I guess bass has always been a very attractive element in music for me. Whether it's the rhythmic pounding and sweeping oscillations of Dubstep, or the overly crushing distorted bass guitar in bands such as KEN Mode, bass sounds are probably one of the first things that attract me to a song/artist. As I'm sure most people are aware, bass carries with it the most physically translated frequency range in sound/music.
When I was a student at R.I.T (97'-98'), I had the opportunity of being exposed to a few interesting and new perspectives on music. One thing you may not know, R.I.T is also the N.T.I.D (National Technical Institute for the Deaf). I ended up seeing a decent number of shows, and almost all of them had a translator signing for any deaf or hard of hearing kids present. I bring this up because, for these kids (at least the ones I knew), music was more of a physical experience. Bass played a massive role in how they enjoyed and interacted with the music. I'm still amazed by this, and being a musician myself, I have a hard time even imagining music from this perspective. Just keep in mind, there are a lot more nuances and movements in music that even our ears may get in the way of.
On an extreme ending note, I went to see Sunn0))) around a year and a half ago in Brooklyn. I remember slowly crumbling to the floor and not being able to stand by the end of their set. It felt like I had 3 or 4 people standing on my shoulders; truly a humbling experience. If I were to guess, I would say a combination of sheer volume and bass were the culprits. It was a very cool experience, especially if you enjoy being physically punished by sound.
Yea... I have always enjoyed the piece about the deaf students feeling the bass. I've been playing bass for 25 years. I am, without a doubt, not at all a student of traditional bass playing. My playing is almost completely intuitive... well - not true. A lot of what I play doubles or compliments the guitar in whatever it is that I play. A lot of the more textured stuff - where my playing is more 'complimentary' - tends to be very melodic. I also appreciate intensity. As a player - I tend to push the intensity quite a bit - but my listening tastes/tendencies can be very different. I guess if I had to choose heavy intensity or melodic texture - I'd choose the latter.
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