10 Worst Bass Tones in Super Famous Songs (as voted for by you)

Sorry, Entwistle didn’t do bad bass lines.

The ironic thing about the Metallica song is that they removed the nice sounding bass while keeping the terrible guitar tone.

Fieldy's tone is near godly, simply ahead of his time.

This just makes me realise that there a lot of people out there who wouldn't know a good tone if it slapped them in the bass.

I don't think Flea being on the list is controversial. His tone is pretty bad. No matter what.

As for Fieldy... his tone, like you said, is devoid of all mid range, and that's where the notes live. Other people can do that though and not lose the nots. dUg is one of them. SUPER thick and heave tone... but there's notes and clarity in it. What he does is just amazing.

Gotta say I agree on Jaco. I can hear that he's a great player but I just can't get past that nasal, wooly fretless J bass. 🤢

Anything from seinfeld tv show!

None of these bass tones screamed "worse" but I'd say these are more "indifferent" because they're made to fit the sound of the tracks overall.

There is no 'bad.' There's only what works for the song.

y'all need to give a listen to berlin - take my breath away, from the original top gun soundtrack.
sounds like it was performed on a giant rubber band.

I love James Jamerson and the best I've heard it done to a tee and I could never figure out what he was doing. Teddy showed me his Motown bass. Precession with the relief that the Neck Bowed and he said, "James always had High String action. He was an Upright Bass Player so he was used to it that way." Then those notes that were slightly off fell right into to place.

As a guitar player, I don't really get why most of these would be considered bad, except maybe for overuse of effects, which can sound bad on guitar too. Yeah sure I guess that Paul McCartney tone sounds kinda bland maybe. But the first Flea tone, to me, sounds more like it's the guitar making the "unpleasant" noise over it, and it normalizes later in the track. And yeah, the Korn clanky sound is super strange, but iconic, and I guess that to get that when he really HITS the bass, his "normal" playing tone then sounds super muddy and unclear. It's a tone geared for one very specific kind of playing, and sounds weird otherwise.
I'm planning to get a Yamaha bass, and I gotta learn what really makes a bass tone *good*, tho.

to me it turns to be the BEST tones of all times

I don't think people understand that bass has to punch and cut in a mix, and when soloed, it may not be the best tone, but for getting through in a mix, it's perfect. Fieldy is a perfect example. That clickity scooped mids was perfect tone to cut through the 7 string down tuned guitars. Korn wouldn't be Korn without fieldy

Korn has the worst bass tone of all time it’s just horrific. There’s a clip of the bass player from Lamb of God making fun of him too XD. And as far as Metallica goes that’s just bad production making a mediocre bass tone straight up bad

I always assumed the bass sound in the journey song was piano. I’m not a journey fan, so I haven’t listened to it that hard.

In my opinion Flea's tones are just crap

I love Journey, Valory, I love heavy 80s chorus and playing with a pick. I think everyone is so obsessed today with having this "vintage sound" and trying to be a hipster. Also, i think people much like guitar shredding lunatics think everyone has to be slap and lightning fast or it sucks! I thin this is a young, meaning born after 1981 groupthink. Bring on the Chorus and the picks, lighters and being to drunk to notice the tone of the bass! I started playing bass in the 80s on a POS guitar with POS amp and nothing in between. We had a lot of fun and people liked what we did! I'm old now and like listening to records on a hi fi, I can't hear that well anymore anyways. Just play in tune and don't hit the wrong notes, especially the bass players.

Almost everything by Adam Clayton. Utterly forgettable and drab.

I been lookin for that journey sound all my life

Getting the impression that several people who voted are not fans of flatwounds, and want more "bark" in the tone. For a tone that's not my favorite? Dirnt. He's good, it suits the mix, but it's not my cuppa.

Except for the Korn track one can confidently say that your viewers are idiots and know nothing. Pastorius, Entwistle, James Jamerson, Flea...? Give me a f@&*ing break!

The people should get out more. They don't know what making a recording is about.

It's funny because when I think of bad bass tones first names coming to my mind are Billy Sheehan, displaying a generally atrocious tone (ususally with the same problem as Korn's with further misconfigured multiamp bullshit added) and Jaco Pastorius, but certainly not on the track mentioned here !
Also as a sound engineer I'm totally shocked at most of those picks (only exceptions are the last Flea piece, McCartney and Korn, they're just gross), people really don't seem to have any clue about what a mix is and how you incorporate instruments inside of it. They should quit navel-gazing and try and learn how to sound good as a band, not just as solo wankers.

