Geezer Butler is the main reason I play bass. Although I didn't actually learn bass until I was in my late 20's, I have been singing and writing songs since I was 12, and I have always followed the bass in songs. I don't know why, the low resonance just moves me. No one plays bass like Geezer! His runs have influenced many other great bassists, as well. One of my favorite sayings is (and please don't take this one the wrong way, guys), "Geezer's great, Geezer's good, worship Geezer...like you should".
He has also been a big influence on me lyrically. Not a lot of people knew this back in the day, but even Ozzy admits that Geezer writes almost all of Black Sabbath's lyrics. I think he has a very interesting style, with the turn of a phrase, as well as the crank of a bass.
The new Black Sabbath album, 13, is great, because they went back to recording old school, like they did way back in 1970 when I first heard them. It is just raw live Sabbath...no studio overdubs. This is how I have always recorded my music! There is an emotional impact recording live has that no studio dubbed recording can match!
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Heaven_And_Hell_09.jpg
By Shadowgate (Flickr: Heaven And Hell 09) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons .
Modified and edited from an article originally published on Bubblews, June 11th, 2013.
Geezer is one sick bassist (in a good way). If there's a bassist out there who says s/he isn't influenced by Geezer, chances are they're a liar.
ReplyDeleteOkay, there are a couple exceptions (just a couple): if they play prog rock, they're influenced by Geddy Lee — and by default, the guy who influenced him greatly, John Entwistle (R.I.P.) — and/or Chris Squire. If they play jazz, they're more likely influenced by Jaco Pastorius (R.I.P.) and/or Stanley Clarke. These guys are all phenomenal musicians.
But if you were reared on metal, and you play bass in a metal band, then you must acknowledge Geezer as in influence. "But my favorite bassist growing up was Steve Harris!" Fine and dandy, but who do you think he listened to way back when? And Steve is a fine player, but let's be brutally honest: Geez has the edge, creatively. He cooks up tastier lines to sink your low end teeth into — pun intended. From "N.I.B." all the way to "End of the Beginning," his bass mastery anchors the Sabbath sound. And his playing was downright sick on Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules!
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