Chris Squire's Place in Electric Bass History

With the untimely and incredibly sad passing of "The Fish" I began wondering how other PA members see Chris regarding his place in electric bass history?  

top 10 of all time.. while by far the greatest prog bassist...

He falls out of the top 5 in pretty much most reasonable bassists view IMO behind these 5.

James Jamerson
John Entwistle
Paul McCartney
Jack Bruce
Larry Graham

Well I can't think of a better prog bass player so I'll go with that.

I went "Top 3 of all time" ranking him between Paul McCartney and John Wetton.  I'm not into jazz or fusion so I'm really coming from a traditional rock/prog point of view.  For me, at the height of their careers I believe all 3 took the bass to places it hadn't gone before in both tone and melodic approach.  Macca for bringing the bass out of the thump-thump-thump-tonic-to-5th-to-tonic shadows exploiting it's possibilities as a melodic instrument.  Squire who built upon Macca's melodic approach and brought the intensity up several notches with a tone that could not be ignored (partly thanks to his implementation of Rickenbackers "Rick-O-Sound" stereo output feature) and an advanced understanding of music theory which took the bass center stage and in a very bright spotlight.  Wetton; both for what Fripp used to call his "muscular" approach (a product of volume and distortion) and his improvisational abilities.  Wetton really earned his spot at #3 for me in a very short timeframe of his Crimso work which just hit my sweet spot dead center.

The.Crimson.King wrote: I went "Top 3 of all time" ranking him between Paul McCartney and John Wetton.  I'm not into jazz or fusion so I'm really coming from a traditional rock/prog point of view.  For me, at the height of their careers I believe all 3 took the bass to places it hadn't gone before in both tone and melodic approach.  Macca for bringing the bass out of the thump-thump-thump-tonic-to-5th-to-tonic shadows exploiting it's possibilities as a melodic instrument.  Squire who built upon Macca's melodic approach and brought the intensity up several notches with a tone that could not be ignored (partly thanks to his implementation of Rickenbackers "Rick-O-Sound" stereo output feature) and an advanced understanding of music theory which took the bass center stage and in a very bright spotlight.  Wetton; both for what Fripp used to call his "muscular" approach (a product of volume and distortion) and his improvisational abilities.  Wetton really earned his spot at #3 for me in a very short timeframe of his Crimso work which just hit my sweet spot dead center. I'm with SteveG in that I'm inclined to rank Squire #1 of all time because of today's announcement but I've tempered my opinion and put him top 3 instead  In honor of the day, it's ALL YES ALL DAY in my house!  So here's another shot I got, this one from the Drama tour at the SF Cow Palace sometime in the fall of 1980.

dwill123 wrote: He's definitely top 10 rock and that's saying a lot because there are some great rock bass players.  The competition gets a little stiff when you move into the realm of fusion but in rock, Squire can hold his own with any body.

no doubt man.. draw me a list of 20 and the talent level will be negliable.. probably could go much farther.

when you to talking alltime greats.. it really comes down to influence and innovation.

I love Squire.. sh*t man. .we all do. but compared to the top 5.. many of which influenced Squire directly..  he simply don't fit.

Jamerson simply defined prog rock bass playing  ie melodic bass (lead bass) playing. in a comletely unrelated field of music by... being the first.. by far the most famous thus the one everyone heard and said.. wtf is that ..and WHO is that playing ...

and by being the prime and MAJOR  influence on all three of the English bass masters... Entwistle Bruce and McCartney who 'popularized' in a purely 'rock' context the notion of lead or heavily melodic bass playing. 
Larry Graham.. the single greatest innovator on the bass since. well..   ever?

Squre?  Love the man.. the body of work speaks to itself but that is merely a refinement of his influences.. and those infuences had and continue to have a more far reaching impact than Squires. Top 10 is a good place for him but no way he tops any of the top 5. Personally I had him ranked at 7.  Jack Casady in front of him who explored the more  technical side of the bass guitar. thus giving us... Alembic basses. which was a whole 'nother revolution in bass playing. 

Love his playing and that fat as shoelaces sound. I'd say he's better than most, but yeah Percy Jones, Eberhard Weber, James Jamerson (good call Micky), Jack Bruce, The Ox, Bernard Paganotti, Les Claypool etc etc and I'm purposely leaving out all the jazz greats. Charles Mingus anyone? (Whoops not really an electric bassist)

Btw I listened to The Yes Album earlier today in memorance of monsieur Squire, and it was every bit as wonderful as I remembered it to be. Fantastic bassist.

Edited by Guldbamsen - June 29 2015 at 19:15

running a monolog.. because it is what I am good at.


now there is talent..  then there is creativity... talent without creativity..  gives you something that impresses but leaves no lasting impression (ummm much of 70's Fusion for me)..  creativity without talent.. gives you.. smucks like us.

creativity is where Squire shined... perhaps more than almost all of the bassists above him, or likely far below him. Amazing.. AMAZING stuff.  Anyone can play it, hell we can. To create it.. now that is a special ability. Has nothing to do with bass playing though.. that is the mark of a great musician and through his bass..I'd rank Squire perhaps equal to McCartney and only below Jamerson for what he created through his instrument.


Edited by micky - June 29 2015 at 19:24

Percy Jones is the most underrated bassist and one of the greatest I've ever heard. Squire is pretty damn impressive, though. Perhaps McCartney is more influential, but my brain has a hard time accepting anyone's argument that Sir Paul's bass playing outshines Mr. Squire.

John Entwistle (RIP)