Cliff Burton

Cliff Burton (February 10, 1962 – September 27, 1986) was an American heavy metal bass guitarist, best known as the bass guitarist for the American heavy band Metallica. He was with Metallica from 1982 until his death in September 1986.

Considered one of the greater bassists of all time, he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Metallica on April 4, 2009.

Cliff Burton was born Clifford Lee Burton on February 10, 1962, in Castro Valley, California, to Ray and Jan Burton. His mother, Jan, was a California high school teacher and his father, Ray, was a highway engineer who had

moved west from Tennessee. Cliff was the youngest of three children; the other two being Scott and Connie.

Burton hadn't learned to walk until he was around 2 years old. His father recalled later, "Cliff was 22 months old before he started walking on his own and we were quite concerned about it. But the doctor said: 'There is nothing wrong with him. He is just smart enough to know that mum and dad will carry him around.' When we look back on it, it's quite humorous. He damn near Broke Jan's back."

Growing up, he was very stubborn and would flatly refuse to do what others expected of him. As his mother, Jan, put it: "He was always his own person, even when he was a little bitty kid. I used to say all the kids are playing outside, why aren't you out there playing with them? And he said they're not playing, they're just sitting around talking – that's boring. Then he would go in the house and read his books or put on his own music. Even when he was a tiny little kid he would listen to his music or read."

Burton attended Marshall Elementary School and later moved to Earl Warren Junior High School in Bakersfield, California. He excelled as a student; he was a passionate reader and in the third grade he got 11th-grade comprehension.

On May 19, 1975, when Burton was 13, his elder brother Scott died of a cerebral aneurism at the age of 16. The event affected Burton deeply, even though he didn't talk about it. It prompted him to do well in his life, especially in music. He told the people around that he will be the best bassist for his brother. He started taking bass lessons and outgrew his first teacher. He then switched his bass instructor and outgrew him as well. Then at the school, he trained under a very talented instructor, Steve Doherty, who introduced him to jazz and the classical and baroque music of Ludwig van Beethoven and Johann Sebastian Bach. Burton liked Bach's music and would practice his songs for hours at home. Eventually, he outgrew Doherty also and stopped seeing him and practiced on his own with his friends. Doherty later said of Burton, "The one thing that I remember most about Cliff was that he always came prepared for the lesson. He wasn't one of those kids that I had to drag through the exercises and make them do the lessons over again — he came prepared, ready for what we were going to do next. He had a lot of discipline, and I also remember that he already had the mark of a player."

California in the 60s and 70s was a fertile ground for rock and although he was initially trained in classical music at school, he switched to rock eventually. By the mid-70s, he was listening to the Eagles, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Aerosmith, Blue Oyster Cult, and Ted Nugent. When asked in 1985, he cited his bass influences as bassists Geddy Lee, Geezer Butler, Phil Lynott, Stanley Clarke, and Lemmy Kilmister. He was also influenced by such guitarists as Jimi Hendrix, Uli Jon Roth, Michael Schenker, and Tony Iommi.

At the high school, he became friends with Judd, a guitarist, and Doug Teixeira, future drummer of thrash metal band Blitzenhamer; the three of them jammed together for hours. The three made a good trio, with Burton on the bass, Judd on the guitar, and Doug on the drums.

EZ-Street

While attending Castro Valley High School, in the mid-1970s, Burton and his friends formed a cover band called EZ-Street, named after a strip join in San Mateo. The other two members of the band were guitarist "Big" Jim Martin (future guitarist of Faith No More) and drummer Dave Donato. Jim's friend Mike Bordin (future drummer of Faith No More and also for Ozzy Osbourne) also played with them occasionally. 

By that time, Burton had acquired a Rickenbacker 4001 bass guitar, and also a green Volkswagen Beetle, nicknamed The Grasshopper. He had also developed a fondness for smoking cannabis, a habit that stayed with him for life. Bassist Harald Oimoen of Dirty Rotten Imbeciles later remembered Burton as "a huge pothead" and that before venturing out to the cabin, Burton would call him up and get some magic mushrooms and acid. He added, "He was the guy in Metallica I could relate to the most. He liked to have a smoke now and then and was very laid back, the most down to earth guy in the band. I was an aspiring bass player, so I looked up to him because his style was so original. He was just a really cool guy."

Agents of Misfortune

EZ-Street was soon renamed to Agents of Misfortune – a wordplay on Agents of Fortune album by Blue Öyster Cult. They used extended instrumental jams of Burton and guitarist Jim Martin with minimal

drums as a background. They sounded a bit like Grateful Dead and Hawkwind. Burton was one of the first bassists on the West Coast rock scene to have introduced the distorted bass tone. Though it was not an uncommon sound in that period – Jean-Jacques Burnel, Lemmy Kilmister, and Geezer Butler had also experimented with that style.

