It’s no secret that Gene Simmons has long credited Paul McCartney as his “most influential bassist,” a claim he recently repeated to Guitar World.
“The biggest compliment I can give Paul McCartney is that you can pick the vast majority of Beatles songs and you’ll remember what the bass was playing. So McCartney is hands and feet above the other guys. He’s a triple threat – he wrote songs that were unmatched, became the most successful songwriter of all time, and he wrote them by himself.”
But, there are five others who he says “shaped his sound.”
He’s also fond of Ronnie Wood who handled four-string duties as a member of The Jeff Beck Group. “Those first two records were pivotal. They came out before Led Zeppelin; I heard that stuff and was awed by how free-flowing they were.”
And, he says he’s also a fan of Mountain’s Felix Pappalardi, Chris Squire from Yes, legendary session bassist Carol Kaye from The Wrecking Crew, and Van Halen‘s Michael Anthony, who he says “never got a lot of attention – but he’s really good. I remember being impressed with him when I produced that first Van Halen demo.”
Simmons has his own line of bass guitars.
REUTERS PHOTO
