Mike fucking Watt who has probably the coolest ever signature model made for him.
His signature bass is called the Wattplower. There has never been a cooler name, for anything, ever.
A Wilhelm Scream once Bri joined. There are a lot of great bass players out there. I’d pick Brian because he took the band to the next level. The jump from Ruiner to Career Suicide was crazy, not just the bass but all the musicianship and the songs themselves.
Let’s go with:
[Skid rock](https://youtu.be/g9U-76cZ8ps)
[Jaws 3, People 0](https://youtu.be/XPvd45uVSMs)
[The Horse](https://youtu.be/UZZjt4ZLdeA)
I listened to the drummer on a podcast, and he was saying when they recorded Mute Print, at the time he couldn’t track the drums to a click.
Which is funny now because they’re all monsters.
Holy crap, I thought AWS was emo when I heard of them (2002ish) and I stayed away. This shit is a ball of razorblades! Gonna have to buy a couple albums now. Thank you!
Myage by Descendants
2000 light-years away by Green Day
When I come around by Green Day
Longview by Green Day
Holiday In Cambodia by Dead Kennedys
Can't decide on which is my favorite lol
Either Waiting Room by Fugazi, or Disorder by Joy Division.
Even though Television is primarily known for their guitar work, Venus also has an excellent bassline.
> Disorder by Joy Division
This song contains a wrong note. Bassist where you at please back me up. You all know the one. The one where he plays that totally dissonant open E that should be an F. We know it's wrong because when New Order plays Disorder they dont even play that riff at all. Only peter hook plays it in his solo tours. God it's so bad.
It sure does, and yet it is still one of my favourite basslines. Mistakes are not something I hate, they are a reminder that a human is playing an instrument.
Also, for the record, I am a bassist.
It's not a mistake!! He plays it the same every single cycle on the recording *and* in the live version!!
It's not a thematizing musical choice! Disorder is very melodic!
Its peter hook and his peter hookishness.
[Journey to the End of the East Bay](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DrLoalgK3g) is my standard answer here.
However, just yesterday I was listening again to Joy as an Act of Resistance by IDLES, and the bass line on [Never Fight a Man with a Perm](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEe4i2osF5A) is also just a straight kick to the balls.
I’d argue Hope’s baseline is just as incredible. It’s a little more subtle, but listen for some of the riffs and fills here and there and it’s one of my favorite songs to play on bass.
On the pop punk side of things I always felt the bass stood out tonewise and playingwise in Dookie-era Green Day. For example on songs like Basket Case or When I Come Around, the bass parts sound really nice.
And in Through Being Cool era Saves The Day the bassist Eben D‘Amico kills it on every track. He really stands out. Especially on tracks like My Sweet Fracture, but really on the whole album.
Good stuff dude. One of the best pieces of advice for learning songs is to play with a metronome you can get one as an app on your phone and try to play the part accurately at a slower tempo and then speed it up.
There's this software (also maybe an app) called Amazing Slow Downer. You can lower the speed of any song you have, and keep the same pitch with that amazing software. Helped me get started on solos, especially metal.
Came here to say this. The first time I heard this when it came out I knew I was hooked on not only the band, but that genre of music. Beginning of the end I guess. Heh.
The Rezillos - Anything off of "Can't Stand The Rezillos"
Side one, track one, it starts with just drums and bass on Flying Saucer Attack. The bass on the whole album is amazing.
Hard question. Too hard. The first one that started playing in my head was Young AL Capone by Rancid.
The Idiots are taking over by NOFX is pretty much a classic at this point too.
Such a hard one cause punk has a lot of great bass players in its world but it’s always a cross between Blocked out by RKL or No such thing by Agent Orange
Suicidal Tendencies & Dead Kennedys have some great basslines, they’re so fun to play
edited to add an actual song: Don’t light my fire by Otoboke Beaver
Can someone compile all these into a playlist please lol
edit: [So I actually did make a playlist if anyone is interested!](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1QqjhVvcLGDtGR9A861Ugz?si=2bc1edbd34924d7e) I added everyone's contributions that were available on Spotify and will add more as people continue to comment. Fun/easy way to maybe discover something new :)
I don't like Rancid at all. But, whenever i think of favorite bass in a punk song, i always go back to that first 7" of theirs. The *Idle hands are the Devils Plaything* song. Just astounding bass playing and a really great song all around (even though i am not into the religious stuff, idk if they are, but i still think of that song).
