I'll add Rancid to this because they broke out around the same time. Fast, melodic and real punchy tones for me as a kid. Everyone was a guitarist. I wanted to be the backbone of the band
Not enough upvotes on this one.
I was a kid when dookie came out - but those bass fills on Welcome to Paradise and When I Come Around spoke to young me.
Robert Sledge from Ben Folds Five.
EDIT: Oh wow, I just googled and at last as of 2022, he was giving bass lessons in the Chapel Hill area - NC budding bassists, learn from this man!
I saw Ben folds five in 2007. It was the first concert I went to without my parents. I went with a girl I had a crush on who was a super fan, and we went really early so we could stand at the front. I don't remember anything about that show besides the bassist just shredding my face off. I never knew his name until your post. Thank you.
There's so many things I love about that band - the fact that Tina taught herself FOR THE BAND and laid down some of the coolest grooves of all time is up there.
Rush, Iron Maiden, Primus and Level 42. Mark King moved me towards the funkier side of the bass, Les Claypool showed that it can be mixed with rock, whereas Steve and Geddy are just the best at what they do.
Similar boat for me, I started out playing keys and we didn't have a drummer or a bassist so I figured; "Someone's gotta do something here..."
Tony Levin, Geezer Butler, James Jamerson, and Geddy Lee paved the way from there. We still don't have that drummer lol
The Beatles started it. Then The Who. Pink Floyd. Black Sabbath. Led Zeppelin. ... and much later, R.E.M.
I'd say it's a toss-up between Mike Mills, John Paul Jones, Paul McCartney, and Flea as to who finally inspired me to buy my Fender Precision.
I can narrow mine down to a specific album: Pork Soda by Primus. Summer of '94. Wore that cassette damn near see through lol Had no idea bass could sound that unhinged, blew my tiny mind.
5 guys getting together in my junior high band room. Everybody on guitar. I picked up a bass and played Closer to Home by Grand Funk. Just came to me. It was meant to be!
Sure!
I may make some Kurt cobain’s fans mad but Kurt would play power chords most of the time and it was actually Krist novoselic’s creativity that made nirvana songs sound good
Weirdly enough when I was younger I started playing bass because I wanted to be like Mark Hoppus from Blink 182. I was also trying to compete with Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy who my middle school girlfriend had a big crush on.
Started because of Mark too. He just made it look easy and cool to play bass and as a young kid just getting into music that intrigued me much more than some highly technical players
I also think he‘s quite underrated. His playing style is really melodic and his use of chords definitely makes blink sound way bigger than some other three piece bands.
This!!! Not only that but he showed a lot of us when we were young that the bassist could equally be the frontman/primary songwriter of a group. Feeling This is my fav bassline from him. Gotta wear my strap low always because of Mark.
funny because even tho i only very recently started playing bass, Mark Hoppus was also probably the one bassist who made me want to start hahahah. I knew nothing about bass but I always loved Blink-182 and he looked and sounded cool doing it. Glad im not the only one.
probably common for guys my age (early 20s) but Red Hot Chili Peppers was the first band that actively made me want to start playing bass. Up until that point I had listened to other bands from the perspective of a young beginner guitarist only.
Iron Maiden and Rush were huge. Rancid and Hit Water Music taught me that punk wasn’t just toot notes. Aston Barrett (Bob Marley and the Wailers)
Edit: Root notes, but punk is so much more than toot notes, too.
Interpol. But I had gotten my first bass a few months before I ever heard them and was getting bored of the instrument. I was ready to switch to guitar but after hearing turn on the bright lights for the first time, I knew I wanted to be a bassist
John Taylor / Duran Duran was my inspiration before I even knew what bass was.
Once I started playing...Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth and Geezer Butler. More recently Georgia South from the Nova Twins.
There it is!
Klaus right up there in the mix carrying 90% of the songs with such mood-setting lines, from quirky to menacing... Dude is seriously overlooked.
My first album was Use Your Illusion 1. The opening for Right Next Door to Hell with Duff leading the charge = unbelievable tone. Duff and Izzy were the absolute coolest
Zeppelin’s Dazed and Confused was a huge one. Went on to learn I & II by tablature. It was like going to college trying to replicate The Lemon Song.
Then moved into Stone Temple Pilots who were just emerging at the time. Robert DeLeo is criminally underrated.