Must be disheartening to know your subscribers are divs who fear unconventional tones

When i was 17, Follow the Leader was huge and made me want a 5 string so i could learn to play those songs. But the more i realized Fieldy's style is kind of a half assed slap with really loose strings, it all lost its luster. But i had a bass now, so i learned other stuff.

Take My Breath Away from the Top Gun soundtrack used the same bass tone as Don't Stop Believin'. Both songs get on my nerves. Even though it works for the song and is what gets stuck in your head, it's a terrible choice.

1.) Highly subjective. It's hard to separate the feeling for the song from the objective view of the tone.
2.) How many of us have found 'the perfect bass tone' at home only to have it sadly lacking at rehearsal or gig?
3.) It would be interesting to do this same evaluation with people who are non-bass players and/or non-musicians.

I think a lot of you need to stop listening to isolated instrument tracks. Newsflash — a lot of isolated studio recordings sound a bit weird out of the context of the rest of the mix. I don’t know how many people I’ve argued with about Elliott Randall’s tone on Reelin’ In the Years, as one prominent example of a supposedly “bad” tone

The one thing I'll say is about Freak on a Leash:

Either play the bass or play the drums. You're not playing the bongos. Pick a lane.
The rest fit their respective tracks in the manner they were intended. I think.

I feel like this video is what every guitar player has to learn at some point. What sounds good at home, isn't what sounds good in a mix. Many of these bass parts fit the mix so good, but yeah, if that was the tone I practiced with at home I'd be a bit sad? but it is good to train your ear to that. So much bass direct into the board on those old-school tones

September is such a massive wall of sound though. This was more composed, instead of just written. In September each and every part was composed to work as a whole and that bass line works in the whole perfectly.

Flea has the shittiest tone I’ve ever heard in my life. Same with Mike dirnt.

Jason’s tone was killer. Had we actually been able to hear it. I’ve said it a thousand times, they really should re-release a remixed version with audible bass for … And Justice For All

I don't who said these are bad bass tones. Slappity poppity and uber snobby burby jazzers?
There's nothing wrong with any of these. Well, I've never been a Fieldy fan but it works for them.
Seems like a lot of one-dimensional bass players voted.
Holy smokes. Mя. H¥ðє said it best, "There's no bad tone when it fits the song." It might not be what you LIKE. That's OK.

Agreed what Scott says !

Any instrument in isolation can sound “bad”, don’t get caught up in individual tracks and look at the song as a whole :)

Are we sure that Don't Stop Believin wasn't played by Peter Hook? Cause that's almost about as much chorus as he uses.

After 1 year I don't thing people are actually reading this comment, but I kinda agree with the Jaco Pastorius one. It's not that I don't like, but I understand why people voted, because (for me) it doesn't sound like a bass would usually do - and that's also genious. The first fretless line that I heard and stuck with me was from Pink Floyd's Hey You and maybe that's what everyone was expecting, that soft and deeper sound.

once the bass tone fits the song, it's not a bad tone at all - and the same goes with guitar, drums, piano, vocal effects and what not.

This just shows how most of us music geeks don't understand that our hobby isn't the gospel. It's more important to find tone that sits well in the mix and fits the track than it is to have one homogenous tone that suits the taste of the vocal minority. There are all-time great bass lines on this list, it almost feels like a troll.

like 90% of these tones were really cool, genuinely perplexed that people disliked a lot of these!!

Please don't ever put this stuff up for a vote again, what this proves is that the general fanbase has no idea what bad bass tone is

Watched this just to see if Ross Valory was here. Always thought that tone was bad.

The real me is one of the best. How can you be?

Am I the only one who’s getting inspired by these tones?

People, bass players, please play more bass and say less shhhhh !!! LoL !!!

The compression on Californication is frustrating, it's like the album has a lisp.

oh gsus. You really need to be tone-deaf to claim flea had poor tone on around the world. Or if you think Korn would sound like Korn with Donald Dunn on bass. If you have issue with those tones you have tunnel vision and no eye for bigger picture. I had more faith in bass players.

Cliff burton. Almost every song

I know surely anyone who hates, or cannot hear musical talent, or originality in creation in all those pieces are simply not a fan of deep bass, plucked funk, or any bass tones of those who actually could play, unlike today. Today, you want to starve your ears only automatic sound is allowed, and it has no ring, nor tone, nor depth, nor true talent. Music is simply not played, long strophes of tested sounds are played today almost all from a practice session of primary music students. Train the ears to taste a new sound and maybe we might get one filmscore this century also.