BEST BAND EVER: Results!

The Flash said:
I don't see you complaining about it when a guitarist does the same thing.
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That's right, I don't. That's because - and I admit that might be purely subjective, but I can't tell myself how to feel - I can accept guitar as a lead instrument, but not bass. Bass can be an excellent instrument in its own right and there are many melodious basemen in business, like Butler or Myung, whose lines down there elevate the song to something almost otherwordly, but I find the instrument to lack the expresiveness of guitar, or violin etc. In other words, it's unconvetional for a reason, otherwise everybody would be doing that. For that reason I have trouble accepting Primus as anything more than mere novelty.

Listening to Bumblefoot and listening to Claypool is very different for me. Call me prejudiced, but I don't know how to overcome this.
 
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Eliminated after Round 36:
Larry Graham
Leif Edling

Promoted after Round 36:
Les Claypool
Steve DiGiorgio

Billy Sheehan (DAVID LEE ROTH, MR. BIG, SONS OF APOLLO) vs. Frank Bello (ANTHRAX)
vs.
Flea (RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS) vs. Mike Inez (ALICE IN CHAINS, OZZY OSBOURNE)
vs.
 
The Flash said:
It's actually unconventional in rock/metal only. It's very conventional in funk, which is what Primus essentially does.
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Mosh said:
And what Larry Graham does for that matter.
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I must respectfully disagree. I like a lot of funk (the Clinton crew, Sly Stone, Earth Wind & Fire, Graham Central Station, Bootsy Collins, Tower of Power, Johnny Guitar Watson, Booker T & the MGs, James Brown, heck even Prince or some Jamiroquai for that matter) and while the base there is very prominent, it is never as overwhelming as with Primus. I suppose that I might have added to the confusion by using the term "lead" in a wrong way. But don't tell me Graham and Claypool use the bass in the same way.
 
Billy Sheehan & Flea

Though I must say, I'm not a big fan of Billy Sheehan. Don't like his tone or how he approaches his bass playing. Gotta respect his chops though.
 
Anthrax is a band whose bass playing has always stood out for me, so Bello. (Sheehan... eh.)

And you can't make much of an argument against Flea.
 
Sheehan vs. Bello - Sheehan's lines were more interesting, at least in these two songs.

Flea vs. Inez - Pity vote for Inez. Flea is probably better, but he wasted most of his career playing shitty rap/funk.
 
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Eliminated after Round 37:
Frank Bello
Mike Inez

Promoted after Round 37:
Billy Sheehan
Flea

Glenn Hughes (BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION, BLACK SABBATH, DEEP PURPLE) vs. Jeffrey Hammond (JETHRO TULL)
vs.

Jean-Michel Labadie (GOJIRA) vs. Tony Levin (solo, KING CRIMSON, PETER GABRIEL)
vs.
 
On Jeffrey Hammond (sometimes credited as Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond):
Unfortunately (and unbelievably!), from his time in Jethro Tull, there is no good sounding live footage on the internet. So if we turn the spotlight on him we need to deal with the studio material. Hammond played in Tull from 1971 to 1975. That means the following music:

Critique Oblique, the song that represents him in the match vs Glenn Hughes, comes from an album session in France where conditions were so terrible that the band decided to halt the project and start over again in England. Material from these "The Chateau d'Isaster Tapes" was e-recorded and re-arranged on the next album, A Passion Play. Critique Oblique has a rougher, unpolished sound. I liked to show that side but I also wish to show the cleaner sound from A Passion Play, Steve Harris' favourite Tull album.

Check the first three and a half minutes (esp. 1:43 - 3.27) in this fragment:


The rest of A Passion Play, but also Thick as a Brick has some nice bass work as well. And there's always Aqualung with songs like the title track and Cross-Eyed Mary to check out:
 
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