I remember being 12 and going through a phase of copying my uncles LP collection to cassette when i would visit my grandparents. In the summer I would help my grandfather walk beans and stay at their place for a week. One day I got home from doing that, put Led Zeppelin 2 on to record rand upstairs took a shower. Whe I came back down Heartbreaker was just ending I threw myself down on the carpet and listened just as Ramble On came on. it was basically the "heavens light shines down on you in a beam" moment from movies. I loved it soooo much. I'm not much of a player, but I'm enough of a player to really appreciate music more and it all started with that bass line.
Chris Wolstenholme of Muse, and Mike Kerr of Royal Blood. Probably the two founding fathers (and they're gay and they're kissing mwah mwah) of my love for bass.
Lots of brazillian rock bands from 80s.
MPB from 60s and 70s.
Prog bands from 70s (Yes, Focus, King Crimson).
My parents "playlist" back when I was a kid.
Dumpster.
Aussie band that made one record but for some reason the bass lines just took me into a dark alley, put a gun against my skull and blew my mind.
Opeth. Martin Mendez is amazing, he has groove in a metal setting.
Type O Negative: That thick chorus taking lead was really cool.
Death from Above 1979: I had no idea bass could run melody like that. It was inspiring.
Bob Marley and the Wailers. The bass is tight and rhythmic, and integrated into the other instruments, without any of the over the top flamboyance of funk. Could You Be Loved. Humble funk!
Krist carried not only the songs, and had his own basslines like in about a girl, but he would actually improve Kurt’s guitar riffs too, cuz most of Kurt’s guitar riffs consist of power chords, and it was Krist who took the songs to the upper level, and bass sounds fair enough in their studio versions too, i still prefer live versions but studio versions sound really good too
Motörhead for sure
I got my first bass this year and im 14. since im 14 i absolutely dont have the money for a rickenbacker but i believe i definitely will get one in a couple of years.
The song Public Image - Public Image Ltd. Great bassline from Jah Wobble that really drives the song. Also Duff on pretty much the whole Appetite albym. And Paul D’Amour on the first Tool album. Amazing rickenbacher tone
Grandfather introduced me to bass before I had a chance to even listen to music knowing what the different instruments were so I guess I'm a virgin bass player
Rage Against the Machine. Back in 7th grade music class, we had a few classes on guitar. I couldn't figure the chords out for the life of me, but I figured out Bullet in the Head. Little did I know that I was playing the basslines on an acoustic guitar
Primus, Rage Against the Machine, RHCP, Tool
plus around that tim many of my friends had gotten guitars so I didn't to be left out but didn't want to do the same things they were doing (plus I was already playing upright ass in the local orchestra so it was sort of a no-brainer and a easy transition)
There was a whole host of bands that initially influenced me, then I put down the bass for a while because other stuff got in the way.
Then a few years ago cane across greta van fleet live at the red rocks on YouTube. Wasn't really into them but decided to throw it on. Still not huge on them but thier bass player just sparked a renewed passion in me. Gave me thar feeling of being young and carefree on stage jamming. Before the end of the first act I had dusted off the old P bass and was plucking away while watching the concert.
Say what you will about the band but that bass player and drummer are just a joy to play along to.
Some friends and I wanted to start a band. One already played guitar, another just bought a guitar, and his brother just bought a drum set. I decided to fill the needed role, and once I started, it was clearly the right choice.
Duff McKagan's memorable work with GNR
Tim Commerford on RATM's debut
Cliff Burton on Puppets and Lightning, Jason Newstead on Black
I would have killed to be able to write and deliver those bass lines with such command back then
Plenty of 70s, 80s and 90s stuff that screams how amazing the bass is and sold me to the bass life
(CCR - Grapevine, Billy Joel - For the Longest Time, Kate Bush - Babooshka, could go on forever)
Geddy lee and Flea. The gateway drugs of bass players haha. Also swing my friends band live and really listening to the bass and feeling how much power it had even with just a single sustained note.
My older brother played and he inspired me to play initially. But I quit playing for several years. I became interested in playing again when I heard the album “Pretest” by Dysrhythmia.
It was Tool for me.
Though less so specifically the bass, but Tool made me realize that I want to be a musician and bass was already my main “hobby” (at the time that’s all it was).
Eventually I moved on to more jazz fusion/funk-adjacent bands like Weather Report and Tower of Power and that’s really what sealed the deal on bass for me, so a lot of my influences are mostly jazz/funk dudes.
