Cliff Burton

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Cliff Burton

Born	February 10, 1962 Castro Valley, California, USA
Died	September 27, 1986 (aged 24) Ljungby Municipality, Sweden
Genre(s)	Heavy metal Thrash metal
Affiliation(s)	Metallica
Years active	1981-1986
Official site	Official Metallica website

Clifford Lee Burton (February 10, 1962 – September 27, 1986) was a bass guitarist, best known for his work with the heavy metal band Metallica from 1982-86. During a 1986 tour in Sweden, at the age of 24, Burton was crushed to death when the band's tour bus lost control and overturned.

Burton's early influence was essential in creating the unique musical style for which Metallica would later become famous. An angry, working-class sound, characterized by a driving bassline, stylised lead and powerful rhythm guitar, the band would be seen as innovators of heavy metal music through much of the late 80s and early 90s.

1 Biography
2 Influence
3 Tributes
4 Songs
5 Equipment
6 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early years

Upon graduating from Castro Valley High School in 1980, Burton studied music at Napa Valley Junior College in northern California. One of his fellow schoolmates was "Big" Jim Martin, former guitarist of Faith No More.

[edit] Joining Metallica

The members of Metallica were searching for a replacement to their current bassist, Ron McGovney when they attended a show by Burton's band, Trauma, and were impressed on hearing him perform his famous solo, '(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth' with an effects pedal.

Burton was repeatedly asked to join Metallica and eventually agreed on the condition that the band would relocate from Los Angeles to the San Francisco, California Bay Area.

During their tours, Burton exposed the band to a variety of music styles ranging from The Misfits, Pink Floyd, The Velvet Underground, and Thin Lizzy, to classical pianist Glenn Gould.

Kirk Hammett said that Cliff got him into The Velvet Underground and other musicians.

Burton first appeared with Metallica at The Stone, in San Francisco, CA on March 5th, 1983. His final performance was in Stockholm, Sweden on September 26, 1986, One of Cliff's Final Preformances with the band is avalible for free to download from Metallicas website.

[edit] Death

During the European part of the Master of Puppets tour, the band had complained that the sleeping cubicles 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 emergency exit door and was killed instantly when the bus landed on top of him. He was crushed a second time when, in an effort to clear the accident scene, a winch cable snapped and the vehicle was dropped back onto the body.

Controversy continues to surround the cause of the crash. The driver of the bus claims to have hit black ice, however on inspecting the road for several miles following the crash, lead singer James Hetfield said he found nothing. Hetfield and other members of the band claim the driver may have been drinking.

Burton's body was cremated. 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.

Burton's work and tragic death have inspired many songs from bands including Megadeth ("In My Darkest Hour") and Primus, as well as bassists such as Billy Sheehan and John Myung.

[edit] Influence

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 James how to theorize and harmonize.

Cliff's obsession with horror writer H.P. Lovecraft gave the band a couple of song topics (i.e. "The Call of Ktulu", "The Thing That Should Not Be"). The band has also noted that their love of The Misfits, Samhain, and all things Glenn Danzig came directly from Cliff force-feeding a Misfits tape to them on tour, playing it to the point of monotony and using the dashboard as a drumkit^{[citation needed]}. This influence has persisted ever since, and when Metallica toured the USA in the summer of 1994, Danzig was one of the opening bands, and on a few occasions, he came out on stage with Metallica, providing vocals when they performed the Misfits' "Last Caress/Green Hell."

[edit] Tributes

After Burton's death, Metallica made ...And Justice for All in 1988. The instrumental track "To Live is to Die" is Burton's last writing credit and is said by the band to be mainly made up of his unused riffs, and the spoken part also penned by him. In 1987 Metallica released the tribute documentary Cliff 'em All, a video retrospective of Burton's time in the band, presented as a collection of bootleg footage shot by fans, some professional filming and TV shots that were never used and some of his best bass solos, personal photos and live concerts.

The most well known non-Metallica tribute to Cliff 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 Cliff 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 James nor Lars informed him of Cliff's accident and he only found out when the band's manager called him. While the lyrics are not directly about Burton, they were inspired by his death.

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.

[edit] Songs

Burton co-wrote several Metallica songs, including "Master of Puppets," "Orion," "For Whom The Bell Tolls," "Damage, Inc." and "Fade to Black." The best examples of his unique bass playing style are:

The chromatic intro of "For Whom The Bell Tolls" (which is usually mistaken for a guitar by those unfamiliar with his unique style.)
The epic 3 and a half minute bass solo "(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth" from the album Kill 'Em All
The lead bass in the instrumental "The Call of Ktulu" from Ride the Lightning
The lead bass in the instrumental "Orion" from Master of Puppets; also, the section in the song's interlude was written by Burton.
The intro of "Damage, Inc." which has complex volume swells and harmonies in bass by using a volume pedal, an echo effect and the slapping technique.
The lead bass in the song "Disposable Heroes" from Master of Puppets is a good example of Cliff's bass being mistaken for a guitar.
He wrote many of the riffs used in "To Live is to Die" which is featured on the ...And Justice for All album, and the song is dedicated to him. There are only these lyrics, also written by Burton, in the entire song, intoned by James Hetfield about three-quarters (7:34) of the way through:

“

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?

”

The line, "When a man lies, he murders some part of the world", is a quote from the movie Excalibur. The line "These are the pale deaths which men miscall their lives" is actually from the book Lord Foul's Bane in the Thomas Covenant series written by Stephen R. Donaldson.