Wednesday, September 28, 2011

HEROES-Cliff Burton



A lot of rock and rollers die young. There are Hendrix and Morrison. You have Kurt Cobain. You can add Bon Scott and John Bonham. Then, there is Nikki Sixx who died and came back. Death and rock and roll has become a cliche. The music and the lifestyle implies self-destruction. Then, there is the tragedy of Cliff Burton.

Cliff Burton died on September 27, 1986, when the tour bus the band Metallica was riding in flipped over. Burton was sleeping in a bunk when he was tossed out the window, and the bus fell on him killing him. The irony is that he had won the bunk from guitarist Kirk Hammett by pulling a higher card from a deck of cards. It is said the card was the ace of spades.

The death of Cliff Burton was a massive loss to Metallica. Burton was an exceptional bassist especially considering that he was only 24 when he died. There is no doubt that had he lived he would have cemented himself as the greatest bassist to ever play the instrument in much the same way that Hendrix is revered on guitar. The fact that he chose bass over some other instrument indicates that his intention was to be the best. Burton played using distortion and a wah pedal, a device used principally by guitarists. His playing style and personality brought the bass to the front and was showcased in great Metallica songs such as "For Whom the Bell Tolls," "The Call of Ctulhu," "Orion," and the extended bass solo "Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth)." Burton's bass solos were a highlight of every Metallica show, and fans revered Cliff.



Cliff Burton was also the soul of the band. He rejected the commercial crassness of other bands and urged Metallica to get the fuck out of glitzy LA and make their name in lesser known San Francisco. At the time, this was considered musical suicide since LA was where all the action was. But this was the home of hair metal, and Cliff Burton hated that shit. The man dripped integrity, and that integrity is what has earned the respect of millions of Metallica fans.

Cliff Burton was also a complete individualist. Even within a band like Metallica, Cliff stood apart with his bell bottom jeans and demeanor. He was way cooler than James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich, the band's founders. As Lars Ulrich put it in an interview, "My fondest memories of Cliff are his total disregard for convention and his total disregard for playing things out the way you expected them. He was up to challenge the normalcy, to challenge the status quo, to just fuck with things musically, attitude-wise - the way he dressed, the way he carried himself, his sense of humor, his relationship with the music that inspired him, the music that he played. It was always very unconventional, and it was very unusual." Cliff took Metallica to places they had not considered.

Cliff also contributed significantly to Metallica's second and third albums. Those two albums stand as the best Metallica ever did, and the band has never sounded that good since. Does Cliff deserve the credit? He obviously didn't write everything, but it is clear that he exerted a certain influence over what was good and what wasn't. At the time, he was clearly the most talented and developed on his instrument, and this must have made the others in the band elevate their game considerably. Cliff also brought melody to the band and showed that you could use it without selling out your thrash roots. Burton brought a third dimension to what would have been a two-dimensional band.

Cliff died, but his death was not like other rock and roll deaths. It was sudden, unexpected, and unfair. You can blame Hendrix and Cobain for their tragedies, but Cliff was not like those other casualties. He had just begun to live and to amaze when he was snatched from the world of the living. This was not a drug overdose or a suicide. This was a goddamn accident that snuffed out a truly exceptional and unique individual. Metallica had lost two members previously without a second thought, but the loss of Cliff Burton made them seriously consider hanging it up. They were never the same band again.

Cliff Burton is sorely missed, and the two bassists that have filled his shoes in the band are always compared to Cliff. It is unfair to them, but this shows the legacy the man still casts 25 years later. He was on the cusp of some really amazing shit when he was killed. He played the Star Spangled Banner on the bass the night he died. He was the Hendrix of bass players. We can only imagine what he would have gone on to do with that instrument had he lived.



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