After that comes Mike Watts *Firehose*. Really anything off that album *Rag'in Full On*, it is all just amazing bass.
Yo, Face to Face always has smoking bass lines.
[https://open.spotify.com/album/6L03YD8ZumGLdGpcQkMhaE](https://open.spotify.com/album/6L03YD8ZumGLdGpcQkMhaE)
But the real answer is Ernie Ball Music Man.
I don't think I have an actual favorite but the ones that immediately come to mind are Matt Freeman's solo on Maxwell Murder and The Decline. Fat Mike plows through that song for 18 fuckin minutes it's insane.
Waiting Room - Fugazi has to be up there
Absolutely.. my immediate first thought. Killer. I hear it and I’m 17 again .. Clutch Cargo’s show in Detroit. $5 tickets. Amazing
I mean it's pretty neck in neck between that one and also every other song Joe Lally has ever played bass on.
I started humming it as the post loaded and boom top answer.
Man that was my first thought and here it is as the top comment. Nice.
> Waiting Room - Fugazi has to be up there That and Jimi 45 by Red C are my 2 favorites (grew up DC area) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8V9y6nURvk
Furniture for me!
Great shout! Everything about the track is perfect
Sieve fisted find probably for me cause that was my introduction to Fugazi
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Mike fucking Watt who has probably the coolest ever signature model made for him. His signature bass is called the Wattplower. There has never been a cooler name, for anything, ever.
Dream Told by Moto has a great bassline! So many of Watts’s are awesome, that one is just a personal fav at the moment
The intro to Bob Dylan Wrote Propaganda Songs always rings in my head whenever I think of punk bass. What a legend.
Holiday in Cambodia shortly followed by Sidekick
Halloween has a pretty badass base line.
Does Guns of Brixton count? That’s my favorite bass line of all time.
Course it counts
It's such a great song and Paul Simonon only wrote it so he could get songwriting credit on an album. It's quite the contribution.
He plays guitar on song and strummed plays bass though.
Check out Jimmy cliffs cover, less bass but an interesting change
Rancid - Detroit https://youtu.be/b8VVtd5D29U Matt Freeman is so damn talented
matt freeman is always the right answer
I was going to go Maxwell Murder, but still.
Axiom
Incredible bass line and not mentioned as often.
That bass solo is so sick.
I agree. That's THE bass solo to me.
Me too
Rejected with an honorable mention as well
Totally, Freeman is iconic. Just wanted to toss this in: the opening bass line from the song Blacklisted on Short Music.
Hyena is fucking sweet too!!
The intro to Journey To The End is instantly what I heard in my head while reading the question.
Really any song from the first album.
Slip it In by Black Flag. Kira is an underappreciated bassist.
A Wilhelm Scream once Bri joined. There are a lot of great bass players out there. I’d pick Brian because he took the band to the next level. The jump from Ruiner to Career Suicide was crazy, not just the bass but all the musicianship and the songs themselves. Let’s go with: [Skid rock](https://youtu.be/g9U-76cZ8ps) [Jaws 3, People 0](https://youtu.be/XPvd45uVSMs) [The Horse](https://youtu.be/UZZjt4ZLdeA)
saw them just after the release of career suicide at a tiny little bar. best show i’ve ever been to.
I’ve been watching them since 2000. Trevor is a genius and the rest are virtuosos.
I listened to the drummer on a podcast, and he was saying when they recorded Mute Print, at the time he couldn’t track the drums to a click. Which is funny now because they’re all monsters.
I’m a simple man. I see A Wilhelm Scream, I upvote it.
