In the music industry, nobody has worse press than the bassist. The singer is almost always the first person who comes to mind when thinking of the band, the guitarist is the second (complete with Air Guitar), next there's the wild and crazy drummer/percussionists, and then maybe musicians playing instruments which are found in orchestras or cultural bands.
But sadly, this is not true for the bassist. There are hardly ever any bass solos. There are hardly ever any bassist/singers. There is no hope. Okay, maybe not ZERO hope. For the short heroes' list of bass players who have risen above this cosmic injustice, see Lead Bassist.
This can be an enforced or Justified Trope. The inherent structure of much popular music encourages a simple, supportive bass line. This makes it hard for a bass player to stand out aurally, and doubly hard to do so without simply showing off at the music's expense. So most of the time, a bassist doing his job properly ends up drawing relatively little attention to himself.
This trope refers to this phenomenon, and media in which it is discussed. Compare Dumb and Drummer, which involves similar levels of disrespect but with outright insults instead of the musician simply being forgotten about.
Examples in media:
open/close all folders
Music
In some bands, the bass player is not an official member of the group, usually because he replaced a long-time bass player. The most famous such band is The Rolling Stones, who haven't had an official bassist since Bill Wyman left. Darryl Jones has largely replaced him, but he's a salaried employee of the band, not an official member.
Hugh McDonald has been with Bon Jovi since 1994, but is not considered a full-fledged member (though this is mostly because the band agreed never to officially replace the original bassist).
Despite playing with the Midnight Riders since 1985 on 23 albums, and writing most of the band's songs, Jake Thorne is still a "provisional temporary band member."
Pink Floyd went from having a Lead Bassist to none at all when Roger Waters left, and stayed that way, hiring session musicians and using programmed synth basses.
Nile hasn't had a full-time bassist since Jon Vesano left back in 2005.
Fear of this trope is why, when Stuart Sutcliffe quit The Beatles, Paul McCartney was the only guitarist who wouldn't quit on the spot rather than play bass. He still found many occasions to add guitar parts to Beatles albums, and would swap between guitar and bass during his Wings period and his later solo career. Even in the image on his trope page, he's holding a guitar.
Paul claimed that the good-looking Stuart's inclusion as bassist was something of an attempt to avert this trope.
"In our minds, it was the fat guy in the group who nearly always played the bass and he stood at the back. None of us wanted that."
The Doors didn't even have a bassist, relaying on session players or low keyboard notes.
Actually, Ray Manzarek played bass keyboard... While also playing standard keyboard at the same time. Because he could.
On The Colbert Report, Steve Van Zandt was asked a question about original E Street Band bassist Garry Tallent. At first Van Zandt was confused, and then replied, "Nobody told Garry; we don't talk to him."
Throughout early Genesis albums, bassist Mike Rutherford kept finding excuses to contribute on other instruments, and he became the band's sole guitarist after Steve Hackett left. For live shows, he would play parts he had written on guitar, and continue on bass for the earlier stuff. All the instrument swapping meant that instrument maker Shergold made him an expensive, one-off modular double-neck guitar allowing him to swap out bass, 12-string, and two six-string tunings.
Since their 1981 reformation, King Crimson has largely done without a bassist. Tony Levin spent most of his time playing the Chapman Stick or keyboards, and successor Trey Gunn has stuck almost entirely to the Chapman Stick or oddball Warr Guitar.
Metallica treated Jason Newsted as the new guy for 14 years. (it helps that he replaced a beloved friend of theirs who died tragically) It was even (indirectly *
the producers lost the entire low end of the album, and he had copied the rhythm guitar parts verbatim, a no-no for a bassist
) admitted there was an attempt to mute the bass as much as they could in his debut album, ...And Justice for All.
In the biopic of The Runaways, bassist Robyn Robbins doesn't have any spoken lines.
Also, Robyn was a character created just for the movie, as the real-life Runaways couldn't keep a bass player. Over their career as a band, they had five of them - six if you count when Joan Jett played bass instead of guitar for part of one tour.
According to some accounts, Patricia Morrison, nominally the bass player at the time of The Sistersof Mercy's Floodland album, didn't even play on the album; or at least much of what she did play was subsequently overdubbed by Andrew Eldritch playing synth bass (the only song her bass can be clearly heard on is "Lucretia My Reflection"). She later quit the group because she hadn't been paid.
In a Rolling Stone article, Taylor Swift accidentally backs her SUV into the parked car behind her, which happens to be owned by bassist Amos Heller. The first thing she says is, "Oh, my God. OH, MY GOD. OH, MY GOD. OH, MY GOD. OH, MY GOD. OH, MY GOD. OH, MY GOD. OH, MY GOD. OH, MY GOD. OH, MY GOD. OH, MY GOD. OH, MY GOD." The second thing she says is, "Oh, is that my bass player? It's fine. It's my bass player!"
Discussed and inverted by Trout Fishing In America on their song "The Day the Bass Players Took Over the World":
Now one day the bass players, they decided to uprise They were tired of being sidemen to all those other guys So they kidnapped the horn section They put drugs in the drummer's drink And they tied up all the guitar players With their big ol' flat-wound strings
Ryan Stasik, the bassist for Umphrey's Mcgee, is the designated social-media punching bag of the group. One song even contains the stanza "Stasik / go take a shower / a shower / will do you justice."
