How good a bass player was John ?

Regarding the whole 'people outside QZ/QOL don't call him a genius therefore he isn't', I suppose that means the earth was flat until it was globally (as opposed to rectangularly) recognised it isn't. Also, because nobody's said John hasn't got four legs, it means he has four legs. Oh wait: he's got nine! After all, nobody (inside or outside QZ) has denied it, which makes it categorically true.

Regarding the way the basslines are easily identifiable: yes, but remember that many times John would 'only' play them (and often did a marvellous work with that), but not necessarily write them. Same for the other members and their respective functions: not all drum parts played by Roger were written by Roger, etc.

There's also a snowball effect there: it's somewhat 'cool' to say Entwistle's a genius (and indeed he was very good but sometimes I think he got a bit overhyped), so more and more people say it. But then again, people also said the earth was flat, the atom was indivisible, the morphology of one's skull determined the personality, the earth was the centre of the universe, Methuselah lived up to 969 years, hoofbeats sound like those in the movies, mice are obsessed with cheese, vikings wore 'devil' helmets, etc... I suppose all those things were true, right? Because fuck the scientific method, knowledge is a matter of democracy!

Sebastian wrote:"Because fuck the scientific method, knowledge is a matter of democracy!" No, however the problem with this is that ultimately, whether or not the two Johns are geniuses is subjective. Personally, I don't believe that simply because popular opinion views a musican in a particular way, therefore he is whatever that opinion is, but it is still untimately opinion, and one could in fact argue that in this case, yes, knowledge is a matter of democracy.


Personally, I don't believe that Entwistle was a musical genius, althought I do think he was a genius bass player since IMO he was just about the greatest rock bassist of all time, but there is a massive difference between evaluating the talent of Estwistle and Deason (which as I said above is ultimately subjective) and everything else you said, which is is not open to subjective interpretation.

Who ever say's queen wern't an album band needs to listen to the first 8 albums in full.  end of story....Listen,  sometimes I'll listen to a Queen song and think how underated John is....it could be a song i heard a million times like crazy little thing or You're my best friend....never paid much attention to the bass lines, but all a sudden it hits me how great he was...i guess the only thing we're debating is the word genius.  I'm Definitely a fan of his for sure.

mike hunt wrote:"Who ever say's queen wern't an album band needs to listen to the first 8 albums in full. end of story...." When you're talking about the general public, they definitely do not view Queen as an album band. They would view Queen as a singles band who also made ANATO and perhaps The Game. Obviously, we will have a different view of them, but the truth is, many non-Queen fans would know the hits, and perhaps not much else. I don't think it's a coincidence that their biggest selling album was their first Greatest Hits album.

To sum it up: John is an underrated genius!

Gregsynth wrote: To sum it up: John is an underrated genius!

Let's just leave it at that......

Amazon wrote: mike hunt wrote:"Who ever say's queen wern't an album band needs to listen to the first 8 albums in full. end of story...." When you're talking about the general public, they definitely do not view Queen as an album band. They would view Queen as a singles band who also made ANATO and perhaps The Game. Obviously, we will have a different view of them, but the truth is, many non-Queen fans would know the hits, and perhaps not much else. I don't think it's a coincidence that their biggest selling album was their first Greatest Hits album.

I think the first greatest hits is still the biggest selling album in the U.K, and the second isn't far behind in the the top 10,  The early Queen albums (first 6) really should get more props.  When you have bon jovi albums getting more props than queen albums somethings wrong.

Sir GH wrote: mike hunt wrote: "I don't think he had a distinctive style that sets him apart from other players, like a geddy lee or steve harris.
"

John Deacon was at least as unique as them.  Like Roger Taylor, he just wasn't flashy and in-your-face about it.

Deacon's bass lines have been described as little stories, and I couldn't agree more.  His playing on Sail Away Sweet Sister is amongst the most interesting ever in a rock song.  His sense of timing was exquisite, as was his ability to do exactly what was right for the song - nothing more, nothing less.  To me, that's what makes an excellent musician.  Nothing's worse than someone who overplays.

Try covering The Show Must Go On in a band without a bass player, and almost everything will be missing from that first verse.  Deacon was an absolute genius.

Crazy Little Thing writes:  And there's no other bass player who could have gotten away with wearing the shorts that John wore at the Wembley gig.

Hello friends,

In my poinión, John is an exceptional musician, not a virtuoso, but that's only a matter of technique and method.

John has a great sense of rhythm, knows how to compose a simple and catchy song (IWTBF), as well as a complex and elaborate (Who needs you, Spread your wings). He knows exactly how to fit in the harmonies of Freddy and Brian, which was not easy, without disturb into the mix, I think he was an expert in the studio. As an engineer arranger, and mixer, I think he's one of the responsibles of some great studio works on mix and mastering as Innuendo or The miracle.

John, capable of creating bass lines undoubtedly have marked the Queen's personality as much as the other three members. As you can note on: Radio Gaga from Roger (great bass lines, The show must go on (Freddie/May), Friends WBF (John), or Get Dow Make Love

In short, any of the members of Queen had the ability to not only write beautifully, if not do not allow your ego spoil the song. As with groups of virtuosos such as Dream Theater, who despite being great, just boring after a 9-minute song in which all members are doing one solo at a time with  the maximum possible number of notes per measure. Fitting perfectly into each song.

... But it's just my opinion. Hope you enjoy.

Greetings!

His Bass playing spoke to me listen to his licks on millionare waltz and of course liar and the live version of liar from the 77 earls court gig brilliant fills he and the late great Dee Murray from the Elton John Band were lyrical bass players
if thats the correct term for bass speaking to one lol, and many people feel elton went to shit once he split up the classic line up of murray olsson and johnstone well johnstone never really left and olsson has been back since 01

USQUEENFAN wrote: His Bass playing spoke to me listen to his licks on millionare waltz and of course liar and the live version of liar from the 77 earls court gig brilliant fills he and the late great Dee Murray from the Elton John Band were lyrical bass players
if thats the correct term for bass speaking to one lol, and many people feel elton went to shit once he split up the classic line up of murray olsson and johnstone well johnstone never really left and olsson has been back since 01

Dee Murray was a great bass player.