- A Tribute Page For -
Clifford Lee Burton
1962-1986
The Full Story:
Cliff Burton was crushed in a bus accident,
devastating most of the world. We'll miss him, all of us, his friends, fans and
family.
Clifford Lee Burton was born in San Francisco on February 10th of 1962.
He was the son of Jan and Ray Burton, two San Francisco hippies that from them, he took
his image, his ideals, and most of all, his attitude. Cliff liked beer, like his
pot/whatever, liked to hang and chill out, and he was really laid back, relaxed and happy.
Metallica discovered Cliff in August '82, when Trauma played at the Wiskey-A-Go-Go. Lars
and James were very impressed by the way he played his bass. They set out on a grand
pursuit to get Cliff to join there band, Metallica. Burton than presents the LA station
band with an ultimatum, that if Metallica relocated to San Francisco, he would join. By
that time, Metallica was beginning to go down. Lars and James were having problems with
their Lead Guitarist, Dave Mustaine, because of his growing addictions and abuse of
alcohol and drugs, and the terrible conflicts that he and James had on stage were becoming
more frequent. Also, the former bassist, Ron McGovney wasn't taking the band
seriously, which James and Lars had a serious problem with. Another thing was that James
didn't want to sing anymore because he felt he wasn't doing a good enough job, se he
proposed that he play Rhythm Guitar only.
Metallica with all these problems, relocated to San
Francisco, where they had a nicer receivement than in LA. Their first jam with Cliff
occurred in the house of sound-man Mark Witaker, where their was a studio type setup in
his garage. At the time James and Lars were living there. They recorded a 4 track demo,
and on March 5th, of 1983, Cliff played for the first time with Metallica at
the Stone, in SF. This was the beginning of 3 incredible Metalli-years.
Gen Howards Remembers: "When the Puppets tour had finished, I wait 'till the band
went to the European tour and then I went on vacations to Cornualles. We all were
very happy on what was happening, specially, that Metallica was becoming one of the most
popular metal bands. We all had worked a lot in this, and then before our eyes
everything was was going ok, and the future hadn't seemed better. Then a wednesday
morning, I take a "Sounds" volume, I opened it, and I almost shocked
It was a really beat, incredibly painful. . ."
These words describe the tragedy of that saturday morning on that september of 1986. While Metallica had finished their tour across Europe, Metallica was going to play another 3 shows in Lund, Oslo and Stockholm. They were on their way to make a fourth show, in Copenhagen, when the goddamn bus slid on the cold highway nearby the little town of Ljungby, and it crashed on it's side. All of the people on the bus only acquired little damage, but Cliff Burton, 24 years of age, died immediately on contact.
There are a lot of different versions of what happened that day. The "official" version is like this: Cliff was sleeping on one of the berths in the bus when, at 5:15a.m. the bus started to roll on the road and he was thrown out of the bus' window. He was crushed by the bus in the accident. Lars broke a finger, and James and Kirk only suffered from minor superficial injuries. Bobby Schneider, the tour manager, dislocated his arm, and another crew member had contusions. The danish P.D. arrested the bus driver, merely by routine, and released him soon after because the true cause of the accident was and ice plaque on the road. This episode was simply a tragic and cruel accident that killed the way Metallica was building.
After that, you know the way Metallica followed. Jason Newsted(not nearly as good as Cliff, but a very good repacement) joins the band, they become rich, famous, and popular. Yet us Metallica fans still remember the true bassist of Metallica, the one and only, Cliff Burton.
Members' Quotes:
James Hatfield: "Knowing Cliff's attitude, he'd kick our butts if we quit."
Kirk Hammet: "To this day, I think about him every day."
Lars Ulrich: "I know Cliff, more than anyone else in the band, would have been the first guy to give us a kick in the ass, and wouldn't want us to sit around. It's what he would have wanted us to do."
Jason Newsted: "He was a great and very special talent... Cliff's solos were absolutely brilliant."