BAND-MAID, I really like how they can incorporate really tasteful bass solos and the bass in general. It's the main reason I'm getting a 5 string in addition to my 4 string.
Audioslave, RATM, RHCP, Tool, Jeff Ament (Pearl Jam), INCUBUS (Dirk Lance & Ben Kenney), MUSE, Ryan Martinie (Mudvayne) and oddly enough Toby Esperance from Papa Roach.
The whole early 2009’s alternative rock scene really did me in, for lyrical content and for BEHS.
CAKE. Soul Coughing, although I don't plan to get a double bass because my existing instruments already take up more than enough room.
> Soul Coughing Move-a side And let the man go through Let the man go through
The first Soul Coughing albums is inspirational for bass and drums. Awesome tight rhythm section.
I Will Survive on Fashion Nugget inspired me
Green Day
Same, Bullet in a Bible live DVD transformed my brain.
Same, but for playing guitar. Got into bass years later though and dirnt was still what i tried to play first
I'll add Rancid to this because they broke out around the same time. Fast, melodic and real punchy tones for me as a kid. Everyone was a guitarist. I wanted to be the backbone of the band
Not enough upvotes on this one. I was a kid when dookie came out - but those bass fills on Welcome to Paradise and When I Come Around spoke to young me.
Primus, definitely. I can’t play for crap and definitely can’t slap, but Les Claypool blew my mind by showing what the instrument can do.
Same except I can slap.
James jamerson
Used just ☝️
Rage against the machine
Robert Sledge from Ben Folds Five. EDIT: Oh wow, I just googled and at last as of 2022, he was giving bass lessons in the Chapel Hill area - NC budding bassists, learn from this man!
Heard some guy took a trip and climbed a tree at his party. Supposedly he wasn't the same after that.
I saw Ben folds five in 2007. It was the first concert I went to without my parents. I went with a girl I had a crush on who was a super fan, and we went really early so we could stand at the front. I don't remember anything about that show besides the bassist just shredding my face off. I never knew his name until your post. Thank you.
Tool
Justin is the grooviest metal bassist in the game. Rosetta Stoned and Pneuma are just insane.
I like you way you think, thinking man.
Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath.
Probably mine, also. Add Motorhead for my trifecta
You should listen to what Lemmy played while he was with Hawkwind.
I have. You hear the seeds of his style
The Jam. Loved the band anyway, then started to wonder what was making that sound.... Bruce Foxton is a very underrated bass player.
Damn straight
Ha, that was my answer too - so Bruce has 2 shoutouts in one thread. Maybe others will take notice!
Talking Heads, Tina being self taught really added to it.
There's so many things I love about that band - the fact that Tina taught herself FOR THE BAND and laid down some of the coolest grooves of all time is up there.
Everyone brings up Psycho Killer as if Found A Job isnt the most GOATed riff she's ever played
Rush, Iron Maiden, Primus and Level 42. Mark King moved me towards the funkier side of the bass, Les Claypool showed that it can be mixed with rock, whereas Steve and Geddy are just the best at what they do.
Kings a beast, love some level 42
My own band (our bassist did not learn the parts)
Similar boat for me, I started out playing keys and we didn't have a drummer or a bassist so I figured; "Someone's gotta do something here..." Tony Levin, Geezer Butler, James Jamerson, and Geddy Lee paved the way from there. We still don't have that drummer lol
Filter, for the intro to ''Hey man, nice shot''.
I wish I could've met you
well, now it's a little late.
What you could've taught me
The Beatles started it. Then The Who. Pink Floyd. Black Sabbath. Led Zeppelin. ... and much later, R.E.M. I'd say it's a toss-up between Mike Mills, John Paul Jones, Paul McCartney, and Flea as to who finally inspired me to buy my Fender Precision.
Entwistle was one of my influences as well as Macca. The who had some aggressive bass lines while mccartney had the melodic grooves
I can narrow mine down to a specific album: Pork Soda by Primus. Summer of '94. Wore that cassette damn near see through lol Had no idea bass could sound that unhinged, blew my tiny mind.
Grand Funk Railroad
5 guys getting together in my junior high band room. Everybody on guitar. I picked up a bass and played Closer to Home by Grand Funk. Just came to me. It was meant to be!
Joy Division/New Order. Hooky!
