In MemoriumFollow

The other day was the 20th anniversary of the death of Cliff Burton. For those of you unaware, he was the Bass guitar player for a little band called Metallica.

On September 27th 1986, Metallica was on the European leg of their tour supporting the album Master of Puppets. They were in Sweden, when their bus flipped and rolled several times. The exact details are still somewhat disputed, as the original claim was they hit some black ice, started sliding and the driver overcorrected. There are unofficial claims that the bus driver had been drinking, and that may have caused the accident. Regardless, Burton was ejected out of the bus through a broken window and was crushed under the vehicle.

He was a true innovator of an underappreciated instrument. For most bands, the bass guitar is just part of the rythm that helps hold the song together. No small feat, but usually done in a very basic and uninspiring manner. But Cliff's playing was anything but uninspired. Burton was a classicaly trained pianist, and was influenced by all sorts of music. In turn, he often introduced the other band mates to new stuff. Hetfield admitted that Cliff was largely responsible for their early sound and attitude.

As a young kid in rural Montana, my exposure to anything but country music was limited. Fortunately, I had a cousin who was 3 months younger than me, and being as he lived in the big city of Great Falls, he got enough exposure for the both of us. On one of my yearly visits he played a tape for me, it was Metallica's Kill 'Em All. My initial reaction was "What the fUck is this?" However, after 2 weeks of listening to it, I got acclimated pretty well.

Later, a friend of mine who's dad owned a music store brought me in after hours and handed me a bass guitar. His little brother got on drums, he grabbed a strat, and it was on. We were horrible, but we played loud. I knew that night that if I were to play in a band, I was sold on the chest thumping heavyness of a bass guitar. Twenty years later, I'm still not very good. But I still love to play loud. I'm not a huge Metallica fan, though I am a fan. But I would have to say that one of my favorite bass players of all time is still Cliff Burton. He played with a unique style and made the bass guitar more than just a backup instrument.

Rest in peace Cliff. You are still remembered.

This is the basis of most rock bands anyway - hence why most of them don't make it past their first album or two.

Any demo tracks we can listen to, though?

(and back on topic: RIP Cliff Burton; GFY Lars Ulrich.)

Thankfully, no. Our band was short-lived, and destructed after the drummer accidentally backed the guitarist's pickup into the garage we practiced in and refused to pay for the damages.

I did have some recordings of a later band, we weren't half bad actually. But we lacked a singer, so it was all instrumental. Sadly, my hard drive that the tracks were on fried and I didn't have a backup. One of the other guys probably has them still, but we don't speak any more.

One thing common in the groups I was in, what we lacked in talent we made up for in drama.

dave mustaine would disagree.

They did just fine without him. I think he was somewhat overrated.

Burton.

They certainly did well commercially without him. But he was very much against the mainstream, doing videos, etc. Some purists might argue they sold out after he died, especially once the Black album came out. Newstead did ok stepping in for him, but I don't think he even came close to bringing anything new to the table, though they didn't really give him a chance either.

As far as being over-rated, well, everyone is entitled to their opinion of course. Even when it's wrong.

Yes, see, I think no matter what people might say now, Hetfield and to a lesser extent Hammet are the ones who drove the band and made the music what it was. It's not that I didn't like Burton, or that I think he sucks. I just think his importance and his skill level on bass* are over-rated, probably because the dude died tragically and his memory is excessively uplifted.

I should also say that I like both pre- and post-Burton Metallica, up to their most recent album, which I think sucks.



Important caveat: I'm a Rush geek and compare all bass players to Geddy Lee, who is almost unequaled in skill IMO.

I'm with Liz on this one. Burton FTW!

and then ulrich would rip off mustaine's argument and use it for himself. kind of like he did with kill em all and a ton of ride the lightning.


newsted was a solid player in flotsam and jetsam, but he never got a chance in metallica. christ, you cant even hear the bass on and justice...



geddy is the man, but i gotta give it up for steve harris

I read about him while watching Rockstar Supernova because hubby told me about how they treated Jason Newsted. The wiki article said the bus fell on him twice. Ouch. ;(