Why is music addicted to bass?
Tom Service explores the intrinsic importance to humans of bass in music, focusing on works by Bach, Boulez, Stevie Wonder and Dizzee Rascal as well as reggae and rock 'n' roll.
Can you imagine a piece of music without its bass line? Or going out dancing with no bass to move to?
Whether it's an epic symphony or a club classic - we love listening to the bass.
But what actually is 'bass'? How is it that we can often feel it as much as hear it? And why is it that every genre of music seems to need it.
Tom Service goes on a whistlestop tour of bass through the musical ages: from Bach to Boulez, via reggae to rock n roll, Stevie Wonder to Dizzee Rascal. He discovers what links whales and horror movies in the world of bass. And he enlists the help of neuroscientist Dr Laurel Trainor to find out how we're hardwired into the bass as humans and whether it might even be true that the bigger the bass, the more we like each other.
Last on
More episodes
Clip
-
![]()
Why are we all addicted to bass?
Duration: 03:32
Music Played
-
![]()
Carl William Smith Raynard Miner
Rescue Me
Performer: Fontella Bass.- Rescued.
- Chess.
- 1.
-
![]()
Johann Sebastian Bach
Suite no.3 in D major. II Air
Performer: Freiberg Baroque Orchestra.- Bach: Complete Orchestral Suites / Freiburger.
- Harmonia Mundi.
- 9.
-
![]()
Queen
Another one Bites the Dust
- Another one Bites the Dust.
- EMI.
-
![]()
Gustav Mahler
Symphony no.6 鈥� 1st mvt
Performer: Budapest FO. Performer: Iv谩n Fischer.- Gustav Mahler, Ivan Fischer, Budapest Festival Orchestra.
- Channel classics.
-
![]()
Donna Summer
I Feel Love
- Endless Summer.
- Casablanca.
- 4.
-
![]()
Baluji Shrivastav
Raag Shobhavari
- Classical Indian Ragas 鈥� Shadow of the Lotus.
- ARC Music.
- 2.
-
![]()
Trad.
Gendhing Carabalen
Performer: Stsi (Conservatory) Surakarta.- Gamelan From Central Java.
- ARC Music.
- 7.
-
![]()
Trad.
Mandinka Dounou
Performer: Drums of Mali.- Drums of Mali.
- Sterns.
- 7.
-
![]()
Maurice Ravel
La valse arr for two pianos
Performer: Martha Argerich. Performer: Sergio Tiempo.- Martha Argerich and Friends - Live from the Lugano Festival 2011.
- EMI.
- 1.
-
![]()
Sergey Prokofiev
Dance of the Knights (Romeo and Juliet)
Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Valery Gergiev.- Prokofiev: Romeo & Juliet: Valery Gergiev.
- LSO Live.
- 13.
-
![]()
Andrew Van Dorsselaer
Don鈥檛 Call me Baby
Performer: Madison Avenue.- The Polyester Embassy.
- C2.
- 3.
-
![]()
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Piano Sonata in C major K.545 (1st mvt)
Performer: Mitsuko Uchida.- Mozart: Complete Piano Sonatas: Mitsuko Uchida.
- Philips.
- 1.
-
![]()
Georges Bizet
Habanera (Carmen)
Conductor: 大象传媒 Philharmonic. Conductor: Alpesh Chauhan. -
![]()
Francesco Cavalli
Che citt脿 (Ormindo)
Singer: N煤ria Rial. Ensemble: L鈥橝rpeggiata. Conductor: Christina Pluhar.- Erato.
-
![]()
Johann Sebastian Bach
Suite for cello solo no. 1 (BWV.1007) in G major, Prelude
Performer: Yo鈥怸o Ma.- J. S. Bach, The Cello Suites: Yo-Yo Ma.
- Sony Classical.
- 1.
-
![]()
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Divertimento in D major, K.136
Ensemble: Hagen Quartett.- Deutsche Grammophon.
-
![]()
Joseph Haydn
Quartet op.20 no.2 鈥� 1st mvt
Performer: Hagen Quartett.- DG.
-
![]()
Fr茅d茅ric Chopin
24 Preludes for piano (Op.28); no.2 in A minor
Performer: Martha Argerich.- Chopin: 26 Preludes Scherzo NR. 2 - Martha Argerich.
- Deutsche Grammaphon.
- 2.
-
![]()
Anton Bruckner
Symphony no.8 鈥� 1st mvt
Performer: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Performer: Riccardo Chailly.- Bruckner 8 Chailly/Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
- Decca.
-
![]()
Pierre Boulez
Le Marteau sans maitre
Performer: Ensemble intercontemporain.- Music of Our Time.
- DG.
-
![]()
Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Jailhouse Rock
Performer: Elvis Presley.- Elv1s: 30 #1 Hits.
- RCA.
-
![]()
Stevie Wonder
I Wish
- Songs in the Key of Life.
- Motown.
- 6.
-
![]()
Miles Davis
So What
- Kind Of Blue.
- Columbia.
- 1.
-
![]()
Charles Mingus
GG Train
- Mingus Ah Um.
- Columbia.
- 11.
-
![]()
Arcangelo Corelli
Concerto Grosso in G minor, Op 6 No 8, 'Christmas Concerto'
Ensemble: The English Concert. Conductor: Trevor Pinnock.- Corelli: Concerti Grossi Op.6.
- Archiv.
- 7-12.
-
![]()
Toots & The Maytals
54-46 Was My Number
- Sweet and Dandy: The Best of Toots & the Maytals.
- Jet Set Records.
- 11.
-
![]()
Dizzee Rascal
Dance Wiv Me (feat. Calvin Harris and Chrome) (feat. Calvin Harris & Chrome)
- Tongue N Cheek.
- Dirtee Stank.
- 3.
-
![]()
Chuck Berry
You Never Can Tell
- The Gold - Chuck Berry.
- Chess.
- 16.
-
![]()
Ben E. King
Stand By Me
Composer: Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Performer: Ben E. King.- The Very Best of Ben E. King.
- Rhino.
- 7.
Broadcasts
- Sun 18 Sep 2016 17:00大象传媒 Radio 3
- Sun 25 Feb 2018 17:00大象传媒 Radio 3
Why do we call it 'classical' music?
Tom Service poses a very simple question (with a not-so-simple answer).
Six of the world's most extreme voices
From babies to Mongolian throat singers: whose voice is the most extreme of all?
How did the number 12 revolutionise music?
How Schoenberg opened a new cosmos for composers and listeners to explore.
Why are we all addicted to bass?
Bass is everywhere, but why do we enjoy it? Join Tom Service on a journey of discovery.
Watch the animations
Join Tom Service on a musical journey through beginnings, repetition and bass lines.
When does noise become music?
We like to think we can separate 鈥渘oise鈥� from 鈥渕usic鈥�, but is it that simple?
Podcast
-
![]()
The Listening Service
An odyssey through the musical universe, presented by Tom Service
