In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Geddy Lee, RUSH’s legendary bassist, shared his thoughts and how became bearish. On top of that, he named his 10 bassists favorites, a quite varied list that we leave below as list:
JAMES JAMERSON
When Geddy Lee was a kid working at his mother’s variety store, it was a 45-minute commute to work with her every day and back. And the pop radio was always on in the car, and of course, he was the drummer on the dash of the car, as were a lot of people. The same in the store [where] they work: the radio was on all the time. So he was exposed to a lot of Motown music with James Jamerson playing.
JOHN ENTWISTLE
He was one of the first gods for Geddy Lee. Gods of rock. Since he first heard “My Generation,” he was like “Who is that?” That was a name you needed to know. And he still considers him the greatest rock bassist of all time, in a sense.
JACK BRUCE
[Cream] was by far his favorite band when he was old enough to appreciate rock music and he was getting more and more into rock. Cream was a huge influence on early Rush and on as a bass player. They would do their own version of “Spoonful.” They played cafes and high school dances and all that. They really tried to emulate Cream in the early days of Rush, so there was a real link to Jack Bruce for him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqtcF5iKryc
CHRIS SQUIRE
With a friend, Geddy Lee used to miss school all the time when they were in high school, and they would go to his house. And they were both crazy about music, and he excited him with many different things that he had never heard, many progressive rock bands that he did not know. Then one day, they skipped class and went to his house, and his friend put this record on. It was Yes, time and a word. And Lee was surprised by the sound of Chris Squire’s bass. ”
JOHN PAUL JONES
Well, Zeppelin was a huge influence on Rush. And their original drummer, John Rutsey, was at the first concert in Toronto, at a place called Rock Pile. He came home excited about that band, and so the day the first album came out, the group lined up at the store to get it. And Lee remembers running to their house and putting it on. And the three of them sat around in his record in the room, listening to the first Zeppelin record, and they were just blown away by the band’s tone in the first place.
JACO PASTORIUS
Something caught Lee’s eye and it took him back to Jazz style and he would listen to different things. He remembers there was a time when the Weather Report album Heavy Weather came out and someone had turned him into it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MY5XHBLq7_o
PAUL MCCARTNEY
“[McCartney] is overlooked as a bass player, but as a pop bass player says, he is a very melodic musician.”
Flea
“Flea blows my mind.” When you talk about a generation of bassists that started to excel… there are so many. But Flea just blew his mind
Les Claypool
“I really didn’t know much about [Primus] until just before they started traveling with us.”
Jeff Berlin
“Well I was a Yes fan, that’s well documented. And [Yes original drummer] Bill Bruford started doing some solo work. And on a couple of his solo records, he had a bassist named Jeff Berlin. I didn’t know who this guy was, but his playing was amazing. And it turns out we were in the UK, and they were doing a club gig… I think Neil and I went to see the show. And as much as I loved Jeff Berlin on the record, when I saw them live, it just knocked me out. ”