Cliff Burton was born on February 10, 1962 in Castro Valley, California to Jan and Ray Burton. Cliff had two elder siblings, Scott and Connie. He was raised in the San Francisco Bay area by his parents. Burton's interest in music first began when his father introduced him to classical music and he began taking piano lessons.
In his teenage years, Burton's interest in music switched from classical to jazz and eventually heavy metal. He began playing the bass at age 14, after the death of his brother. His parents quoted him as saying "I'm going to be the best bassist for my brother". He would practice up to 6 hours per day. His early influences varied from Classical music to Southern rock to Country, Blues and Jazz.
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 played alongside in one of his first bands, Agents Of Misfortune. Agents Of Misfortune entered a Battle Of The Bands contest which was recorded on video and features some of the earliest footage of Burton's trademark playing style. The video also shows Burton playing some parts of what would soon be two Metallica songs, his signature Bass Solo, "(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth" and the chromatic intro to "For Whom the Bell Tolls". Burton joined his first major band, Trauma, in 1982.
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, and said he would join only if the band would relocate from Los Angeles to the San Francisco Bay Area. Metallica, eager to have Cliff in the band left their origin of Los Angeles to make home in San Francisco to secure Burton's spot in the band.
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 a 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 increase of musicianship on 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.
During the European leg of the Damage Inc. tour in support of Master of Puppets, 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 asleep when, according to the driver, the band's tour bus ran over a patch of black ice, skidded off of the road, and flipped onto the grass in Ljungby Municipality, near Dörarp rural Sweden. Burton fell through the window of the bus and the bus fell on top of him. It is debatable whether Burton was dead at this point or not, although he would certainly have been critically injured. A winch that was lifting the bus off him snapped, causing the bus to crush him a second time. James Hetfield later stated that he first believed the bus flipped because the driver was drunk, or at least negligent, and had walked long distances down the road demanding this "black ice" be shown to him.
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. Burton had never played the song live, and Metallica did not perform it until June 3, 2006 (when they performed the album in its entirety to mark the 20th anniversary of its release). Until then, only sections of the song had been used as part of their performance. During the 1990s, Burton's successor, Jason Newsted, would often use the bass line as part of a medley.
After Burton's death, Metallica released the tribute documentary 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, and maintained good relations after Mustaine parted with the band in 1983. 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 Metallica's manager 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, as did Metal Church with The Dark.
Grindcore band The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza have a track entitled "Cliff Burton Surprise" on their self-titled album.
Drone-doom act Sunn O))) recorded a loose cover of 'For Whom The Bell Tolls' entitled "F.W.T.B.T" on their album Flight of the Behemoth - the track's full title (as printed on promo copies of the album) is "F.W.T.B.T (I Dream of Lars Ulrich Being Thrown Through the Bus Window Instead of My Mystikal Master Kliff Burton)".
The bass guitars he used were a Rickenbacker 4001, an Aria Pro II SB-1000 (Custom Made in Black and gold trim with Wider Fretboard), an Alembic Spoiler (which was stolen, according to Burton in an interview), and a Black Fender Precision Bass Burton used whenever he played with Spastik Children.
His amps were a Mesa Boogie 4"x12" cabinets, a Mesa Boogie Custom-built 1"x15" cabinets, a Mesa Boogie Mesa 400+ head, an Ampeg SVT-1540HE Classis Series Enclosure, and a Randall bass amp with 2x15 cabinet in the early years.
The effects he used were a Chrome Tel-Ray Morley Power Wah Fuzz. (discontinued since 1983) and an Electro-Harmonix Big Muff.
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