Musician links: The bass master race, the history of guitar distortion, the Funky Drummer dies.

• Ian Rilen and Peter Hook were right all along. Science proves the supremacy of the bass player.

• A brief history of guitar distortion.

• Clyde Stubblefield, James Brown’s drummer and one of the most sampled men in music history, dies at 73.

top photo: Ian Rilen at the Annandale 1990 by Mat Rawnsley, from ianrilen.com.
Those are 5-string bass strings each a string down.