Who Came Up With The Bassline For UP

David Bowie said someone in Queen did, John said Bowie, Roger said John (but he was the one to remember it again). Mostly everyone else say it’s John too. Anyone know who actually created that bassline?

And if anyone says Vanilla Ice then get off this thread

Metropolis, re:

>Anyone know who actually created that bassline?

Brian, I'm sure, will confirm that HE created it.

John said Bowie and Bowie said John. Everyone else said John, not Bowie. Much more likely that John misremembered rather than everyone else who was there.

So it was John.

I bet if you ask Ratty, he'll say he did.

There was a recent radio interview with Brian, in which Under Pressure was discussed. I haven't been able to find audio of the interview, but there are some quotes listed in this article: www.ultimateclassicrock.com/queen-david-bowie-under-pressure/

"He recalled a moment soon after John Deacon had come up with the signature bass riff: “I remember David Bowie reaching over to John and saying, ‘No, don’t do it like that,’ and John going, ‘Excuse me? I’m the bass player, right? This is how I do it!’”

Brian also refers to that incident between Bowie and Deacon in an article he wrote about Under Pressure, after Bowie's death: www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/brian-tells-how-david-bowie-7161073

"We all brought stuff to the table, and my contribution was a heavy riff in D which was lurking in my head. But what we got excited about was a riff which Deacy began playing, 6 notes the same, then one note a fourth down. Ding-Ding-Ding Diddle Ing-Ding, you might say. But suddenly hunger took over and we repaired to a local restaurant for food and a fair amount of drink. (Local Vaux wine as drunk in Montreux is a well-kept secret). A couple or three hours later, we’re back in the studio.

“What was that riff, you had, Deacy?” says David B. “I was like this”, says John Deacon. “No it wasn’t, says Bowie – it was like this”.

This was a funny moment because I can just see DB going over and putting his hand on Johns fretting hand and stopping him. It was also a tense moment because it could have gone either way. Deacy did not take kindly to being told what to do, especially by physical interferences while he was playing! But he was good natured, and it all went ahead.Then we began playing around – using the riff as a starting point."

At some point after returning to the studio, Roger says he had to remind John about the riff, as he'd forgotten it. Whether he did so before or after the tense moment between Bowie and Deacon, I don't know. But either way, even if he needed to be reminded of it, everyone credits John with the bassline.

I'm pretty sure they'd have had the tape running when they were jamming around before dinner so a quick check of the tape. We know they did put other things down on tape so I think the story has a good chunk of apocryphary attached to it. However, it's funny so that's good enough for me.

That bass line came from the bass player, whose name is John Deacon.

One of them just needs to step up and say 'I thought of that, it was definitely me, all the others have misremembered', then the next day instead of them saying someone else thought of it they will all claim it was them and we will still be none the wiser....

For a brief minute i thought you meant the track "UP" by Roger.

We're gonna go...... UP!!!!

[QUOTE] [b]dave76 wrote:[/b]

For a brief minute i thought you meant the track "UP" by Roger.[/QUOTE]

Yup, those were some 5 confusing seconds.

** EDIT **

Sorry, the story below is about Anothe One Bites The Dust, not UP! Sorry for the mess :)

** EDIT **


Nile Rodgers said John Deacon got it from a session with Chic:

"...One year to the day [after Good Times reached the top], the number one hit was Another One Bites the Dust by Queen and it sounded not like My Sharona but like Good Times! It was clearly an homage, not to mention that [Queen bassist] John Deacon was with me in the studio when I wrote the damn thing! But then, as Verdi said(5), "Good composers borrow, great composers steal..."

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/feb/05/nile-rogers-chic-disco-david-bowie-daft-punk-paul-lester

Good Times might have been an inspiration, as both are very similar.

Cheers,

Ogre-

I agree with Ogre. Every chance that the inspiration was from good times.

I think the Nile Rodgers quote is about AOBTD.

For UP throw in some Steve Winwood Gimme Some Lovin'

[QUOTE] [b]dysan wrote:[/b]

I think the Nile Rodgers quote is about AOBTD.

For UP throw in some Steve Winwood Gimme Some Lovin'[/QUOTE]

Sure! Sorry, I mixed it all UP :D

Cheers,

Ogre-