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Cliff Burton

Clifford Lee Burton (February 10, 1962September 27, 1986) was the second bassist in the band Metallica, joining the band in late 1982 replacing Ron McGovney. He was, and still is, considered to be one of the best bassists in heavy metal history.

Burton was born in Castro Valley, California. He started playing the piano at age six (and reportedly eventually studied it at college/conservatory level). In his teens he picked up the bass guitar and started playing in local bands.

The other members of Metallica were looking for a bass player who was a bit more proficient than the one they had. As they tell the story in the liner notes to "Garage, Inc.", they attended a show by Cliff's band Trauma, heard what they thought was a wild wah-wah guitar solo, wondered where the guitar was, and discovered it was Cliff playing his bass through a wah-wah. They recruited him on the spot.

Burton would reportedly monopolize the tape player in any touring vehicle, and deliberately expose the metalheads in the band to a variety of unfamiliar music styles --- ranging from The Misfits and Thin Lizzy to the legendary classical pianist Glenn Gould playing Bach.

His playing style was unusually varied for a heavy metal bassist, from rapid-fire riffs and mock guitar solos to very melodic playing. The one rock musician whose influence can clearly be heard in his playing is Rush frontman Geddy Lee. Like the latter (and unlike other, later virtuoso metal and progressive metal bassists who favor 5-string or even 6-string bass guitars), he played a standard 4-string bass.

Burton died on Metallica's European tour when the band's tour bus flipped over in rural Sweden, leading him to fall out of a bus window, being crushed - although still alive at this point. He got crushed for a second time - and died - when the winch cable lifting the bus off him snapped, dropping the bus back on top of him.

The night after the accident, James Hetfield got drunk and ran through the streets for hours, yelling: "Cliff! Cliff! Where are ya??" Cliff's corpse was cremated. At the ceremony, the instrumental "Orion" of the album Master of Puppets was played.

In a recently published interview that claims to have been conducted with Cliff Burton hours before his death, Burton predicts that Metallica would experiment with softer music and would eventually work with a "big time" producer. The 1991 release of Metallica, as well as the 1996/1997 releases of Load and Reload, which both featured much softer music compared to what Metallica had written in the early 1980s, as well as their subsequent collaborations with Bob Rock , who had worked with Aerosmith, Mötley Crüe and Bon Jovi, gave Burton's words credibility. Metallica endured a severe backlash for their supposed selling out by working with Bob Rock and making softer music, which lead many old-school fans to declare that Cliff's death lowered the quality of Metallica's music.

He co-wrote several Metallica songs, including "Master of Puppets," "Orion" and "Fade to Black."

Burton was superseded as Metallica's bassist by Jason Newsted. Quoting Newsted, "I always felt this shadow cast over me, and I always felt like I wore shoes that were too large for my feet whenever I remember who I replaced." Newsted was never really accepted by the band. For 10 years, he just was "the new one", and James Hetfield would strictly refuse to accept him as an equal to Cliff Burton.

"When Metallica lost Cliff," said drummer Lars Ulrich, "they not only lost a bassist; they lost their soul."

After Cliff's death, Metallica made ...And Justice for All in 1988. Many Metallica fans, although they never received clarification from the band, believe that the album was the band's last tribute to their fallen musician and friend. It also should be noted that the instrumental track, "To Live Is To Die", was written and composed by Cliff Burton, titled after something he once said.




Last updated: 02-10-2005 22:04:53
Last updated: 05-03-2005 09:00:33