Cliff Burton Remembered


R.I.P. Clifford Lee Burton

Cliff Burton was the original bassist for Metallica from approx. 1983 to November 1986. He was tragically killed in a tour bus crash during the European leg of the Master Of Puppets Tour. Since then, Metallica was able to move on to even higher stardom with help from original Flotsam and Jetsom bassist Jason Newsted. Cliff played bass on Metallica's first three albums, and co-wrote the song "To Live Is To Die" which appears on their fourth full studio album, "...And Justice For All".

It has often been debated how the Metallica "sound" would have changed if Cliff hadn't died. I suppose that its pointless to consider, since it could never happen... but here's how I see it:

  • Cliff was not as passive as Jason, as part of the songwriting team.
  • In many ways, Jason is/was held back from expressing himself as a true part of the song writing team. In the beginning, the band had not gotten over Cliff's loss, and so saw Jason as somewhat of an outsider.
  • Would Cliff's tastes in music have effected the rest of the group?
  • Jason is still a big "metal" fan, would Cliff be?
  • Would Metallica's songwriting style have changed without the angst and anger gained from Cliff's death?
    • But really, there's just too many points to argue, and too many factors to consider.

    Was Cliff a better bass player than Jason?

    That can be argued as well:

    Cliff played with his fingers, Jason plays with a pick. Fingers let the player do some more interesting things, yet the pick allows for more precision and more tone or sharpness to the notes played.

    Cliff's solos involved intricate melodies, while Jason is more experimental with his delay/wah/distortion pedals.

    But either way, Metallica music wouldn't be the same without Cliff or Jason, better or worse.

    If you want to see Cliff in action on stage, check out the home video "Cliff 'Em All", a tribute video to Cliff. There half a dozen solos, interviews and a bunch of live performances. The only letdown is the quality of most of the footage since its mostly bootleg material which was donated to make the video. But, Metallica is STILL Metallica no matter what the quality is like, so this video goes HIGHLY recommended for all Metallica fans out there.

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