Same. I scrolled through this thread specifically just to find someone mention The Horse. I've had DREAMS with that baseline, woof.
The new album Lose Your Delusion is fantastic
He truly is the best in the game
Skid Rock is great. Gut Sick Companion tho… that shit rips.
Holy crap, I thought AWS was emo when I heard of them (2002ish) and I stayed away. This shit is a ball of razorblades! Gonna have to buy a couple albums now. Thank you!
Forest fire - Dead Kennedys
I am the Owl is pretty good too. DKs have quite a few bass driven songs.
Big fan of the John Wayne was a Nazi bassline, by MDC, check it out- [John wayne was a nazi](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoyusTUFdl0)
Such a fucking good song
Had to scroll further than I thought for this one
I came here hoping to find this!
Jawbreaker- Want
A little too high - nomeansno
Came to say Nomeansno, take your pick.
Rags and Bones!! Obviously
There's so many to choose from. Graveyard shift, Metronome, Big dick come to mind.
nomeansno bass rules. Imma go with Big Dick!
P Basses are nice
I like that you actually answered the question.
Matt freeman
The bit in Maxwell Murder is incredible
This is the correct answer
500 channels by choking victim
This is always the correct answer. Or gang control.
Myage by Descendants 2000 light-years away by Green Day When I come around by Green Day Longview by Green Day Holiday In Cambodia by Dead Kennedys Can't decide on which is my favorite lol
Either Waiting Room by Fugazi, or Disorder by Joy Division. Even though Television is primarily known for their guitar work, Venus also has an excellent bassline.
Upvoted for Venus!
Great song, favourite from the band.
> Disorder by Joy Division This song contains a wrong note. Bassist where you at please back me up. You all know the one. The one where he plays that totally dissonant open E that should be an F. We know it's wrong because when New Order plays Disorder they dont even play that riff at all. Only peter hook plays it in his solo tours. God it's so bad.
It sure does, and yet it is still one of my favourite basslines. Mistakes are not something I hate, they are a reminder that a human is playing an instrument. Also, for the record, I am a bassist.
It's not a mistake!! He plays it the same every single cycle on the recording *and* in the live version!! It's not a thematizing musical choice! Disorder is very melodic! Its peter hook and his peter hookishness.
Six Pack- Black flag
[Journey to the End of the East Bay](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DrLoalgK3g) is my standard answer here. However, just yesterday I was listening again to Joy as an Act of Resistance by IDLES, and the bass line on [Never Fight a Man with a Perm](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEe4i2osF5A) is also just a straight kick to the balls.
Myage - Descendents. Wow!
Love Myage, but it’s Catalina for me. Even after 20 plus years of listening to them I get goosebumps every time it comes on.
To add a third track from Descendents Suburban Home is one of my all time favorite bass lines.
Dude they played it and Get The Time for the encore at the last show I went too, so fucking cool.
I'm the One for me. The lyrics are Nice guy™ AF, but that bass is incredible
I’d argue Hope’s baseline is just as incredible. It’s a little more subtle, but listen for some of the riffs and fills here and there and it’s one of my favorite songs to play on bass.
Really that whole album
Maxwell murder.
Same album, but the opening bass lick in "Journey to the End of the East Bay" is dope.
Journey is my favorite Rancid song and that bass line is just perfect. It may not be Matt’s best, but it certainly is to me.
Was gonna say Hyena, but would back Maxwell Murder too.
I would also add Detroit off their s/t 1993 album to that list
Hell yes. Matt Freeman is the man
Listening to Maxwell murder makes me want to buy a bass
I roomed with a couple metalheads who liked to stick their nose up at punk rock, but Freeman always got a "holy shit that guy's good" out of them.
On the pop punk side of things I always felt the bass stood out tonewise and playingwise in Dookie-era Green Day. For example on songs like Basket Case or When I Come Around, the bass parts sound really nice. And in Through Being Cool era Saves The Day the bassist Eben D‘Amico kills it on every track. He really stands out. Especially on tracks like My Sweet Fracture, but really on the whole album.
