A lot of you may ask. Who? Carol Kaye may be the least appreciated musician of all time, and she played during a time when women were not considered real musicians. The sexual discrimination she would have constantly faced must have been unreal. She has played in over 10,000 songs. She started out on guitar , but when she was at a job to play guitar, the bassist didn’t show up, so she grabbed the bass and without any prior experience played the bass on the track as well. Later, as a member of the famed Wrecking Crew of studio musicians, she was constantly hired to play on albums, mostly in the 1960’s and 1970’s, including some of the most famous tv theme songs ever. I could easily do a top 10 just in her theme songs, but I’ll narrow the 10,000 down to 10.
10 Ritchie Valens – La Bamba (guitar)
9 Sonny & Cher – The Beat Goes On (Bass)
8 The Mothers Of Invention – Any Way The Wind Blows (12 string guitar)
7 Motherlode – When I Die (Bass) It’s pretty cool how Carol played on this London, Ontario, Canada band.
6 Mission Impossible Theme (Bass)
5 Buffalo Springfield – Expecting To Fly (Bass)
4 David Axelrod – Urizen (sampled by Jurassic 5 A Day At The Races) (bass)
3 Nancy Sinatra – These Boots Are Made For Walking (Bass)
2 Elvis Presley – A Little Less Conversation (Bass)
1 Beach Boys – Good Vibrations (bass)
Happy 87th Birthday Carol.
Good list and good musician to feature – I don’t think I realised it was her in Expecting to Fly.
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There are so many I did not know about. Especially all the 60’s and 70’s tv shows I watched in syndication as a kid.
As for Buffalo Springfield, I think they were a group of individuals more than a cohesive band by that point.
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Kaye was just everywhere. Hal Blaine on drums too – he had a special stamp made so that he didn’t have to bother filling in studio forms.
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I need a stamp like that for my wife’s honey do lists
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Happy birthday Carol, she definitely was a trailblazer.
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Yes. As the father of a young woman I want to at least have hope that women will get an equal shot. Great to have women like Carol pave the way.
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Very true. One thing I have noticed about the 80s is that female shredders never got the respect they deserved.
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Yes. Imagine the shock and horror if best guitarist lists ever had a woman.
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Agree with all of this. The Wrecking Crew doc was excellent. It is a crime that musicians do not get royalties for their arrangements.
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Yeah really. I guess just another case of the rich getting richer. Like the chemist that comes up with the billion dollar idea and gets a $100 bonus.
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Fantastic. Glad to see Jurassic 5 here.
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Cool that a newer generation can hear her playing as well.
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Yes! And on endless rotation in all those old classic tracks.
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I’ve found so many cool funk, soul and Motown tunes by reading up on what tracks are sampled in rap songs.
At least they admit to it unlike many rock musicians.
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