Cliff Burton: biography and creativity

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Today we will tell you who Cliff Burton is. Metallica is a group in which he was the second bass player. We are talking about an American musician, a virtuoso. It is distinguished by an unusual manner of performance, high technique and a variety of tastes. In 2011, he was voted one of the best bass players in a poll by Rolling Stone.

Early years

Cliff Burton was born in 1962, February 10, in California, the city of Castro Veli. At the age of six he took up piano playing. When our hero was 14, the elder brother of the future musician passed away. He took this loss hard. It was at that time that he began taking bass lessons from one of the local teachers. The musician devoted at least 6 hours a day to improving his skills. Before graduating from high school in 1980, he took a music course in Napa Valley, at a local college. This school is located in northern California. In college, his classmate and friend was Jim Martin - guitarist and leaderband called Faith No More.

Metallica

Cliff Burton soon joined the ranks of the group that brought him the greatest fame. Members of Metallica were looking for a musician to replace Ron McGovney, the then bassist who refused to continue playing in the band. According to some sources, the band attended a Trauma concert. It was in this project that our hero participated then. The members of Metallica were blown away by his guitar solo and decided the bassist was perfect for them. After the concert, Lars and James approached our hero and invited him to join their group. Cliff Burton disagreed for a very long time. Later, he nevertheless accepted the invitation, however, he made a condition for Metallica to move to San Francisco from Los Angeles. The first performance of our hero in the group took place in 1983, on March 5th. The concert was held on the territory of The Stone club. While Metallica traveled as part of musical tours, our hero expanded the creative horizons of his comrades.

Departure

We have already told how quickly Cliff Burton gained fame. His death was also sudden. While touring Europe in support of the Master of Puppets album, the band members were forced to spend their nights in uncomfortable bunks on the tour bus. Once the struggle of the team members for a more comfortable place was decided with the help of a deck of cards. Cliff won the most comfortable bed from Hammett. Around midnight the bus left for Copenhagen from Stockholm. At 7 o'clock in the morning the driver lostcontrol, and the bus fell on its side from the embankment. Cliff died in this disaster. The driver explained the tragic event by hitting a frozen puddle. The musician's body was cremated.

Playstyle

Cliff Burton played in different styles. He performed both melodic solos and fast, technical parts. Lemmy Kilmister, the leader of Motorhead, as well as Geezer Butler, had a strong influence on his style of performance. The musician preferred a four-string classical bass guitar. During performances, he usually used instruments from Aria, Alembic or Rickenbacker. The musician, as a rule, applied the distortion effect. In solo, he used wah-wah. James Hetfield emphasizes that our hero had a tremendous impact on the early work of Metallica. He was a classical pianist, actively used the basics of musical theory, and also taught them to other members of the band. The guitarist's passion for Lovecraft's work was reflected in the covers of the band's albums, in their titles, as well as in the lyrics of some songs. Our hero instilled in his colleagues a love for The Misfits team. This was expressed in the creation of a number of covers. In 1987, Metallica released Cliff 'Em All, a documentary that was a video retrospective of Cliff's involvement with the band. The composition In My Darkest Hour by Megadeth is also dedicated to our hero. Dave Mustaine - the frontman of Metallica, who played in it at the beginning of his career, was very shocked by the death of the guitarist and also decided to dedicate a work to him. The Anthrax team dedicated their album calledAmong the Living to a musician. Metal Church also released The Dark in honor of the guitarist. Metallica's 1988 album And Justice for All contains the song To Live is to Die. It was written on the basis of musical motives that our hero came up with shortly before his death. The original lyrics for this composition were created by Paul Gerhardt. Burton took it. Text read by James Hetfield. Now you know who Cliff Burton is. A photo of the musician is attached to this material.