Primus
Primus formed in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1984 around bassist and singer Les Claypool, whose virtuosic slapping, tapping, and popping made the bass the band's lead instrument. Blending funk, thrash, and avant-garde whimsy, records like 1991's 'Sailing the Seas of Cheese' and the 1995 single 'Wynona's Big Brown Beaver' turned technical eccentricity into an unlikely alternative-rock success. Their cartoonish, off-kilter grooves drew openly on progressive rock, jazz-funk fusion, and outsider art.
Primus have cited King Crimson among their influences — even covering the band live — and the debt is clear in Primus's angular, odd-metered arrangements and their taste for dissonant, jaggedly interlocking parts.
listen forSet King Crimson's jarring, math-precise '21st Century Schizoid Man' beside Primus's 'My Name Is Mud' — both stab through knotty, angular riffing and abrupt rhythmic turns that reward tight ensemble menace.
Primus have named Talking Heads among their influences, and you can hear that art-punk lineage in Primus's herky-jerky funk grooves, nervous rhythmic energy, and wry, character-driven vocals.
listen forPlay Talking Heads' twitchy, polyrhythmic 'Once in a Lifetime,' then Primus's 'Jerry Was a Race Car Driver' — both ride a jittery, funk-derived groove under a deadpan, storytelling vocal.
Les Claypool's virtuosic, lead-voice bass playing descends from jazz-fusion bass innovators like Stanley Clarke, who helped make the electric bass a soloing, slapping front-line instrument.
listen forCompare Clarke's flashy, slap-heavy 'School Days' with Claypool's showcase on Primus's 'Tommy the Cat' — in both, the bass sprints out front, popping and slapping with a soloist's flamboyance.