“I wrote that bassline when I was 16. I saw this dude slapping the hell out of a bass at a music store – the tumblers clicked in my head. I took a bus home, picked up my bass, and I was doing it!” Fishbone’s Norwood Fisher names his 10 best basslines

John Fisher of the band Fishbone performs at Old Forester's Paristown Hall on August 26, 2023 in Louisville, Kentucky.

In a perfect world, bassist Norwood Fisher and Fishbone would be superstars, a shining example of what can happen when smart lyrics, pop songwriting, stellar musicianship, a once-in-a-lifetime frontman, and a ridiculously badass rhythm section come together in a spicy, pan-genre gumbo. 

Fishbone's bass-tastic 1991 masterwork, The Reality of My Surroundings, should've been the breakthrough that propelled them into the mainstream. Fisher's hyperactive thumb and inventive basslines should've made him a multi-platinum success like his peers Flea and Les Claypool. In fact, it's become all too common to think of Fishbone as the band that should’ve, but didn't.