People know of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Buddy Holly, Richie Vallens, Randy Rhodes, and other names of musical acts that seemed to be taking the world to new places. Many people do not know of Cliff Burton. This is a shame as he certainly deserves to be recognized among those names.

Source: www.revolvermag.com

He played guitar but what he is known for is bass guitar. No one sounded like him while he was alive. He influenced many a bass player that came after him, especially those that would fill his shoes and play the songs he left behind.

Source: www.pintrest.com

Cliff Burton

Cliff Burton was born February 10th, 1962 in Castro Valley, California. His father Ray Burton introduced Cliff to classical music when Cliff was very young and he began taking Piano lessons. He began playing bass guitar at the age of 13, after the death of his brother Scott.

His parents, Ray and Jan, quoted him as saying "I am going to be the best bassist for my brother." He practiced six hours per day. He was influenced by Jazz, Classical, Southern Rock, Country, Blues, and eventually Heavy Metal. He had a very musical background. When he did start to gain fame he was the only member of the band that had any formal musical training, background, music theory, etc.

The people Cliff Burton cited as being big influences on him in terms of his bass playing are:

Geddy Lee of Rush - Source: ultimateclassicrock.com

Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath - Source: www.nndb.com

Stanley Clarke - Source: jazzfestivalsworldwide.com

Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead - Source: www.pastemagazine.com

Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy- Source: defendingaxlrose.com

First Band: EZ-Street

While still in high school Cliff Burton would become the bass player in a band called EZ-Street which took it's name from a bay area topless bar. The other two band members also went on to have good musical careers.

"Big" Jim Martin of Faith No More - Source: www.metal-archives.com

Mike Bordin of Ozzy Osbourne - Source: www.youtube.com

Second Band: Agents of Misfortune

Was still a collaboration between Cliff Burton and Jim Martin when they were both attending Chabot College. This band entered Hayward Area Recreation Department's Battle of the Bands contest in 1981. This is the earliest known footage of Cliff Burton developing his playing style.

This sound should not be used to judge Cliff as it is not the cleanest and it is early. I am providing it here for completeness of history and for those who are fans and may not be aware of this.

Third Band: Trauma

Cliff Burton joined the band Trauma in 1982 and recorded the song "Such a Shame" with them on the second Metal Massacre compilation. This is still not where he became famous with bass players, but he was starting to make a name for himself.

The members of his final band would hear stories of this amazing bass player. They went to see him perform with Trauma and then they did everything they could to convince Cliff to join their band. They even agreed to relocate their entire band to the San Francisco Bay Area.

Final Band: Metallica

Source: wallpapercave.com
This is where I discovered Cliff Burton. I suddenly wanted to be a bass player. I would end up going the guitar route instead, but I had many friends who played bass because they were inspired by Cliff Burton.



The editor is not liking my post. I will make a part 2 after this and continue.