Info Cliff Burton
Cliff Burton
Birth date: February 10, 1962
Deceased date: September 27, 1986
From: Castro Valley, California
Personal: Never married
Physique: Green eyes, blond/brown hair, 5'7"/1.7 meters tall
Joined Metallica: March 5, 1983
Instrument: Bass, backup vocals
Story:
Although Metallica would become a '90s heavy metal phenomenon (due largely in part to their multi-million selling self-titled release from 1991), the band's major force early on was undeniably their late-bassist Cliff Burton. Cliff had a major say in Metallica's music, look, and direction, which was an unglamorous slap in the face against glam metal (ripped jeans, shirts of their fave bands, long unkempt hair, etc.) with absolutely no interest in videos or the mainstream. After Cliff's untimely death in 1986, Metallica enjoyed their biggest success, but wound up going completely against what they originally stood for.
Cliff was born on February 10, 1962, in Castro Valley, CA, and took up bass as a teenager. Influenced mainly by '70s heavy metal (Black Sabbath, Blue Öyster Cult, Rush, Thin Lizzy, etc.), Cliff retained his retro "bell-bottom jeans" look well into the fashion conscious '80s, making him a true original. His playing style was unmistakable as well; he played a lead-style on bass that was often drenched with distortion. Guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich realized this when they caught Cliff playing L.A. with his band Trauma and they immediately asked Cliff to join their new band, Metallica. Cliff accepted on only one condition: that they move to San Francisco. The members agreed and Metallica was on their way.
While the majority of "metal" bands of the era were wearing makeup and spandex, singing about partying, and playing nothing more than hard-edged pop, Metallica went completely against the grain. Their music owed a lot to the British metal bands of the early '80s (Iron Maiden, Motörhead, Diamond Head), as evidenced by their rough debut album, 1983's Kill 'Em All (which saw guitarist Kirk Hammett replace original guitarist Dave Mustaine), that included Cliff's vicious-bass solo "Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth)."
The band was signed to Elektra in 1984, which issued their exceptional release Ride the Lightning, easily one of metal's all-time classics. But the best was yet to come; Metallica's third release was unquestionably their finest hour -- 1986's Master of Puppets -- and it broke into the U.S. Top 30 and went gold without any radio or MTV support. After completing a spring/summer opening slot with Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica embarked on a European tour. What should have been a time of celebration quickly turned to tragedy on the morning of September 27, 1986, when Cliff was killed when Metallica's tour bus was involved in a horrible accident. With mass success around the corner, the band decided to soldier on with ex-Flotsam & Jetsam bassist Jason Newsted taking Burton's place. Burton's tenure with the band was celebrated with the 1987 home video Cliff 'Em All and a poem of his (as well as a few unused riffs) turned up on the song "To Live Is to Die" on Metallica's ...And Justice for All release. Despite scaling greater commercial heights after Cliff's death, all three Cliff-era Metallica releases remain their finest.
On September 30, 2006 The Cliff Burton Memorial Stone was unvield at the Gyllene Rasten restaurant/bar in Dörarp (outside Ljungby), Sweden located along the highway where Cliff died. The stone was later moved to a new location to protect it from weather damage during Sweden's harsh winters.
The Call of Cliff:
Cliff Burton
To live is to die.
Control your life through insanity.
We do what we wanna do if they consider that selling out… Whatever.
You don't burn out from going too fast. You burn out from going too slow and getting bored.
Every once in awhile we may fall on our face, but we insist on doing what we wanna do.
Personally, I would say the "master" of this whole thing is fate... Whoever is on the playing field is fair game, and it's up to them to avoid being used.
We do what we want. We don't care what anyone else thinks.
Why should we change on stage? We're not trying to be something big and fancy, it's just us, doing what we do, we'd like to keep it that way.
When a man lies he murders some part of the world These are the pale deaths which men miscall their lives All this I cannot bear to witness any longer Cannot the kingdom of salvation take me home.
When I started, I decided to devote my life to it and not get sidetracked by all the other bullshit life has to offer.
Bach is God. Bach is God.
Metallica Members
James Hetfield:
We heard this wild solo going on and thought, "I don't see any guitar player up there." It turned out it was the bass player, Cliff, with a wah wah pedal and this mop of hair. He didn't care whether people were there. He was looking down at his bass playing.
Jason Newsted:
He was a great and very special talent… Cliff's solos were absolutely brilliant.
Kirk Hammett:
He was always against looking too posey, he was always into just looking natural.
James Hetfield:
Knowing Cliff's attitude, he'd kick our butts if we quit.
Lars Ulrich:
I think Cliff would dig on the success because knowing in our heart this is something that has come to us...not something we went out and sought. He'd dig that.
Jason Newsted:
He is the Hendrix of bass for his ground breaking style.
James Hetfield:
I remember this guy lit my couch on fire a couple of times!
Jason Newsted:
Cliff Burton was my God. I mean, no one before him and no one since him has played like that. People have copied him but nobody ever had his feel or his prowess.
Dave Mustaine:
We came up here and played with Cliff, who just blew the doors off of anyone we've ever played with. He's the new Steve Harris of metal.
James Hetfield:
Cliff used to carry this acoustic tuned to C# around. We don't know how the fuck he got it or why the hell he had it, but he used to play these weird melodies on it that kinda got us into the "Ktulu" vibe." He wrote a lot of our stuff on that guitar.
Kirk Hammett:
In Denmark while recording Master Of Puppets, we hung out a lot. We'd go out and play poker for 8 hours straight after being up for 24 hours. We'd find a seafood restaurant that was open, eat raw oysters and drink beer, scream at the natives while we were drunk… that's some of my best memories of him.
Lars Ulrich:
We were writing Master of Puppets and driving around in his green Volkswagen to photo sessions. Cliff would just pound this Misfits stuff, drum on the dashboard, and make everybody fucking nuts. And Cliff wasn't the best driver to begin with.
James Hetfield:
So we saw this mop going, and, you know, he had this wah going, and fingers and hair were flying. And we just thought that was so cool, so unique. We had to have the guy.
Kirk Hammett:
I had seen Cliff in this band called Easy Street when I was like 16 years old at a club called International Cafe in San Francisco… It always stuck in my mind. This guy with wild, wild red hair flying all over the place and a Rickenbacker and a real distinct bass style and I thought to myself, "This guy is fucking wild".
Family and Friends
Tony Aldridge, Cliffs school friend:
People in school kinda hassled him and stuff for having long hair and being kinda hippies-like.I never did that. I always thought, if that's who he wants to be, that's fine.
Jan Burton, Cliffs mother:
He took lessons on the boulevard for about a year, and then he totally outgrew him "the teacher".
Ray Burton, Cliffs father:
He was doing something he definitely enjoyed and got that fulfillment from his job.
Tony Aldridge, Cliffs school friend:
People would walk up to him and say, "You are God! Your number one! He would just laugh and say "Nah".
Jan Burton, Cliffs mother:
He said to a couple of people, "I'm gonna be the best bassist for my brother.
Ray Burton, Cliffs father:
I can only admire and love the kid, along with Kirk, James and Lars. They were a marvelous team.
Other People
Scott Ian, Anthrax:
Cliffs headbaning on stage, I mean nobody banged like him. it was insane, I remember the first time I saw them play with him I was like oh my god will you look at that guy.
Marrs, Drumtech Metallica:
I could just see them go, "Oh my God! Look at that guy!" The thing that struck them most was that while you see lead guitar-playing, here you had a guy playing lead bass! They thought that was great.
Steve Doherty, Cliffs bass-Teacher:
I had many serious students, but Cliff had that rare inner drive to get out and do something about his music. 