BiographyEarly years
Clifford Lee Burton was born on February 10, 1962 in Castro Valley, California to Jan and Ray Burton. He was raised in the San Francisco Bay area by his parents. Cliff began playing piano ath the early age of six then began playing the bass at age 14, and would practice up to 6 hours per day. His early influences varied from Classical music to Southern rock.Upon graduating from Castro Valley High School in 1980, Burton studied music at Chabot Junior College in northern California. One of his fellow schoolmates was "Big" Jim Martin, former guitarist of Faith No More, with whom Burton would jam. Burton joined his first band, Trauma, in 1982.Metallica
In 1982, Trauma travelled to Los Angeles to perform at the Whisky a Go Go. Among those in attendance were James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich, both members of Metallica. After hearing Burton play his famous solo "(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth", they asked him to replace departed bassist Ron McGovney, and since he felt that Trauma was "...starting to get a little commercial", he agreed. But the idea of having to move to Los Angeles did not sit well with him. Burton managed to convince the band to relocate from Los Angeles to the San Francisco Bay Area.Burton's first recording with Metallica was the Megaforce Demo. A demo tape the band had made prior to Burton's joining, No Life 'Til Leather, managed to come into the hands of John Zazula, owner of Megaforce Records. The band relocated to New Jersey, and quickly secured a record deal. Their first album, Kill 'Em All, features Burton's famous solo piece, "(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth", which showcased his use of effects, such as Wah-wah pedal.The band's second album, Ride the Lightning, showcased the band's increasing musical growth. Burton's songwriting abilities were growing, he has a credit on 6 of the album's 8 tracks. Burton's playing style and use of effects is showcased on two tracks: the chromatic intro to "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (which is often mistaken for a guitar) and the "lead bass" on "The Call of Ktulu".The dramatic change in style of Ride the Lightning caught the attention of major record labels. They were signed to Elektra, and began working on their third album, Master of Puppets, which is considered by some critics to be a landmark thrash metal album. Burton is featured heavily on several tracks, most notably the instrumental "Orion", of which Burton was the primary composer. The album also contained Burton's favorite Metallica song, "Master of Puppets". Master of Puppets was the band's commercial breakthrough, but it would be Burton's final album with Metallica.Burton's final performance was in Stockholm, Sweden on September 26, 1986. One of Burton's final performances with the band is available for free to download from Metallica's website.Death.
During the European leg of the Master of Puppets tour, the band had complained that the sleeping cubicles on their tour bus were unsatisfactory and uncomfortable. As a minor solution the members would draw cards for the most comfortable bunk. On the evening of September 27, 1986 Burton had won the game with an ace of spades. He was sound asleep when the band's tour bus encountered a patch of black ice, skidded off of the road, and flipped over on the grass in Ljungby Municipality, rural Sweden. Burton fell through the window of the bus and the bus fell on top of him. Attempts were made to lift the bus with a crane, but the chain snapped and the bus fell on him again. It is unknown if Burton was alive before the bus fell on him the second time. James Hetfield later stated that he first believed the bus flipped because the driver was drunk, and had walked long distances down the road demanding this "black ice" be shown to him. However, an investigation did conclude that black ice was indeed the cause of the accident and not negligence.Burton's body was cremated, and his ashes were scattered on the Maxwell Ranch. At the ceremony, the instrumental "Orion" from the album Master of Puppets was played. Subsequently, Metallica did not perform this song again until June 6, 2006 (when they performed the album in its entirety to mark the 20th anniversary of its release). Until then only parts of the song had been used as part of their performance. During the 1990s, Burton's replacement, Jason Newsted, would often use the bass line as part of a medley.Influence.
Cliff cited bass players like Geezer Butler, Geddy Lee, Lemmy Kilmister, and Stanley Clarke as influences.James Hetfield has admitted that Burton's influence was highly responsible for much of Metallica's early music and image. A classically trained pianist, Burton used his large knowledge of theory to add to the band's sound, both through his bass work and teaching Hetfield how to theorize and harmonize. Hetfield said that: "without Cliff, we wouldn't be where we are today."Burton's interest in the works of horror writer H. P. Lovecraft resulted in two Metallica songs, "The Call of Ktulu" and "The Thing That Should Not Be". The band has also noted that their love of The Misfits, Samhain, and all things involving Glenn Danzig came directly from Burton. This influence has persisted ever since, and when Metallica toured the USA in the summer of 1994, Danzig was one of the opening bands. On a few occasions, he came out on stage with Metallica, providing vocals when they performed Misfits' songs.Tributes.
After Burton's death, Metallica released the tribute ..ary Cliff 'em All, a video retrospective of Burton's time in the band, presented as a collection of live bootleg footage shot by fans, some professional filming and TV shots that were never used, and some personal photos. In 1988, Metallica recorded ...And Justice for All, which contains Burton's last writing credit, the mostly instrumental track "To Live Is to Die". This song is said by the band to be mainly made up of his unused riffs, and the spoken part also penned by him.The most well known non-Metallica tribute to Burton is the song "In My Darkest Hour" by Megadeth. The band's frontman Dave Mustaine was Metallica's lead guitarist in the early days and knew Burton quite well. Mustaine was quoted in various magazines and Megadeth's "Behind The Music" as saying the song was inspired by Burton's passing. He claimed that neither Hetfield nor Ulrich had informed him of Burton's accident and he only found out when someone of Megaforce records called him. While the lyrics are not directly about Burton, they were more based on the emotions Mustaine was going through at the time.On October 3, 2006 a memorial stone was unveiled in Sweden near the scene of the fatal crash. After the stone had been uncovered a remembrance concert was held at the nearby restaurant/pub, Gyllene Rasten, where these bands performed: Age of Fury, The Haze, Killersqueze and Morbid Insultor. Video of the uncovering of the stone can be seen here.Thrash metal band Anthrax dedicated their Among the Living album to him. Cliffs music will forever be remembered. he was one of the greatest musicians of all time. He will never be forgotten. Rest In Peace Cliff...
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