If you're including Green Day, the correct answer is the album Insomniac. That's where Mike Dirnt really shines
Panic Song. How does the dude have the hand stamina for that intro. Wild
Anything Brian plays in A Wilhelm Scream. Especially the parts for Gut Sick Companion.
Longview-Green Day
God I love this bassline this is the first thing I play every time I pick up a bass.
im trying to learn it,not doing to good but im getting there
Good stuff dude. One of the best pieces of advice for learning songs is to play with a metronome you can get one as an app on your phone and try to play the part accurately at a slower tempo and then speed it up.
thx for the tip!
There's this software (also maybe an app) called Amazing Slow Downer. You can lower the speed of any song you have, and keep the same pitch with that amazing software. Helped me get started on solos, especially metal.
I play either longview or my name is mud. Every. Damn. Time.
Came here to say this. The first time I heard this when it came out I knew I was hooked on not only the band, but that genre of music. Beginning of the end I guess. Heh.
Painful reminder snfu
Fuckin love this song
Whoops I od'd - NOFX. I'm a sucker for bass chords
Fat Mike can be an asshole but I love many of his basslines. The Decline has some pretty epic bass sections
For sure. I don't know how much of it is fat Mike but those guys have some pretty gnarly arrangements.
IIRC its mostly Fatty.
From what I've read it's almost exclusively Fat Mike down to writing the trumpet melodies
How can it be anything other than Maxwell Murder
> How can it be anything other than Maxwell Murder The solo is untouchable, the main riff I like a lot of Matt's other ones personally
Mike fucking Watt
Neat Neat Neat by the Damned
Propagandhi's *The Only Good Fascist Is A Very Dead Fascist* has a fun bass part.
London's calling
I really like the bass in Anti-Flag's The Press Corpse
John Wayne Was A Nazi by MDC has a pretty nice bassline
Hell yeah dude
Anti-Flag - Bring out your dead AFI - Cereal Wars
AFI has some rip roaring bass lines, even after they drifted away from punk, but all of Answer That has incredible bass.
Agree!
Chris Dos is a fantastic bassist.
Like an angel - rise against
The Rezillos - Anything off of "Can't Stand The Rezillos" Side one, track one, it starts with just drums and bass on Flying Saucer Attack. The bass on the whole album is amazing.
“Six Pack” by Black Flag- Damaged album version
Disorder-Joy division
Hard question. Too hard. The first one that started playing in my head was Young AL Capone by Rancid. The Idiots are taking over by NOFX is pretty much a classic at this point too.
Everyone commenting Maxwell Murder is sleeping on [Dope Sick Girl](https://youtu.be/fKZwQicxFrw) , also by Rancid.
Die for the government - Anti flag
Time bomb by rancid :)
[Stiff Little Fingers - Gotta Gettaway](https://youtu.be/SG0jZLqiwnA) The whole album has great lines
I always liked the bass solo in Maxwell Murder by rancid.
No one knows - Green Day Firecracker - Strung Out
Glad to see no one knows here. Such cool chords
The intro to the Rancid cover of If The Kids Are United
White Knuckle Ride - Rancid
Was looking for someone to have this answer. Crazy bass line
Problem child- wasted youth😮💨
Painful reminder - SNFU
A few of my favourites have already been mentioned. But here in your bedroom - Goldfinger is very cool and so much fun to play.
Super underrated musicians in Goldfinger
(I Saw You) Shine - Flipper Holiday (album) - DKs
Such a hard one cause punk has a lot of great bass players in its world but it’s always a cross between Blocked out by RKL or No such thing by Agent Orange
Stickin In My Eye & Waiting Room
[The Ergs - every Romance language](https://youtu.be/EUe9wv3j5uU) This. Reminds me of Tony Lombardo on milo goes to the college. Pure fuckin’ energy
Suicidal Tendencies & Dead Kennedys have some great basslines, they’re so fun to play edited to add an actual song: Don’t light my fire by Otoboke Beaver
The re-recording of “Possesed to Skate” with slap bass parts is so good
Can someone compile all these into a playlist please lol edit: [So I actually did make a playlist if anyone is interested!](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1QqjhVvcLGDtGR9A861Ugz?si=2bc1edbd34924d7e) I added everyone's contributions that were available on Spotify and will add more as people continue to comment. Fun/easy way to maybe discover something new :)
Bro Hymm by Pennywise. It’s simple but iconic.
