"I like a lot of bass players. I like a lot of tuba players too"
About this Quote
Rick Danko’s line lands like a half-grin from the backline: a compliment that’s also a gentle poke at how music culture sorts people into hierarchies. Bass players already live in that familiar paradox - essential but rarely celebrated, the glue everyone notices only when it fails. By saying he likes “a lot of bass players,” Danko sounds generous, almost casual. Then he swivels to “tuba players too,” and the joke quietly detonates.
The tuba is the bass’s comedic cousin: big, cumbersome, often typecast as oompah or marching-band ballast. Pairing the two instruments collapses the prestige ladder. It’s Danko implying that the low end isn’t just a role in rock; it’s a whole family of under-credited craftspeople who do the heavy lifting while someone else gets the spotlight. The phrasing is deliberately plain, like he’s refusing to perform the usual rock-star reverence for virtuosity. Taste, here, is less about hero worship than affection for function.
Context matters: Danko came up in a band built on ensemble democracy, where nobody “won” the song and the pocket mattered more than flash. The intent reads as a small manifesto in disguise: respect the players who make music feel inevitable. The subtext is also a social tell - Danko isn’t aligning himself with frontman mythology. He’s siding with the working musicians, the people who understand that the groove is a job, and the best ones do it without needing you to notice.
The tuba is the bass’s comedic cousin: big, cumbersome, often typecast as oompah or marching-band ballast. Pairing the two instruments collapses the prestige ladder. It’s Danko implying that the low end isn’t just a role in rock; it’s a whole family of under-credited craftspeople who do the heavy lifting while someone else gets the spotlight. The phrasing is deliberately plain, like he’s refusing to perform the usual rock-star reverence for virtuosity. Taste, here, is less about hero worship than affection for function.
Context matters: Danko came up in a band built on ensemble democracy, where nobody “won” the song and the pocket mattered more than flash. The intent reads as a small manifesto in disguise: respect the players who make music feel inevitable. The subtext is also a social tell - Danko isn’t aligning himself with frontman mythology. He’s siding with the working musicians, the people who understand that the groove is a job, and the best ones do it without needing you to notice.
Quote Details
| Topic | Witty One-Liners |
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