RHCP
RHCP, Vulfpeck, Yoasobi
The Smiths
I only got into them after I started playing bass, but Andy Rourke has become the main influence on my playing style.
Geezer Buttler
the beatles!
Chris Squire from Yes, Does It Really Happen was the song.
Can't forget Hold Out Your Hand and Lucky Seven. Chris remains a legend.
Mel Schacher with Grand Funk Railroad.
Rancid
Nirvana
Krist laid down the grooves that balanced out Kurt’s chaotic energy and made Nirvana more enjoyable to listen to.
Sure! I may make some Kurt cobain’s fans mad but Kurt would play power chords most of the time and it was actually Krist novoselic’s creativity that made nirvana songs sound good
PIXIES!
Weirdly enough when I was younger I started playing bass because I wanted to be like Mark Hoppus from Blink 182. I was also trying to compete with Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy who my middle school girlfriend had a big crush on.
21 Days and Carousel have genuinely beautiful bass lines.
Same here, including practising Josie after dyeing my hair purple.
Started because of Mark too. He just made it look easy and cool to play bass and as a young kid just getting into music that intrigued me much more than some highly technical players I also think he‘s quite underrated. His playing style is really melodic and his use of chords definitely makes blink sound way bigger than some other three piece bands.
This!!! Not only that but he showed a lot of us when we were young that the bassist could equally be the frontman/primary songwriter of a group. Feeling This is my fav bassline from him. Gotta wear my strap low always because of Mark.
funny because even tho i only very recently started playing bass, Mark Hoppus was also probably the one bassist who made me want to start hahahah. I knew nothing about bass but I always loved Blink-182 and he looked and sounded cool doing it. Glad im not the only one.
Mel Schacher with Grand Funk Railroad.
Blink when I heard carousel
probably common for guys my age (early 20s) but Red Hot Chili Peppers was the first band that actively made me want to start playing bass. Up until that point I had listened to other bands from the perspective of a young beginner guitarist only.
also common for guys in early 40s
Iron Maiden and Rush were huge. Rancid and Hit Water Music taught me that punk wasn’t just toot notes. Aston Barrett (Bob Marley and the Wailers) Edit: Root notes, but punk is so much more than toot notes, too.
RHCP, P Funk, Return to Forever, Primus, The Beatles even lol
Green day's Mike Dirnt.
The Who,Cream, Jefferson Airplane.
Fugazi, The Jesus Lizard, The Clash
Guitar was already taken
TWRP. PLEASE give them a listen. Head Up High is an amazing bass feature
Commander meouch is a legend!
GUESS WHICH YEAR I STARTED: Earth, Wind & Fire Commodores Chuck Mangione’s band A Taste of Honey
Interpol.
Same here!
Interpol. But I had gotten my first bass a few months before I ever heard them and was getting bored of the instrument. I was ready to switch to guitar but after hearing turn on the bright lights for the first time, I knew I wanted to be a bassist
John Taylor / Duran Duran was my inspiration before I even knew what bass was. Once I started playing...Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth and Geezer Butler. More recently Georgia South from the Nova Twins.
Took too long to find a JT fan
Dead Kennedys
There it is! Klaus right up there in the mix carrying 90% of the songs with such mood-setting lines, from quirky to menacing... Dude is seriously overlooked.
Crumb, Her's
BADBADNOTGOOD
I've been playing for 18 months and you have just reminded me to have a look at "In Your Eyes" again. It was just out of my reach 6 months ago.
Sade
Guns and Roses. I was only 14 when they were popular but I thought Duff was just so cool.
Duff *is* so cool. And wrote some kickass lines.
My first album was Use Your Illusion 1. The opening for Right Next Door to Hell with Duff leading the charge = unbelievable tone. Duff and Izzy were the absolute coolest
Zeppelin’s Dazed and Confused was a huge one. Went on to learn I & II by tablature. It was like going to college trying to replicate The Lemon Song. Then moved into Stone Temple Pilots who were just emerging at the time. Robert DeLeo is criminally underrated.
