Tag Archives: Cliff Burton
Happy Birthday Cliff!
Today would mark Cliff Burton’s 50th birthday, if it wasn’t for that terrible accident that happened 26 years ago. So today is a good opportunity to listen to some oldschool Metallica and hear what Cliff and the guys left behind for the world – killer music.
Happy Birthday Cliff Burton!
Cliff Burton’s dad thanks his son’s fans
Ray Burton, the guy responsible for one of metal’s best bass players, wishes to thank Metallica fans for their support and wishes.
Nothing else to add, just watch the video…
Ian, Burton, Hammett – The Three Musketeers
Scott Ian posted a cool story of his friendship with the late Cliff Burton on his blog, and it’s a pretty awesome read. I just couldn’t help myself and had to do that photo above. Why? Read below…
Love how fat Kirk looks in that photo, by the way.
Anyway, here is the (somewhat) short version of the story. Make sure to read the full thing when you have the chance:
“I knew Cliff for three years and in those three years became good friends with him and Kirk, bonds that have lasted and stood the test of time. We were the three musketeers when we were together and we got to spend a lot of time together back in those days.
I was in London in March of 1984 doing promo for our first album Fistful Of Metal. Metallica was also in London because they were supposed to do a tour with The Rods and Exciter in the UK but the tour was cancelled. […] One day Cliff and I were going to a store so Cliff could buy a Walkman. We were in the tube station and two policemen approached us and asked us if we had drugs. We said no, big surprise. Truth is, we didn’t. They kept telling us that we should just tell them what we have and things would be easier for us. We kept telling them that we didn’t have anything. I guess they didn’t believe us being the long haired freaks that we were because they arrested us and took us to the police station. […]
At some point I heard Cliff’s voice and I started banging on the door screaming at them to tell me what was going on. A cop opened the window in the door and told me “they were taking my mate back to the flat so they could search it.” Apparently they had found Cliff’s cold medicine pills in his coat and they assumed it was illegal drugs. […]
So now they were taking him back to the apartment and I got really nervous because I knew he had weed back there. If they found the weed we were fucked. All I could think of was that movie Midnight Express where the guy gets busted in Turkey for smuggling and sent to Turkish prison and nobody ever sees him for years […]
It’s easy to get irrational when you’ve never been arrested for anything and you’re sitting in a cold concrete cell in a foreign country in your underwear for five hours with no clue as to what is going on. Another two hours or so passed and the cell door opened and a cop was handing me my clothes and telling me I was to go to the Captain’s office. […] To my surprise, Cliff was already there lounging in a chair with a huge Cheshire cat grin. I figured we were OK but I still had no idea what happened and how they didn’t find the weed back at the flat. The Captain started to apologize to us and tell us how “sorry he was for the mistake and us being falsely accused and that the cold medicine really was cold medicine etc etc.” I freaked. […]
As soon as we were outside I asked Cliff what the hell happened back at the flat. He told me that they (Cliff and six cops) walked into the flat and Kirk was in the living room playing guitar. The cops proceeded to search the flat for an hour to no avail. They couldn’t find anything. I asked Cliff where the weed was hidden, like he had some super secret hidey hole to stash his shit. He started laughing and asked me where would be the first place I would look if I was a cop searching a flat looking for drugs. I told him I would look under the mattress of his bed.
Exactly.
The weed was under his mattress and the cops never looked there!! I couldn’t believe it. The Metal Gods were looking down on Cliff and I that day.“
Read full story here.
Wait, is he saying what I think he’s saying? Did these guys commit a felony?
Holy shit, someone should call the cops! I have a feeling the inmates will REALLY love Kirk.
Make the jump for a photo of Scott and Cliff from that period.
Cliff in peace, Cliff ’em all
Our readers love us:
“Just wanted to tell you guys, yesterday was 25th anniversary of Cliff Burton’s death and it’s sad to see that you haven’t even mentioned it in any of your posts !! Just writing a blog on metal won’t make you a true metal head.. and it won’t save your ass from being a complete fucking poser.. \m/“
-Death 666
Dear Mr. 666, Cliff Burton passed away on September 27. It is still September 27 here, so why didn’t you wait at least one more day until every country in the world hits the 28th, then email us?
Anyway, Cliff Burton was amazing, and I’m really curious what 90s Metallica would have been like with him still in the band.
Whether or not they would have made the Load albums with Cliff still involved is anyone’s guess. But here’s a fact: While he was in Metallica, he kicked ass, and to prove my point, the video above is from ’85. A full year before I was born.
Rest in peace.
P.S. = Hopefully we’re ‘true metalheads’ now. Wink wink.
The fallen heroes
Revolver‘s January issue has one of the greatest covers ever. It portrays some of metal’s biggest heroes, who sadly left this world a bit too early.
The drawing is by J.G. Jones and it depicts Ronnie James Dio, Peter Steele, Dimebag, Cliff Burton and Randy Rhoads amongst others.
You can buy the issue and a special Dimebag commemorative coin here. Full cover after the jump.
