Archetypes

The Beatles, in too many ways to describe here, set up the archetype for the modern pop and/or rock group. Everything from the notion of a band that writes its own songs to the importance of the album over the single, to the creation of pop music as high art, can be traced to the Beatles.

Amid all this, let's think about the archetype for bass players:


Yup, that Kids in the Hall skit pretty much sums up the stereotype of the bass player. But McCartney doesn't fit it at all. Along with Lennon he formed arguably the greatest songwriting team of all time. Why has a band that set up so many rock archetypes not left us with a better one for bassists?