47. Black Flag - Six Pack

Along with “TV Party,” this was one of two anti-anthems on 1981’s Damaged. But since the Flag played the whole LP with a debtor’s desperation, these tracks kind of switched sides, into the realm of full-bore adoptability. For his part, Chuck Dukowski turns in a bassline seemingly crafted to confuse allegiances: ominous stabs at the lower register, gradually giving way to shorter clusters, inching up the scale at you. No funk, just chords. It’s a neat little cycle of rising threat that especially plays well when Greg Ginn’s guitar joins with its frantic scrapings. Soon Hank jumps in—something about beer. It barely matters at this point.
[Brad Shoup]

38. Stevie Wonder - Boogie On Reggae Woman

It’s not just a bassline, it’s this fuzzed-up happy farty bassline crucially underpinning one of Stevie’s funkiest excursions (which, musically, has nothing to do with reggae, it’s worth noting). P-Funk may have had better basslines, but I’m not sure they ever had one this weird in this big a smash. Stevie isn’t generally thought of as particularly outré, but if anything in his catalog fits that word, it’s this. Processed like heck, and possibly the first synthesized bassline to anchor a #1 (R&B) single. If you don’t find that reason enough to bow down, well, I can’t help you.
[Thomas Inskeep]

37. Alice in Chains – Would?

A fucking monster. Grunge was a genre more known for its shredding, discordant guitars, pounding drums and angst-ridden vocals than any sort of bass bravado, being essentially a funk-free genre. But with one song, Alice in Chains proved what a stupid concept that was. The bass line, which rightly kicks off the song, is among the most sinister things you’ll ever hear, a prowling, unstoppable slither of mystery and horror. The rest of the band performs ably as well, with Layne Stayley providing some of his most memorable vocals, but in this song, for once it’s the rest of the band that complements the bassline.
[Andrew Unterberger]