mike watt + the missingmen

Michael David Watt (born December 20, 1957 in Porstmouth, Virginia) is an American bass guitarist, singer and songwriter.

He is best-known for co-founding the rock bands The Minutemen, dos, and fIREHOSE; He is also the bassist for the reunited Stooges and a member of the art rock/jazz/punk/improv group Banyan as well as many other post-Minutemen projects.

Though Watt has not had much mainstream success or visibility, he is often cited as a key figure in the development of American alternative rock: the Red Hot Chili Peppers dedicated their hugely successful Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991) to him. The seminal rock writer Richard Meltzer has called Watt “the most important songwriter since Bob Dylan“^[1].

On November 1 2008, Watt received the Bass Player Magazine lifetime achievement award, presented by Flea.