During a recent episode of “The Metallica Report,” frontman James Hetfield reflected on the lasting influence of the late bassist Cliff Burton in his songwriting. Hetfield expressed, “Absolutely. Cliff still lives in all of us. I often think, ‘What would Cliff think of this?’ I hold him in such high regard that I still ask for his help. If I can impress Cliff, it’s a good day.”
Cliff Burton joined METALLICA in 1982 after the band saw him perform with TRAUMA. Initially hesitant to move to Los Angeles, METALLICA relocated to the San Francisco area to make it happen. Burton contributed significantly to the band’s early success, co-writing classics like “Ride The Lightning,” “For Whom The Bell Tolls,” and “Master Of Puppets” on the first three studio albums before his tragic death in a bus accident on September 27, 1986, at the age of 24.
His first replacement was Jason Newsted, who played with the band until 2001. Robert Trujillo has been the bassist since 2003. In honor of Burton, February 10, 2018, was declared “Cliff Burton Day” by Alameda County supervisors, marking what would have been his 56th birthday.
Reflecting on the impact of Burton’s loss, drummer Lars Ulrich once shared, “We were so shocked and stunned that we didn’t know what hit us.” He described how the band coped with grief, acknowledging their immaturity at the time, which led to turning to alcohol rather than confronting their feelings directly. “Cliff would have kicked us in the ass to keep going,” Ulrich added.
Hetfield also pondered how Burton might have reacted to METALLICA’s evolving sound and image in the ’90s and early 2000s, particularly with the releases “Load,” “Reload,” and “St. Anger.” He acknowledged that while he appreciated the boldness of their reinventions, he believed that Burton would have had reservations about those changes, suggesting that he might have viewed the shift as unnecessary and potentially diluting the band’s essence.
Burton’s legacy and artistry were further explored in the 2009 book “To Live Is To Die: The Life And Death Of Metallica’s Cliff Burton” by Joel McIver, with a foreword by METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett.
