[The Classics] – Cliff Burton
A week ago we remembered the tragic death of 24 year old Cliff Burton, who was the original bass player for Metallica when they first got their start almost 30 years ago. While Cliff is arguably one of the best bass players to have ever lived, you may be wondering why am I writing about him and how does he relate to “The Classics” series of what formed and molded my love for music.
I can remember getting a dubbed VHS tape of a video that was a tribute to the death of Cliff Burton sometime in high school, to which we all huddled around the TV to watch a grainy video with poor audio and my buddy yelling “Fix the tracking!” during most of it. It was like we struck a gold mine of illegal drugs off the black market! We were all in love with Metallica’s current album (well all of them actually), but we had only heard rumors about Cliff’s legendary live playing and this video was chock full of it. With no YouTube or internet.. this was our only look into who this man was.
We probably played that video 8 times that night (all night actually), rewinding the scene of Cliff playing “For Whom The Bell Tolls” about 50 times. I had no clue about playing music, let alone playing bass.. but I knew that guy was a master at what he did.
To sum it up, Cliff Burton was the first musician that caught my attention. And he wasn’t the lead guitarist… he wasn’t the good looking lead singer… he was the guy that was doing what he was meant to do… play music and play it well. Here’s a video of alot of Cliff bass solo’s… And if you watch nothing else, watch the first 60 seconds of him playing that “For Whom The Bell Tolls” solo.
GREAT post Tank!! I became a Metallica fan post-Cliff but came to know his music through the years. I went out and got the video called Cliff Em All, which is probably the video you’re talking about. I watched that and was in complete awe of Cliff’s musicianship and command of the bass guitar. Loved the fact that the band brought up Cliff’s dad for their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
NICE! I was a card carrying Metalliclub member back in the day. I too had a similar experience with a Metallica video featuring Cliff. I was convinced nobody could be better than Newsted until I watched the vid 9 times in one night. Good callback. Nostalgia has warmed my Monday morning now.
Great post Tank! I was a secret Metallica fan (it wasn’t really ok unless you were a scary-looking girl at my high school, but I LOVED a lot of their stuff and totally covered by saying it was my boyfriend’s music. Clearly that was back in the day when I was too mainstream to buck the system… but I SO wish I would have now). Thanks for bringing back some great memories (and a reminder that I need to find a few lost tapes…. er, CDs) :)
Clifford Lee Burton was and will 4ever be the god of bass guitar. I wonder how different Metallica would have turned out with Cliff still in the picture…
Rock In Paradise!