BIOGRAPHY
Clifford Lee Burton was the bassist for Metallica.
Cliff was born on February 10, 1962 at the Eden Hospital in
San Francisco, CA at 9:38 pm. His parents were two San Francisco
hippies, Jan and RayBurton. It was from them that Cliff got
his image, his hippie ideas, but most of all, his attitude.Cliff
was the best heavy metal bassist then and now. By combining
the styles of blues, jazz, and classical, he single-handedly
transformed a then noisy, not-very-good Metallica into a very
listenable group of musicians that they be came in the ensuing
years.
From an early age, it was evident that Cliff had a love of
music. At the young age of six, he began playing the piano,
his first instrument. Although he played in a band commonly termed
"thrash metal," his love always rested in the finer
genres of music. He was educated in music theory, after taking
college courses on the subject. He loved classical, blues, jazz
and country, not the typical likes of the thrash player,but definitely
those of a good musician.
Cliff picked up the bass in his teenage years, taking bass
lessons from September 1978 to January 1980. Before he was in
Metallica, he was in several other bands. Supposedly, everyone
in the area wanted Cliff in their band.
Enter a bunch of kids doing really fast metal. This is late
1982. Said band are growing frustrated with their bassist, who
lacks creativity and skill. This band is looking for a bassist
with more creativity and who will contribute to the band more.
They see Cliff, playing at the Whiskey, flailing away at his bass.
So the love affair begins. Metallica knew they must have Cliff
in their band. Cliff wouldn't go easily. After a few jams, Metallica
finally agreed to leave their native L.A., to get Cliff. Not that
leaving meant much to them, anyway. Metallica had never cared
much for L.A. and the fans for the glam/poser scene had never
cared much for their ripped jeans and fast music. The fans thought
Metallica was a punk band because of their fast playing and their
look.
Cliff played his first show with Metallica, in SanFrancisco,
on March 3, 1983. Little did anyone know that this band, with
its wild bassist, Cliff Burton, would go on to produce three of
the most influential albums in heavy metal history. His second
gig with Metallica was on March 19, 1983. Most of you have probably
seen his solo from this show on the video "Cliff 'em All."
Dave Mustaine dubbed him the "major rajor and the four string
mother fucker". Well put, as only Dave could put it.
After gigging around the bay area with their wondrous new bassist
they went to New York to record their legendary debut, "Kill
'em All", with Megaforce Records.
The "Kill 'em All for One" tour brought them home,
Metallica now begins to prepare to record their next album. In
the process, they sign with Electra records. Many said they had
sold out when they heard a ballad on the album. These are Cliff's
thoughts on this > situation: "We do what we wanna do--if
they consider that selling > out...whatever."
Metallica's natural progression continued when Ozzy Ozbourne
invited them to open for him on his "Ultimate Sin" tour.
This would prove to be Metallica's real break to a wider range
of audiences.
Sadly,Metallica and Cliff were not to be. After touring with
Ozzy, the band went on a tour of Europe, playing various dates.
Their last show with Cliff was on September 26, 1986, in Stolkholm,
Sweden. Metallica always liked Stolkholm, they seemed to get a
good response from the fans.
Later on that night, the band was in their bus, headed toward
Copenhagen, Denmark, for a gig the next night. At about 3AM Stolkholm
time September 27, or 9PM Eastern Time US September 26, the bus
began to slide on icy roads in the mountains between Stolkholm
and > Copenhagen. It was a long slide, about 20 or 30 seconds.
In the process, Cliff was throw out of the bus. Then it fell landed
on its side, crushing him.
The rest of the band continued on to Copenhagen, where they
stayed in a hotel with Anthrax, with whom they were touring. Lars
injured his foot, Kirk and James suffered trivial injuries. That
night, while Kirk and Lars slept, James paced around, saying that
he would never go on. He had just lost his best friend.
Tribute was paid to Cliff Burton through $19.98 Home Vid --
Cliff ,Em All!, a collection of bootleg footage and stuff shot
for TV featuring Metallica live during the 3 years when Cliff
was in the band, including bass solos. Another tribute to Cliff
is the song "To Live Is To Die" from ...And Justice
For All. The song was based on a couple of riffs that Cliff had
written. James and Lars added to them and made this instrumental.
Cliff wrote the poem that James reads in the middle of the song,
and the title was a quote that Cliff once said.
"Why should we change onstage? 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." - The Late Cliff Burton
We'll Always Remember