Burton quit EZ-Street when he graduated from high school in 1980.

Trauma

After graduating from high school, Burton enrolled at Chabot College in Hayward, California to study music. This is the same college where Tom Hanks studied drama. 

His parents were supportive of his decision. His father later recalled, "He said. 'I'm going to be a professional musician. I'm going to make my living as a musician'" His mother added, "I knew that when he said that, he was 110 percent going to go into it. Because we loved him very lunch and we respected him, we really tried to give him 110 percent because we felt he was very deserving of it. Cliff never gave up on anything. I've never seen that boy give up on anything or anybody."

While regularly jamming with his friends, Burton was also on the lookout for a serious band to join. In late 1982, he joined a San Francisco band named Trauma, of singer Donny Hillier and guitarist Mike Overton. The band was well-known on the local live music scene and played heavy metal and Los Angeles-style commercial glam rock. Burton immediately dominated Trauma with his performance and stage presence – he was at the forefront of the band, musically. While playing with Trauma, Burton continued to jam at house parties.

With time, Trauma fell into obscurity like many other semi-glam-metal bands from California trying to be the next Mötley Crüe and Ratt. Then there were infightings – Burton wanted heavy music, like Priest and Maiden, but others preferred the commercial sound. 

During that period, at one of the practice sessions for a video, Burton was introduced to James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich of the recently-formed heavy metal band Metallica. They were impressed by Burton's skills and resolved to get him to join Metallica. Metallica already had a bass player, Ron McGovney, but reportedly he didn't get along with Ulrich and Dave Mustaine. McGovney felt that, aside from using his connections made as an amateur photographer, his role was that of monetary and transportation provider, rather than a respected member of the band. Metallica were looking for a replacement for McGovney.

In 1982, when Trauma performed at the famed Whisky a Go Go venue in Los Angeles, Ulrich and Hetfield also attended to see Burton perform. Impressed, they asked Burton to join Metallica. Burton had heard of Metallica and their two albums, Power Metal and No Life 'Til Leather and he also liked their heavy sound. At the same time, he was also getting frustrated with Trauma getting too commercial and party-metal. 

It was a no-brainer for Burton to join Metallica – he was looking for a heavier band and Metallica were looking for a replacement for their bassist Ron McGovney. The match was there, but Burton's onboarding was not an easy process; he didn't want to move to Los Angeles, and although Metallica knew San Francisco would be better for them, they, especially Ulrich, didn't want to go through the trouble of moving eight hours north. Burton's conditions were that if he were to join Metallica, he would play the lead bass and that the band would have to move to San Francisco. Burton and the Metallica guys shared the same influences and after hanging out with Burton Ulrich, Hetfield, and Mustaine were convinced that he was the right match for Metallica. They eventually gave in and agreed to take their band to San Francisco.

Ulrich explained the situation in a 1993 interview, "I'm not sure [if] Ron was the kind of guy to make the commitment and take the kind of chances that you do to make it a full-time thing in the band. He had his little job, his little house, and stuff, and I'm not sure he was ready to go for it, and I think we could all sense that. So when we saw this guy Cliff with a band called Trauma at a San Francisco Bay Area night, then it really became apparent we should try and get him in the band."

Metallica played their final shows with McGovney in late November 1982. After McGovney left Metallica, Burton joined the band in his native San Francisco Bay Area. His parents also approved of the move, "We always felt it was Cliff's life and we respected what he felt he wanted to do. And even though the music wasn't the kind of music I would have really liked him to play, he wanted to play it. So I wished him all the luck in the world."

Metallica

In early 1983, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, and Dave Mustaine moved from Los Angeles to 3132 Carlson Boulevard in El Cerrito, San Francisco. This was the home of record prouder Mark Whitaker, who had previously worked with the thrash metal band Exodus. The place was renamed "Metallica Mansion." Burton would come regularly to rehearse and drink, but he continued to live at his house in Castro Valley.

Burton fit in well with Metallica. Their personalities gelled well, though there were a few differences; Burton was quiet and composed, whereas Hetfield was loud when drunk and Ulrich was always loud, drunk or sober. Nevertheless, they all got along musically.

Things started to move quickly for Metallica after Burton joined. Their first live performance with Burton was at the nightclub The Stone in March 1983, and the first recording to feature Burton was the Megaforce demo (1983).

Around the same time, Jon Zazula, owner of New Jersey's Rock 'n Roll Heaven record store, received a copy of Metallica's No Life 'Til Leather demo tape. He asked the band if they would come to New York to record an album, through a deal that he would secure with local record companies. 

