In the three short years Metallica had Cliff Burton as their musical powerhouse, “The major rager on the four string motherfucker” (Mustaine, D. 1983) Metallica put out three of Thrash Metal’s greatest albums. Joining in 1983 after the songs for Kill ‘Em All were written, he only rewrote the bass parts, making them so much better and more flowing for the songs. With the year 1984 and the release of Ride The Lightning, Metallica shook the metal scene with their thrash, melodic goodness. It’s here on Ride The Lightning that the majority of Cliff’s musical influence can be heard, on all tracks but two. Harmonies were where he really stuck out, giving us the Creeping Death harmony, Fight Fire with Fire and Fade To Black, among others.
Coming from Castro Valley in the San Francisco bay, Cliff vowed to become the greatest bass player in the world at 13 after the death of his brother. He practised for an average of 8 hours a day on the Bass, and played a Hotrodded red Rickenbacker 4001. With these modifications, and his extensive usage of effects pedals, he joined Metallica after leaving Trauma and proceeded to shake the world with his thundering bass waves. He recorded bass on studio albums Kill ‘Em All (1983) Ride The Lightning (1984) and Master of Puppets (1986) until his death in a tour bus accident on September 27, 1986. He often said his favorite song to play was Master Of Puppets, and I believe his greatest works to be Master and Orion.
His influences in Metal bassists everywhere are still huge, and he was the one who got me into playing bass, alongside Jason Newsted, his replacement. The thing that really made Cliff Burton amazing was his unconventional use of effects pedals at the time. At the time, Bass guitar didn’t really need very much in the way of effects, as their main use was to keep a steady beat and fill the lows in the song. Cliff was not a fan of this. Songs like The Call of Ktulu on RTL, and Orion on Master of Puppets list him as “Lead Bass”, and Listening to the Live at the Lyceum Theater bootleg of Ktulu will tell anybody why. Another amazing thing is the use of a Wah pedal. I don’t think I know of anybody who used a wah on a bass before him, though there may have been somebody that I just don’t know about. Again, coming back to Ktulu, the main riff is laden with heavy usage of the wah to represent Ktulu calling out from the deep. His signature solo, Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth) was the greatest example of Cliff Burton’s musical magic. Recorded six different times, and done in one take each time, the album version was the one he liked the most, and never played the same way twice when played live. He always changed the solo a little bit, a different technique, a slightly different part, and it always sounded amazing.
My biggest regret in life is the fact that I will never be able to meet the man, but am I ever glad that people snuck cameras into shows and recorded concerts, so that I may at least be able to witness the greatness.
