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For those in the know, commercial âelectronicaâ was always a sham: a marketing scheme masquerading as a genre that haphazardly threw together artists and scenes which often had little to do with one another. Originally used in the early 1990s to describe a wide swath of experimental techno, the term was quickly co-opted by the American music industry, which hoped to capitalize on the success of European artists like Fatboy Slim, Daft Punk, the Prodigy, and the Chemical Brothers and break the sound into the U.S. pop charts. (The fact that these artists were all riffing on styles that had originated years earlier in Black and brown communities in cities like Chicago, Detroit, and New York makes the electronica push feel like a particularly egregious act of cultural erasure.) In retrospect, it might seem absurd, but for countless young listenersâmany of whom likely first encountered this music via their local alternative-rock radio stationâelect
The bass doesnât get the attention of its flashier, six-string cousin.
Yet, talk to musicians and theyâll tell you that the bass is at least as important as the guitar â or, really, any instrument â since it sets the groove as it marries the rhythmic and melodic elements of a song.
California s Bay Area certainly has had more than its fair share of great bassists over the years, ones who could not only be counted on to hold a tune together but also found ways to repeatedly steal the spotlight.
Itâs time to celebrate those mighty groove masters as we offer up our list of the top 25 Bay Area bassists of all time.