In the meantime, Mustaine, the lead guitarist, was fired from Metallica due to his substance abuse and violent tendencies. He was soon replaced by Kirk Hammett, a student of guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani.

After hearing Metallica's demo tape, Zazula founded the label Megaforce Records to release their work. The band temporarily relocated to New York and secured a recording contract with Zazula's label. He released Metallica's debut album Kill 'Em All and set up an East Coast tour with private funding. Initially, the album was titled Metal Up Your Ass, but it was changed upon the insistence of the record company. When Burton heard that the label is requesting a change in the name, he said, "Those record company f*****s,... kill 'em all," which gave the guys an idea for the new title, Kill 'em All. The album was released on July 25, 1983, through Megaforce Records. The album is regarded as a groundbreaking album for thrash metal because of its precise musicianship, which fuses the new wave of British heavy metal riffs with hardcore punk tempos. 

Zazula's central role in the East Coast metal scene would later be an essential factor in launching the career of Metallica.

A year later, on July 27, 1984, the band released their second studio album, Ride the Lightning with Megaforce Records. The album was recorded in three weeks with producer Flemming Rasmussen at the Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen, Denmark. The title was taken from a passage in Stephen King's novel The Stand. For the album, Burton had also persuaded the band to expand their musical horizons by listening to classical music and The MisFits. Burton was also growing in his songwriting skills and he received credit on six of the album's eight songs. His playing style and use of effects are demonstrated on two tracks, For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Call of Ktulu.

By 1985, the band had established themselves to be a force to be reckoned with. The success of Ride the Lightning secured the band a deal with Elektra Records, through which they released their third album Master of Puppets, on March 3, 1986. The album is considered by most critics to be a landmark album in heavy metal. It reached number 29 on the Billboard 200 and spent 72 weeks on the chart. It was the band's first album to be certified gold on November 4, 1986 and was certified six times platinum in 2003. It was also Burton's final album. 

In September 1986, Metallica were on the Damage Inc. tour in Sweden in support of Master of Puppets album. On September 27, the bus driving them skidded off the road and Burton died at approximately 6:45 am. 

According to the bus driver, the crash was caused by the bus hitting a patch of black ice on the road (the E4, 12 miles north of Ljungby, Sweden), but Hetfield later stated that he first believed the bus flipped because the driver was drunk. He also stated that he walked long distances down the road looking for black ice and found none.

The driver was determined not at fault for the accident and no charges were brought against him.

Burton's final live performance with the band was the previous day at the Solnahallen Arena in Stockholm, Sweden.

Burton's body was cremated and the ashes were scattered at the Maxwell Ranch. At the ceremony, the song "Orion" was played. His place in the band was taken by the bassist Jason Newsted of Flotsam and Jetsam.

The song "To Live Is to Die" from the band's fourth album ...And Justice for All is a tribute to Burton. Burton received co-writing credit on "To Live Is to Die" as the bass line is a medley of unused recordings he had performed prior to his death. The song also premiered at the band's 30th-anniversary concert at The Fillmore in San Francisco, in 2011.

Upon hearing of Burton's death, Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, a close friend of Burton, wrote the music for "In My Darkest Hour" as a tribute to him. Thrash metal band Anthrax dedicated its album Among the Living to him, as did Metal Church with the album The Dark.

Burton was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with fellow Metallica bandmates James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, and Kirk Hammett, on April 4, 2009. Future bassists Jason Newsted and Robert Trujillo were inducted as well. The induction was accepted by his father Ray Burton, who shared the stage with the band and said that Cliff's mother was Metallica's biggest fan.

Burton dated his school friend Audrey Kimball, who was also a musician. He taught her bass and she went on to found a band of her own called Elysium. She said of him, "He loved his music....He was religious in his practising. I always knew that he would make it somehow with a band or solo. He was very determined."

Gary Holt of Exodus said in an interview:

The first time I saw Cliff playing bass was for Trauma — I went to a show right before Metallica grabbed him for themselves. James and Lars were there – everyone knew he was joining Metallica. Word had leaked. He was the most amazing bass player I had ever seen. He was everything they needed — a once-in-a-lifetime talent.

[p.68 To Live is to Die, Joel McIver]

Bassist David Ellefson of Megadeth said of Burton:

Cliff was a strong presence in that band. Sometimes a presence like that helps direct a group, just by being in the room when the songs are developed, even if you're not the primary songwriter. Cliff seemed to have that sort of undeniable presence with his role in Metallica.

While other members of Trauma made an attempt to glam up their wardrobe, Burton remained in his trademark denim jacket, t-shirt, and blue bell-bottomed jeans. The Metallica members revealed later that they use to mock him relentlessly for his choice of jeans in the era of the skin-tight nether garment.