Cliff Burton

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Cliff Burton was an American bassist, born in 1962 in Castro Valley, near San Francisco. Through his father he got to know classical music, and he had piano lessons. He began playing bass at thirteen, after his older brother had died, and sometimes practised six hours a day. He listened to classical, jazz, southern rock, country and blues, and to bassists such as Geezer Butler, Lemmy Kilmister and Phil Lynott.

Music and breakthrough

In 1982 he played with the band Trauma at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles. James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich of Metallica heard him and asked him to be their new bassist. Burton agreed on condition that the band moved to the Bay Area, and that is what happened. He played on Kill 'Em All from 1983, with his bass solo (Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth, and on Ride the Lightning from 1984, on which he co-wrote six of the eight songs. The opening of For Whom the Bell Tolls is often taken for guitar, but it is his bass. Master of Puppets from 1986 followed, the band's breakthrough.

Influence

Burton used effects pedals such as wah-wah and distortion, which was unusual for bassists, and you can hear his classical training in the melodic bass parts, for example in Orion. On 27 September 1986, a day after a concert in Stockholm, he was killed when the tour bus crashed. He was 24. He is still regarded as one of the most influential bassists in metal.

Listening

In School of Rock

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• Mixtape 4: When Rock Was Still Pop^NL Reader