What’s a Walking Bass Line?
Chris Molanphy steps us through the low-end hooks that make songs like “Good Times” and “Billie Jean” so infectious.
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Listen to Episode 226 of Slate’s The Gist:
Today on The Gist, Mike joins us from a Chicago Transit Authority station as he prepares to host Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me this weekend. First up, Chris Molanphy explains how the secret sauce in some of your favorite pop songs might just be the walking bass line. He writes Slate’s Why Is That Song No. 1 column. For the Spiel, the governor of Indiana supports clarifying a law that in no way needs clarification.
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