Pity Van Halen's Michael Anthony. Not only was he the band member no casual fan could remember, he was (musically speaking) the real-life Murderface: Eddie Van Halen generally forbade any bass line that didn't double his guitar notes, and insisted on mixing the bass below the point of distinct audibility. For career satisfaction, Anthony pretty much had to settle for availing himself of the massive groupie overstock that accumulated around 1980's Van Hale... wait. Hm. You know what? DON'T pity Michael Anthony. He certainly landed on hisfoot, though.
Eddie even started to neglect Michael, playing most of the bass parts in Van Halen III and the new tracks from Best of Both Worlds (where Anthony only did backing vocals). He only got in the 2004 tour because Sammy Hagar - who later drafted Anthony to both his solo band and Chickenfoot - wanted him to, as Eddie wouldn't even invite him. And when the band started performing again, the new bassist was a teenager (Eddie's son Wolfgang)!
The bassist for "Weird Al" Yankovic makes sure that everyone remembers him more than the rest of the band, through his use of humor. Al introduces his band members over the course of the concert, letting each of them have a solo. After the lead guitar and drummer show off their impressive skills, the bassist leaves the audience in stitches by only playing one note.
Anime & Manga
Invoked with Ako in Mahou Sensei Negima!, who struggles with worries that she is nothing but a minor character destined to live forever in the background (which, well, is kinda true) and plays the bass in a high school rock band.
In K-On!, the classical lack of attention towards the bassist is Mio Akiyama's reason for choosing to play the bass, as she has significant self-confidence issues. The trope is inverted when, due to an "accident" during their first school festival performance, she becomes the band's most popular member.
The bass player was the only band member not involved in Aya Hirano's career-derailing sex scandal (and subsequently the only band member not fired), though he reportedly had to deal with some sexual harrassment.
Film
School of Rock: In the ending credits, the bass player is the only one who didn't get to do a solo.
She also doesn't get much (if any) dialogue. Not to mention the only named bassists are a spineless creep (the roommate) and a smarmy jackass (from Jack Black's old band).
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: In the film, Scott and one of the evil exes engage in a "bass battle," which is treated as a self-evident gag scene.
In That Thing You Do, the bass player of the Wonders doesn't even have a name. His character is listed as "T.B. Player," and when he disappears during the band's trip to Los Angeles, nobody really cares; they replace him with a studio musician.
Humor
This joke: A couple is going to a marriage therapist. But his efforts seem to be useless, since the husband and the wife aren't even willing to talk with each other anymore. Then, he grabs the bass which happens to be around (don't ask), starts playing - and while he's playing, the couple suddenly starts communicating. Afterwards, they thank him: "You saved our marriage! But what was the bass for?" He answers: "I play in a band as a hobby, and I know from experience: Everyone is talking during the bass solo!"
Another joke: A man vacationing on an island is driven crazy by the constant sound of drums, but whenever he tries to ask the natives when it will stop, they look horrified and tell him, "Very bad when drumming stops." Finally, he plucks up the courage to ask what happens when the drumming stops, and the response is, "Bass solo."
In Guitar Hero 2, several of the loading messages between songs played along with this trope for laughs.
You need a mini-fridge in your practice space. It's more important than a bassist. If you can hear the bassist, your speakers are too loud.
Also this one from the third game:
You seem to be having a problem with your bass amp. I can hear it!
This is the bassist's problem in Guitar Hero World Tour. She quit her former band because she was sick of being overshadowed by the others. At the end of her story mode, she makes a solo album and becomes famous... with Lou's help.
In Rock Band, the first game had no solo bass career, as allegedly the bass didn't have enough interesting songs to warrant a solo mode. Fans of the bands found under Lead Bassist disagreed.
The instrument shop has an oversized double-neck Fender custom with the description "For once... they will pay attention... to the BASSIST!"
In Rock Band Blitz you can unlock the super bass power which comes with this description:
Bass notes are now worth more points. (Bassists, however, are still not worth that much.)
Web Comics & Web Original
A Cracked photoplasty of "25 Team-Ups in History That Would Have Changed Everything" had this◊. Noticed the lack of bassist? (we could guess the guy put Kirk Hammett when he wanted Cliff Burton, but that's giving him too much credit)
TV Tropes: Guess which instrumentalist isn't represented in the main page for Five-Man Band? That's right, the bassist is less important than the Tambourinist.
Western Animation
In the Home Movies episode "Guitarmageddon", Jason complains about getting saddled with bass, saying it's thankless and the bass player is "the loser of the group." His friends disagree, but when he offers to trade instruments they back out quickly.
The Life And Times Of Juniper Lee: Juniper and her brothers have a band named "Short Angry Freuds". She told her big brother Dennis nobody would pay attention to him because he's the bassist.
By unanimous consent, Murderface's bass lines are always left out of the final mix.
Their producer Dick Knubbler refers to Murderface as "almost part of Dethklok." To his face.
In the Phineas And Ferb episode "Dude, We're Getting The Band Back Together!", the boys are trying to re-form Love Händel. When they approach the bass player, his response is "You don't need me. I just play bass in the background. Nobody even remembers me."
In Regular Show, Mordecai skips the name of the bassist while naming off the popular band 'Hair To The Throne' when they show up at the park, and just calls him "the bass player", then the bassist frowns. He's also the only band member who gets no speaking lines.
