Andy Rourke bass part for "This Charming Man" - 56th best bass part of all time in BassPlayer Magazine

It's just been voted the 56th best bass part of all time in BassPlayer Magazine.

'The Smiths were a group at least a decade ahead of their time, doomed to be more read about than listened to during their active career, and only fully appreciated several years after the band members had gone their separate ways.

Bassist Andy Rourke is the group's unsung hero , complementing the guitar wizardry of Johnny Marr in a way that most of us could never hope to do.

The fast fingered line on This Charming Man is his masterpiece'.

Lovely to see Andy getting some long overdue praise for his bass work in The Smiths.

 

[Oh my]

Well, considering I’m a 52 year old surgeon who speaks 4 languages and has raised 2 children, that’s incredibly noble of you and I’ll add it to my CV.

6 languages and 2 University University degrees...
.... And, it's a damn magazine for Bass Players and it's quite obvious that they made a top 100 of the best bass players (though it seems that they restricted the list to the wide genre of "rock music")... And they obviously picked songs that mostly everyone knows... Probably most bass players who are not into The Smiths would not really know "Barbarism", so they picked one of the most famous ones as an example of the talent of Andy... and assumed that most of the readers (who are probably bass players) would know that specific song.

So you owe me 5 dollars.

 

[kissmyshadestoo]

Can't blame you there.

I already had Vauxhall and I, but Hatful of Hollow was my first Smiths release that I owned (in 1994).

It sounded like nothing else they played anywhere in the States. It was a revelation to me - even today it's difficult to find musical moments as beautiful to the ears as what's on that album. Also, the photos in the CD version of Hatful (of the band in Paris and two of Morrissey I believe) were unique and had a sophistication to them.

Back then, I felt strangely related to another part of the world somehow when I listened to that record, and I'm still connected today. Morrissey, Johnny, Andy and Mike - thank you for giving us this great record!

My brother bought me the Rough Trade version of HoH in I think 1988......I heard Strangeways prior and became a total fanatic after that. I tried to find any bootlegs or info on them.....hearing this album and seeing the pics was so cool to me as well.

 

[kissmyshadestoo]

As I search for isolated "Death Of A Disco Dancer" bass track....and stumble across these, funny handle: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQl_dJqhmla7p_gI9lG5Kqw

 

[Gregor Samsa]

Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now.

Andy truly is the unsung hero of the group. Ridiculously talented. It’s often the bass lines that hook you.

 

[🐈🐈🐈]

6 languages and 2 University University degrees...
.... And, it's a damn magazine for Bass Players and it's quite obvious that they made a top 100 of the best bass players (though it seems that they restricted the list to the wide genre of "rock music")... And they obviously picked songs that mostly everyone knows... Probably most bass players who are not into The Smiths would not really know "Barbarism", so they picked one of the most famous ones as an example of the talent of Andy... and assumed that most of the readers (who are probably bass players) would know that specific song.

So you owe me 5 dollars.

Wonderful … If you read the thread, you should understand that my comment wasn’t so much about what I do but rather light-hearted humour in response of our friend’s comment. It wouldn’t matter if I was a Nethanderal binman who communicated via guttural screeching to the birds from a cave, would it.

Tit for tat covered and with the greatest respect….. it’s not ‘The Greatest’ though is it? It’s more like ‘we’ll make you happy with what you know’

 

[snoddywilko]

Whilst Andy’s bass line on This Charming Man is excellent, I wouldn’t say it’s his most original. It feels to me that this has been chosen as his ‘best’ more so because it’s one of The Smiths’ better-known, defining songs. I would say he had a lot of other bass lines which were more imaginative & unique. The bass & drums on This Charming Man are too Motown-inspired to be unique.

 

[Oh my]

Wonderful … If you read the thread, you should understand that my comment wasn’t so much about what I do but rather light-hearted humour in response of our friend’s comment. It wouldn’t matter if I was a Nethanderal binman who communicated via guttural screeching to the birds from a cave, would it.

Tit for tat covered and with the greatest respect….. it’s not ‘The Greatest’ though is it? It’s more like ‘we’ll make you happy with what you know’

I would be quite surprised if we had a "Nethanderal binman" who communicated screaming... but I would also love you and feed you.
Yeah, I think they made a list of the top 100 bass players and made it look as a list of the 100 best bass lines... so they used songs that the audience of the magazine (i.e, bass players who listen to a lot of different bands) probably know, so I think we should read "Andy is the 56th best bass player according to us and This Charming Man is an example of such thing"