So we aren’t the flashiest of rockers, I guess. But dammit, more often than not, you miss us if we’re gone.
Jimmy Bain isn’t a household name — he was a bassist, of course, and among those, he wasn’t one that regularly gets cited as a massive influence, not like Steve Harris or Cliff Burton. But the records he played on routinely do get cited as influential, and with good reason. Don’t believe me? Well, here’s three of those reasons:
Bain was best known for his on-and-off collaborations with Ronnie James Dio, both in Rainbow (before Bain was fired by the notoriously temperamental Richie Blackmore) and then later on the first four Dio albums. In the space between, he also wrote and recorded with various members of Thin Lizzy — he appeared on one track on 1979’s Black Rose, as well as contributing to both of Phil Lynott’s solo albums and to both albums by Brian Robertson’s post-Lizzy / pre-Motörhead outfit Wild Horses.
Bain’s association with Dio continued even after Ronnie James’ death in 2010 — he had reunited with the rest of the band from The Last In Line album, and their first album of new material is slated for release in February. Unfortunately, Jimmy Bain passed away at age 68 on January 24, while on the Def Leppard “Hysteria On The High Seas” cruise with Last In Line.
Jimmy Bain was a part of some of the best hard rock records ever made, and he should be remembered for that. So pull out your copy of Rising or Holy Diver (and if you don’t have one of both, rectify that post-haste), put it on and turn it up, and raise a pint or a shot or just a pair of horns to a rock’n’roll life gone by. It’s been happening far too often lately…