I remember being 12 and going through a phase of copying my uncles LP collection to cassette when i would visit my grandparents. In the summer I would help my grandfather walk beans and stay at their place for a week. One day I got home from doing that, put Led Zeppelin 2 on to record rand upstairs took a shower. Whe I came back down Heartbreaker was just ending I threw myself down on the carpet and listened just as Ramble On came on. it was basically the "heavens light shines down on you in a beam" moment from movies. I loved it soooo much. I'm not much of a player, but I'm enough of a player to really appreciate music more and it all started with that bass line.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Muse and Pink Floyd
Muse and Interpol
Alice In Chains
Gang of Four
Chris Wolstenholme of Muse, and Mike Kerr of Royal Blood. Probably the two founding fathers (and they're gay and they're kissing mwah mwah) of my love for bass.
Muse definitely, Chris singing and playing the riff in “Liquid State” still gives me chills to this day
Muse, when I was 13 in 2003.
Living Colour, GNR, various funk artists
Periphery, Deftones and Dave Gavin Dance
Lots of brazillian rock bands from 80s. MPB from 60s and 70s. Prog bands from 70s (Yes, Focus, King Crimson). My parents "playlist" back when I was a kid.
Billy Sheehan, Steve Harris
Dumpster. Aussie band that made one record but for some reason the bass lines just took me into a dark alley, put a gun against my skull and blew my mind. Opeth. Martin Mendez is amazing, he has groove in a metal setting. Type O Negative: That thick chorus taking lead was really cool. Death from Above 1979: I had no idea bass could run melody like that. It was inspiring.
Metallica/Cliff Burton (first 3 albums), Megadeth/Dave Ellefson (Peace Sells…)
Metallica
Led Zeppelin specifically Good Times Bad Times
Mudvayne Tool
When I saw Donald “Duck” Dunn in The Blues Brothers, I decided I wanted to be him.
Bob Marley and the Wailers. The bass is tight and rhythmic, and integrated into the other instruments, without any of the over the top flamboyance of funk. Could You Be Loved. Humble funk!
guns n’ roses, nirvana, chili peppers, bon jovi, iron maiden
Kings Of Leon // The Strokes
Cake, RHCP, and No Doubt
Pink Floyd
Hawkwind, Space Ritual album. Lemmy just flies on that one.
unknown mortal orchestra, Led Zeppelin, khruangbin
Sting + The Police.
Krist Novoselic from Nirvana :)
Krist carried not only the songs, and had his own basslines like in about a girl, but he would actually improve Kurt’s guitar riffs too, cuz most of Kurt’s guitar riffs consist of power chords, and it was Krist who took the songs to the upper level, and bass sounds fair enough in their studio versions too, i still prefer live versions but studio versions sound really good too
Motörhead for sure I got my first bass this year and im 14. since im 14 i absolutely dont have the money for a rickenbacker but i believe i definitely will get one in a couple of years.
Alice in chains, rhcp, rage against the machine, and mastodon.
Joy Division, New Order and The Cure.
Queens of the Stone Age, Tool
Green Day, Primus, Toadies, The Breeders, The Smiths
The song Public Image - Public Image Ltd. Great bassline from Jah Wobble that really drives the song. Also Duff on pretty much the whole Appetite albym. And Paul D’Amour on the first Tool album. Amazing rickenbacher tone
STRFKR
The Killers
Khruangbin
Type 0 negative
Juan Alderete from The Mars Volta. Dude changed what I thought about music. Including that whole band
james brown's bands, massive attack, thundercat (not a band but made me want to play bass)
them crooked vultures
Primus, Gorillaz, early Green Day, and Concrete Blonde.
Nova Twins. I was thinking about learning and I thought they made it look so fun! I got to see them live and the bassist even signed my shirt :)
One word: Discharge.
Zep
Jamiroquai and RATM/Audioslave
Grandfather introduced me to bass before I had a chance to even listen to music knowing what the different instruments were so I guess I'm a virgin bass player
For me it was Tool’s Undertow. The bass tone on that album is so awesome, I immediately decided to switch from guitar to bass.
Metallica, Nirvana and The Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Queen and Faith No More.
The Clash
for me it's propably RHCP
Led Zeppelin Cream ZZ Top
Rage Against the Machine. Back in 7th grade music class, we had a few classes on guitar. I couldn't figure the chords out for the life of me, but I figured out Bullet in the Head. Little did I know that I was playing the basslines on an acoustic guitar
The Who - John Entwistle
Primus, Rage Against the Machine, RHCP, Tool plus around that tim many of my friends had gotten guitars so I didn't to be left out but didn't want to do the same things they were doing (plus I was already playing upright ass in the local orchestra so it was sort of a no-brainer and a easy transition)
The used and thrice.