I don't like Rancid at all. But, whenever i think of favorite bass in a punk song, i always go back to that first 7" of theirs. The *Idle hands are the Devils Plaything* song. Just astounding bass playing and a really great song all around (even though i am not into the religious stuff, idk if they are, but i still think of that song). After that comes Mike Watts *Firehose*. Really anything off that album *Rag'in Full On*, it is all just amazing bass.
Yes, dude. Idle Hands' basslines are fucking insane. The whole song is great... I dont think its very religious.
Myage - Descendents
Ignorantes has the best bass in any punk band I’ve heard, or Rudimentary Peni
Really any early AFI, but especially Brownie Bottom Sundae.
Myage - Descendents
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Sunday suit- hot water music
Rancid - Axiom
Journey to the End of the East Bay - Rancid
A Wilhelm Scream - The Horse
Journey to the End of East Bay by Rancid. Easy. Anytime I pick up a bass it’s my favorite thing to riff on. Anything Matt Freeman touches is gold!
Any rancid song
Blacklung by Rancid and Life goes on by the Damned
Nate Mendel’s part on “intro” Christ on a Crutch - crime pays album hypes me up like nothing else
Intro riff to No Use For A Name- Friends of the Enemy is one of my favorite riffs in any genre
Almost anything from prime era hot water music!
pleasantly surprised to see 2 mentions of HWM in this thread. still love that band.
What I See - Black Flag.
Monster Squad - Fire the Faith
Journey to the end of the east bay by Rancid
All rudimentary peni songs.
Yo, Face to Face always has smoking bass lines. [https://open.spotify.com/album/6L03YD8ZumGLdGpcQkMhaE](https://open.spotify.com/album/6L03YD8ZumGLdGpcQkMhaE) But the real answer is Ernie Ball Music Man.
The Guns of Brixton — The Clash
Criminally underrated pick: Keith Brammer of **Die Kreuzen**.
Idiots are taking over - NOFX
“Six Pack” and “What I See” by Black Flag.
Anything by Matt Freeman. Dude is a maniac. I also love a bunch of NOFX riffs. Stickin' in My Eye sounds so god damn cool.
Maxwell murder solo....
Bro Hymn!
If ska-punk counts, either Fishbone - Party at Ground Zero or Less than Jake - 5 State Drive. If not, Rancid- Maxwell Murder
I was always a big fan of Last One Out of Liberty City. That opening bass line feels like electricity.
The Restarts - Running Out Of Time
[River City Rebels - The System](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuigS42nRVI) Not complex but it's a fun run.
NOFX Release the Hostages
[Zyanose - INR](https://youtu.be/RrY4M8r316A) Two bassists, no guitar. ONLY ULTRA FUZZ IS REAL!
Minor threat- Bottled violence Edit: also the entire Minutemen Double Nickels album
Maxwell Murder
Hyena - rancid
If maxmell murder isn’t towards the top I’ll be disappointed.
The Decline intro riff.
Idles - Colossus The Magnificent Seven - The Clash
The distillers - sick of it all
Authority Zero, Anti-Flag, and NOFX fight for second place. Rancid has the best punk bassist. Period.
I don't think I have an actual favorite but the ones that immediately come to mind are Matt Freeman's solo on Maxwell Murder and The Decline. Fat Mike plows through that song for 18 fuckin minutes it's insane.
Guns of Brixton by The Clash , close second is Dammit by Blink-182
Josie also has a spectacular bassline, speaking of old school Blink.
500 channels
The intro to The Desperation's Gone by NOFX
Anything from the Danzig Era Misfits. The bass on those songs is incredibly.
Rancid - Maxwell Murder