In my opinion when you listen to most music the bass is not very noticeable. Yet when you really think about it the bass player could actually really be contributing to the band behind the sound of the music. Lets take Krist Novolselic for example, in most Nirvana songs he plays some pretty simple bass lines, and most of the time you can't hear the bass very well, yet he is a genius in the studio.
I'll name a few bands that I don't think would be the same without there bass players.
Flipper
Dinosaur Jr.
Led Zeppelin
Leftover Crack
Choking Victim
Most prog bands
Minor Threat
Operation Ivy
Radiohead
Rancid
Scream
Sublime
311
Weezer
Nirvana (stated above)
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