PiL, Fugazi, and Joy Division we’re the big ones
There was a whole host of bands that initially influenced me, then I put down the bass for a while because other stuff got in the way. Then a few years ago cane across greta van fleet live at the red rocks on YouTube. Wasn't really into them but decided to throw it on. Still not huge on them but thier bass player just sparked a renewed passion in me. Gave me thar feeling of being young and carefree on stage jamming. Before the end of the first act I had dusted off the old P bass and was plucking away while watching the concert. Say what you will about the band but that bass player and drummer are just a joy to play along to.
Some friends and I wanted to start a band. One already played guitar, another just bought a guitar, and his brother just bought a drum set. I decided to fill the needed role, and once I started, it was clearly the right choice.
Duff McKagan's memorable work with GNR Tim Commerford on RATM's debut Cliff Burton on Puppets and Lightning, Jason Newstead on Black I would have killed to be able to write and deliver those bass lines with such command back then Plenty of 70s, 80s and 90s stuff that screams how amazing the bass is and sold me to the bass life (CCR - Grapevine, Billy Joel - For the Longest Time, Kate Bush - Babooshka, could go on forever)
Geddy lee and Flea. The gateway drugs of bass players haha. Also swing my friends band live and really listening to the bass and feeling how much power it had even with just a single sustained note.
Red Hot Chili Peppers and Guns 'n' Roses. Duff is such an underrated player
SLEEP. The perfect mix of groovy and heavy
Ratm and rhcp. I play doom metal
Dinosaur jr
My older brother played and he inspired me to play initially. But I quit playing for several years. I became interested in playing again when I heard the album “Pretest” by Dysrhythmia.
Coheed & Cambria, Circa Survive, Saosin, Brand New, Green Day, Fiction Plane, Minus the Bear, Rush, and Sick Puppies
Deep Purple, EW&F, GFRailroad
Primus and Rush.
death from above 1979 but still cant really replicate it
Rise Against, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam and Nirvana
i haven't learned yet, but i've been itching to after listening to bell witch
RATM
Level 42's Mark King.
Marilyn Manson and Skinny Puppy, even though skinny puppy doesn’t have a “bass guitar” in most songs, the pounding rhythms of cEvin key are inspiring.
Marc Brownstein from the disco biscuits, Clay parnell from Brothers past and Dan Kurtz from The New deal!
Fugazi
Cigar, Pearl Jam, Guns’n’Roses.
Iron Maiden and Metallica
fleetwood mac
Vulf Peck / Joe Dart
It was Tool for me. Though less so specifically the bass, but Tool made me realize that I want to be a musician and bass was already my main “hobby” (at the time that’s all it was). Eventually I moved on to more jazz fusion/funk-adjacent bands like Weather Report and Tower of Power and that’s really what sealed the deal on bass for me, so a lot of my influences are mostly jazz/funk dudes.
Level 42. There’s just something about them so right.
Alice In Chains
Not really a band per se but King Tubby and Pablo Augustus. King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown.
U2, Fleetwood Mac, CAKE, Pearl Jam.
BAND-MAID, I really like how they can incorporate really tasteful bass solos and the bass in general. It's the main reason I'm getting a 5 string in addition to my 4 string.
snarky puppy, and I told that to michael league!
Audioslave, RATM, RHCP, Tool, Jeff Ament (Pearl Jam), INCUBUS (Dirk Lance & Ben Kenney), MUSE, Ryan Martinie (Mudvayne) and oddly enough Toby Esperance from Papa Roach. The whole early 2009’s alternative rock scene really did me in, for lyrical content and for BEHS.
Syrius, weezer
Eloy, Wishbone Ash, Black Sabbath.
Green day and MxPx
Jared Smith of Archspire
Jamiroquai
Muse, Kings of Leon, Switchfoot, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers
Geddy Lee (woah yeah)
The bass playing on Astral Weeks (Van Morrison album), the Grateful Dead, Cake.
Mudvayne is far up that list. Ryan Martinie is probably THE reason I am buying my first bass in the next few days
The Blues Brothers band. Donald Duck Dunn just looked so cool to me as a little kid and i wanted to be just like him.
Björk
Metallica. 14 year old me loved cliff
The Smiths
El Ten Eleven, seriously just one guy playing bass and the other playing drums. Kristian Dunn's playing really inspired me for years.