10 Greatest Hard Rock Basslines

When people think of the greatest bands in hard rock music, many people don't tend to bring up the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Their brand of funk and alternative music doesn't really lend itself to the hard rock stylings of something like AC/DC. The band may not operate in the hard rock realm consistently, but they could still melt your face off when the time called for it.

At the start of the band's comeback album Californication, bassist and general wild man Flea kicks the entire thing off with one of the most ferocious bass parts the 90's had ever heard. The main line is basically just going across the blues scale, but the attack that is put into it along with the ringing guitars makes you feel like something epic is about to go down. While the rest of the song goes into the Peppers' typical funk style, Flea is still bouncing all over the place, with lines that almost sound like two instruments playing at once.

Even though the band is still on funk mode, they do bring back the more hard-edged intro once again, which makes the whole track feel like its teetering on the edge of anarchy. Flea was already the Master of the Bass Guitar by rock standards, but this song showed that years of playing had zero effect on his ability to blow us away.