Question:
GEEZER IS GOD!! GEEZER HAS THE GROOVE!! GEEZER IS VERY UNDERRATED!! Geezer is my absolute favorite bassist. I’ve been playing for almost seven years and have influences from Sheehan, Harris, Flea, and Jaco, but Geezer is still my favorite bassist. He was a great influence on me. Maybe he’s not the best bassist (I don’t think we can ever say who is), but by far MY favorite. I even named my login name after him! I loved that quote about him in bass player magazine. I put it on my wall (please excuse me if the words aren’t exact): "Before the groove, there was the riff. And lo, in the year 1968, the riff was cast in metal, and it was exceedingly heavy. And Geezer Butler did walk from the dry ice and he did put aside his guitar. And Geezer did take up the bass. And Geezer Butler begat Black Sabbath. And they came up with many heavy riffs." I think Geezer deserves a lot of credit for being a real ground breaker (or perhaps even a creator to some extent) of many things: tuning the bass or guitar down, using effects on bass, and making heavy metal possible in general. People think Cliff Burton or these grunge guys were really neat because they tune down to low D, use distortion and wah-wah. But Geezer was doing LONG before: when Cliff was still pissing in his diapers. I got to see him in concert finally on the Sabbath "Cross Purposes" Tour last month. I was practically in tears when I heard him play "the Wizard". No, I was literally in tears! I’m not here to put down grunge or Metallica, but just to stand by my all-time favorite bassist: GEEZER!! Bill
Response:
My sentiments exactly. Geezer is one of my all time favorites, as well as Harris, Lee, and Jack Bruce. One of the very first songs I learned (after Penny Lover by Lionel Richie, uggh) was Iron Man. This song as we all know is quite easy, but when first starting out, it presents quite a challenge. And it contains many different techniques in it also. You have your basic riffs, improvisational type playing during solo, and a 16th note festival in the outro. Geezer was and still is extremeley innovative. I think what really sticks out in his playing are his melodic, improv. lines which support the guitar solos. I think the reason why he and Iommi and Ward are highly underrated players is due to the ‘Satanic image’ that they were perceived to have had by many. That is why you always hear Zeppelin, Zep, Zep. IMHO, Black Sabbath contributed much, much more than Zeppelin did in the music world. Well, I hope Geezer stays in the music business for a long time, whether it be with Sabbath or not. I think he still has a lot to offer the music world. * Brad Grimm When a horse feather falls gently * * Penn State University upon your ear, you know you drank *