Blackie Lawless: 6
Bob Daisley: 7
Ian Hill: 6
Jimmy Bain: 6

W

 

[spawn]

Steve Harris (Iron Maiden) = 10 obviously. Legend.
Cliff Burton (Metallica) = 10
Dave Ellefson (Megadeth) = 7 but very underrated because Mustaines ego/silly comments gets all the attention
Gene Simmons (Kiss) = 5 Meh.
Nikki Sixx (Motley Crue) = 6 Writes great songs though
Jason Newsted (Metallica) = 9
Dana Strum (VVI, Slaughter) = Never heard him
Tom Araya (Slayer) = 6
Steve DiGiorgio (Death, Iced Earth, etc) = 8
Jerry Dixon (Warrant) = 4
Joey DeMaio (Manowar) = 4
Frank Bello (Anthrax) = Dont know him
Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath, Ozzy) = 8
Blackie Lawless (W.A.S.P.) = 6
Duff McKagan (Guns N Roses) = 8
Rachel Bolan (Skid Row) = 8
Bob Daisley (Ozzy) = 8
Jimmy Bain (Dio) = 8

 

[mattt]

Steve Harris (Iron Maiden) = 10
Cliff Burton (Metallica) = 8
Dave Ellefson (Megadeth) = 7
Gene Simmons (Kiss) = 3
Nikki Sixx (Motley Crue) = 7
Jason Newsted (Metallica) = 6
Dana Strum (VVI, Slaughter) = 5
Tom Araya (Slayer) = 2
Steve DiGiorgio (Death, Iced Earth, etc) = 6
Jerry Dixon (Warrant) = 6
Joey DeMaio (Manowar) = 4
Frank Bello (Anthrax) = 5
Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath, Ozzy) = 7
Blackie Lawless (W.A.S.P.) = 5
Duff McKagan (Guns N Roses) = 7
Rachel Bolan (Skid Row) = 5
Bob Daisley (Ozzy) = 5
Jimmy Bain (Dio) = 5

 

[TinMan666]

Steve Harris (Iron Maiden) = 10. God.
Gene Simmons (Kiss) = 7. I think Gene is actually a bit underrated. Listen to most of his stuff from back in the 70s, he actually plays a "bass line" instead of just pumping on the root note of whatever chord the guitarist is playing, like most boring hard rock bass players.
Jason Newsted (Metallica) = is he ever audible on their recordings?
Joey DeMaio (Manowar) = 7. Joey can shred like a demon when he wants to.
Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath, Ozzy) = 10. God.
John Myung = 11
Geddy Lee = 10
Dean Gaudoin = 10

The rest I either haven't heard or just don't have an opinion on.

 

[TRrEiTxIxRiE DTrash]

I agree about Gene. I think he kinda sucks now, and in the '80s had no interest in the band and Paul played more bass on the non-makeup albums than Gene did apparently, but definitely on their early stuff his basslines were very good.

Put a normal open string thumping style bass line in Love Gun or Detroit Rock City and those 2 songs wouldn't have half the kick they do. It's Gene's bass that really drives those 2 songs.

 

[Sydo]

Steve Harris (Iron Maiden) = 10 pre 7th Son. 4 thereafter.
Cliff Burton (Metallica) = dead
Dave Ellefson (Megadeth) = 8
Gene Simmons (Kiss) = 6
Nikki Sixx (Motley Crue) = 8. Under rated!
Steve DiGiorgio (Death, Iced Earth, etc) = 9 very good
Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath, Ozzy) = 10
Blackie Lawless (W.A.S.P.) = 7. Far better with bass than guitar.

 

[Cyclonus]

Steve Harris (Iron Maiden) = 6
Cliff Burton (Metallica) = 7
Dave Ellefson (Megadeth) = 7
Gene Simmons (Kiss) = 6
Nikki Sixx (Motley Crue) = 5
Jason Newsted (Metallica) = 6
Dana Strum (VVI, Slaughter) = 5
Tom Araya (Slayer) = 5
Steve DiGiorgio (Death, Iced Earth, etc) = 9
Jerry Dixon (Warrant) = 5
Joey DeMaio (Manowar) = 5
Frank Bello (Anthrax) = 6
Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath, Ozzy) = 8
Blackie Lawless (W.A.S.P.) = 5
Duff McKagan (Guns N Roses) = 5
Rachel Bolan (Skid Row) = 5
Bob Daisley (Ozzy) = 6
Jimmy Bain (Dio) = 5

 

[Spiff]

I don't really pay that much attention to bass players. That's why I gave lousy scores to those I don't care much about

Steve Harris (Iron Maiden) = 10. He's especially good on songs that Adrian writes.
Cliff Burton (Metallica) = 8
Dave Ellefson (Megadeth) = 7
Gene Simmons (Kiss) = 2
Nikki Sixx (Motley Crue) = 5
Jason Newsted (Metallica) = 7
Dana Strum (VVI, Slaughter) = 1
Tom Araya (Slayer) = 3
Steve DiGiorgio (Death, Iced Earth, etc) = 3
Jerry Dixon (Warrant) = 1
Joey DeMaio (Manowar) = 1
Frank Bello (Anthrax) = 5
Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath, Ozzy) = 10
Blackie Lawless (W.A.S.P.) = he plays bass??
Duff McKagan (Guns N Roses) = 4
Rachel Bolan (Skid Row) = 5
Bob Daisley (Ozzy) = 3
Jimmy Bain (Dio) =1

WHERE'S GEDDY LEE???? He'd get a 10 easily.

 

[Seventh Son]

Steve Harris (Iron Maiden) = 10 - legend
Cliff Burton (Metallica) = 9
Dave Ellefson (Megadeth) = 6 - only adequate
Gene Simmons (Kiss) = 8 for his tongue
Jason Newsted (Metallica) = 5 - only this high cause he left
Tom Araya (Slayer) = 6
Steve DiGiorgio (Death, Iced Earth, etc) = 7 - his bass playing in Autopsy is awesome
Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath, Ozzy) = 8
Duff McKagan (Guns N Roses) = 6
Bob Daisley (Ozzy) = 5

Have to add:
Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel, Seal, LTE, BLS) = 9 legend on the stick
John Myung (Dream Theater) = 9 would be 10 if you could hear him at all in the mix
Sean Malone (Gordian Knot, Cynic) = 10 even better than Levin on the stick
Billy Sheehan (Mr. Big, Talas, Vai) = 9 finger freak
Dave LaRue (SMB, Dregs) = 9
Roger Glover (Deep Purple) = 8 best groover around
Stu Hamm (Satriani, GHS, solo) = 8

 

[Spiff]

Woah, didn't even notice Myung missing - I was just too shocked about Lee not being there!

Myung would get an 8 from me. I guess because he's so consistently at the same level I don't appreciate him as much.

Oh, and I used to talk to Sean Malone on IRC back in 1996 or 1997 - nice bloke.