Andy Rourke, bass player for the Smiths

[The Knize]

At age 59 of pancreatic cancer. I frankly would not have known who he was, but the Smith's were a very important Brit band and his bass playing was an important, and, I read, a highly influential part. Said by some more knowledgeable than me to be the best bass player to come out of England. That is quite a statement when you have the likes of folks like John Entwhistle, maybe Jack Bruce, Paul McCartney for heaven's sakes. Chris Squire. Gregg Lake, maybe. John Paul freaking Jones. Impressive company.

Melodic and sometimes funky. Great tone. Never overwhelms the great guitar playing of Johnny Marr. Holds that group together in a tight unit. Lots of great examples out there on the net right now, but a good one, I think is "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now." The world has lost a talented and creative player.

 

[BudgetShaverGuy]

Now there is a light that will never go out. RIP!

 

[slimshavy]

There's a great video of them performing "Barbarism Begins at Home," which is one of the only songs that really spotlights Andy, with its kind of funky bass line.

 

[The Knize]

There's a great video of them performing "Barbarism Begins at Home," which is one of the only songs that really spotlights Andy, with its kind of funky bass line.

Pretty much the plight of a lot of great bass players. Here are two clips I thought were fun. I am sure there are those who would say that the role of a bass player is not to be spotlighted, but to be missed if he is not there. I may try to track down that Barbarism clip.

 

[slimshavy]

Pretty much the plight of a lot of great bass players. Here are two clips I thought were fun. I am sure there are those who would say that the role of a bass player is not to be spotlighted, but to be missed if he is not there. I may try to track down that Barbarism clip.

I wasn't sure if we could link, but here it is:

 

[captp]

RIP

 

[John H]

This 'guerilla' video of the Smiths doing a live performance of How Soon is Now in October 1986 is pretty special and really shows off both Rourke's bass and Marr's guitar. How it came about was quite remarkable; someone smuggled a video camera into the concert venue to film it (and when you consider how large domestic video cameras were in 1986 that was quite an accomplishment!). The audio feed from the mixing desk was recorded for a live 'contractual obligations' album called Rank but this song was never part of the release. The audio for the song later leaked and appeared on a bootleg, the video leaked...and eventually someone synchronised the two recordings.

 

[JCarr]

This 'guerilla' video of the Smiths doing a live performance of How Soon is Now in October 1986 is pretty special and really shows off both Rourke's bass and Marr's guitar. How it came about was quite remarkable; someone smuggled a video camera into the concert venue to film it (and when you consider how large domestic video cameras were in 1986 that was quite an accomplishment!). The audio feed from the mixing desk was recorded for a live 'contractual obligations' album called Rank but this song was never part of the release. The audio for the song later leaked and appeared on a bootleg, the video leaked...and eventually someone synchronised the two recordings.

Love that song. Thanks for posting.

 

[slimshavy]

This 'guerilla' video of the Smiths doing a live performance of How Soon is Now in October 1986 is pretty special and really shows off both Rourke's bass and Marr's guitar. How it came about was quite remarkable; someone smuggled a video camera into the concert venue to film it (and when you consider how large domestic video cameras were in 1986 that was quite an accomplishment!). The audio feed from the mixing desk was recorded for a live 'contractual obligations' album called Rank but this song was never part of the release. The audio for the song later leaked and appeared on a bootleg, the video leaked...and eventually someone synchronised the two recordings.

Nice! Is that a rare Craig Gannon sighting on guitar? It's dark, but I can see a second guitarist there.

 

[WesternModern]

I had the pleasure of seeing him play twice - with The Smiths in 1985 and two years later, when he and Smiths drummer Mike Joyce backed Sinead O'Conner on her first US tour. R.I.P. Andy.