Now this may be my pop upbringing talking here but as far as i`m concerned the songs are the most important thing.

If i`ve got a bass player who wants to show off all the time rather than making the songs sound good i`ll fire the bastard.

People remember songs not technical ability and wanking over your instrument.

Since when in the hell is knowing how to actually play your f*cking instrument automatically wanking?

So... I guess you think Charles Mingus and James Jamerson are wankers then, thats pretty damn ignorant.

Since you changed the 2nd half of your post & took out the bits about bass solos

EDIT: look you did it again , And I don`t remember calling anyone wankers

It's not showing off when you play the best you can. If you can't put your talent on an album what are you suppose to do with it? Guitar players "show off" all the time but I rarely hear shit about it.

Case in point, you're making it out like any musician with a modest amount of instrumental talent is a wanker... Thats a huge insult to people who actually devote a lot of their time to music and learning how to play, you may prefer some hack who dosen't know what hes doing and just joined the band to make money, but that dosent make him a good bassist now does it?... There are some really f*cking talented bassists out there, but oh wait, they're all wankers, they suck... I'm better than them, i mean, i can't play bass worth the sh*t.... But i can play with emotion, you see, i don't dunno how to play bass so i just make weird noises with it by farting on it, i fart with great emotion, and emotion is the only thing that matters... Sure its purely subjective, but because i fart on my bass with emotion that makes me better than Charles Mingus, all he did was wank, you know, because he played his bass instead of just standing around with it doing nothing like Cliff Williams or any decent bass player... Also i'm in a popular rock band and i wear cool sunglasses, so i must be good.

If i`ve got a bass player who wants to show off all the time rather than making the songs sound good i`ll fire the bastard.

Read carefully , i`ve bolded the part you & boo boo seem to have missed.And I should add that was in response to Boo Boo saying about bass solos which he later edited out.

I happen to agree with both of you.
Urban's point I think, is that the overall package of a song is more important than any individual musician and that persons talent.
My guess is he would dislike a lead guitarist being flash if it didn't contribute to the finished article.

However a piece of flash bass playing in context of the song, works wonders for me.
I'd wank myself silly over a Jamerson bass run any day.

But it's not showing off. Bass driven music is far underrated. It is good for the music, it is good for the songs. And I beg you to enlighten me that great bass playing doesnt improve a song.

Edit: Music is about balance. All the parts need to be good. Mediocore bass lines bore me and for the most part really just don't cut it.

It`s hard to get my point because i`m responding to Boo Boo who keeps editing his posts after i`ve replied to them.

I`ve no problem with flash bass playing AS LONG AS IT WORKS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE SONG.

All I said was if I was in a band with a bass player showing off all the time i`d tell him to sod off & join a jazz band where thats acceptable.

Is that really that difficult to understand?

I don't remember editing out some bit about solos, but i'm not trying to make it seem like you're saying something else, you're basically spewing out some kind of all bass solos = shit philosophy.