Let's Hear it for the Bass

I'm old. I grew up in era when AM radio played Top 40 songs and clock radios had to suffice. I would spin the vinyl on our turntable (made by Dad, no less!) but would keep current by listening to the radio. It was music- electronically produced, no doubt, but there were instruments and skill. Musicality.

As I hear the music that's popular in 2009, I have to ask: WHERE'S THE BASS? Now, there is plenty of booming goin' on, it keeps a beat and pulses through your body, but where is the finesse of someone ~playing~ a bass? The damn beat box can go forever, but I want to hear a glide down the long neck of a bass guitar.

Just recently I realized what I was missing when I heard a song from the 70s. I think it was Stevie Wonder, but I really can't remember because I was transfixed by the deep sounds from the bass. It had soul. Really. I'm not prone to hyperbole, but dang... I felt like the bass was taking me for a ride. A gentle ride that swerved and flipped but with the tenderest of movements. It was singing. I wish that most people still appreciated that skill and the emphasis was not on the 'image' of it all. The music executives are clamoring for something that *pops* (groooooaaaan) be it a handsome crooner or a chick who's barely dressed.



Is it just me, but when I fall in love with a song, it's because my hearing has taken over all other senses... I'm not watching a video, I'm not thinking: this is what's new and cool! And that brings us back to the beginning of my post: I am old.



(an old, bass-lover)