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Okay, first of all you guys should know that I'm a bass player. It's my favourite instrument, I love the sound, blah blah blah.

I was reading peoples comments on John Paul Jones in a YouTube video, saying he wasn't important in Zeppelin. Video.

Ridonkulous, right?

Argument 1.
John Paul Jones is one of the most reknowned bass players of all time. He was a session artist like Jimmy before Zeppelin, and played on many popular tracks, such as Donovans "Sunshine Superman", and The Rolling Stone's "Shes a Rainbow". He's played with Nico, Hermans Hermits, Jeff Beck, Cat Stevens, The Shadows, and the Jett Blacks. He was evidently a fantastic session artist.

Argument 2.
He plays the mandolin, bass guitar, stand up bass, koto, lap steel guitar, autoharp, ukulele, cello, and synthesizers. Nuff said.

Argument 3.
BASS IS NOT STUPID/UNECESSARY.
If Zeppelin did not have a bass player (like the White Stripes), imagine how flat sounding the live performances would be. He even plays the bass pedals when he's playing the keyboards. Bass adds some underlay to the guitar and some depth to the music. Guitar by itself sounds alright, but with a bass line underneath it, it sounds great. Bass can drive a guitar riff to the limit.

Argument 4.
I know, Page and Plant made the band. They were the Lennon/McCartney duo of Led Zeppelin. But JPJ had some help writing songs like Communication Breakdown, How Many More Times, Good Times Bad Times among many other songs. He continues to be a fantastic musician in modern day.

Argument 5.
Honesly, if bass was useless, how come every band from the 50's up until now has a bass player? (With exceptions like the White Stripes and Chromeo)

Okay I'm done.

Feel free to make any points I missed.

note: song + band references taken from Wikipedia.

Wonderful points, thank you.

THANK YOU!! I wanna punch people in the face when they say JPJ isn't important! xp scream stressed Not only was he a bass player he was also a songwriter and played many other instruments on the albums. Not important? HA!

I agree with everything said above.
I've tried my hand at playing bass, it's not as easy as you may think it is. Let's just suffice it to say that all their songs would sound like crap without it.

heart

heart to the second power...

Plus, even Jack White has some bass overdubs on his albums, and although he may not have them live, there are some songs (Seven Nation Army, for instance) that are totally composed of awesome bass lines.

RAMBLE ON the whole song is bass and love the end if you listen to it in a good system every thing 'cept the drums are moving around and it sounds so cool!!!!!!!!!!
I don't think Zeppelin would have gotten anywhere with out any one of their members, Page is an amazing guitarist and he know how to get the sounds he wants, Plant has a voice that is on steriods from heaven xp , Bonzo can play the drums better than lance armstrong can ride a bike, and JPJ is one of the most influential bassist, and listen to No Quarter if you need further be proven of his nigh godlike skills.