Cliff Burton pic

[eastcoasteddie]

Cliff also still wore bell bottoms and listened to skynyrd and classical music. He did not fit your stereotypical metalhead profile.

I still wonder where he found bellbottoms in the age of "the breakfast club"...

But I always felt better Ric is the most metal bass you can get, mostly because Lemmy and Cliff use them.

 

[BassmanMetzger56]

Cliff was in Metallica but wasn't a metal fan. A magazine republished his last interview on the anniversary of his death once. They asked him what other metal bands he was listening to. He said he doesn't like metal and the band he was really gravitating to at the time was a at the time little known band called REM. James and Lars have also commented over and over again about how his music collection was very diverse with everything except metal in it. It would've been interesting to get his take on the black album. My gut tells me he would've loved it.

In the copy of the interview that I have, Cliff says that he doesn't really listen to much thrash metal, but never states that he wasn't a metal fan. I kinda doubt he'd have joined Metallica if he wasn't a fan of metal. Though he does say in that same interview that "there's a big difference between what we listen to compared to what we play ourselves." So, there is that.

 

[Brian D]

1984 APII SB Black n Gold I - The holy grail..

Here's mine. Great bass but as mentioned, the pickups die. I got a pickup from another SB in mine. Correct model pickup though.

 

[Ric5]

Lemmy

Geddy

Steppenwolf

Entwistle

Squire

 

[socialleper]

Deep Purple, Manowar and Motorhead aren't metal enough for you?

Deep Purple = not really; hard rock band.
Manowar = chumps
Motorhead = legit metal band.

 

[tomydacat]

Here is mine and the serial number is 2 months off of cliffs.. OH YEAH

 

[socialleper]

And 1970's Rush?

No Rush from any time period is metal. Period.
They are a prog rock band. Metal fans appreciate them, like Tool or Faith No More, who also are not metal bands. All three are probably pretty happy about that.

 

[FC Bass]

I would guess that Cliff wasn't into the "labeling of music genres" at all, just listen to the music you like. ;-)

 

[socialleper]

Maybe I wan't aware of what he played, but I recently saw a pic of him playing a Rickenbacher, believe is was a 4001. Never noticed as I wasn't playing bass or guitar back then, but I would have thought he'd have used a solid body and a more metal type bass.

Always thought of Ricks as being more for late 60's British rock and pop, not mid 80's what we used to call thrash.

He didn't use the Rick very long. He only recorded Kill 'Em All with it and then moved on to the Aria Pro. To be fair, Cliff wasn't a traditional trash kind of guy. He was definitely instrumental in developing the style, but man was he stuck in the 60s/70s. He looked like he should have been playing for the Doobie Brothers more than what we think of as Metallica.
Ricks have enjoyed a resurgence among the Stoner/Doom/Desert bass players for its retro look and mids that work very will with dirt pedals. Personally I can't stand them. They are hard to play and look like they should come with a patch of green shag carpet and wood paneling. The visual style of the 70s gets a big fat "F" from me.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Cliff also still wore bell bottoms and listened to skynyrd and classical music.

He was also a big fan of the Misfits.

 

[FC Bass]

Here's Connie with Cliff's bass and guitar:

And the guitar he got from Aria:

Cliff's bass in its case:

I also had a '84 Black 'n Gold I, extremely nice bass!

 

[FC Bass]

He didn't use the Rick very long. He only recorded Kill 'Em All with it and then moved on to the Aria Pro.

I'm sure RTL is also Rickenbacker, he got the Aria's after the Alembic was stolen.

 

[cheechi]

Cliff also still wore bell bottoms and listened to skynyrd and classical music. He did not fit your stereotypical metalhead profile.

Lars & James came together through their mutual taste in music, specifically NWOBM and generally listening to Garage Inc you can hear a wide variety of musical tastes there. Dave & Cliff though were more into american rock and of course Cliff was classically trained. Cliff wrote the harmonics in Orion and the harpsichord intro for Fight Fire with Fire, the intro of Battery was originally part of a more 'fugue' style classical piece he reworked for the band. He's also responsible for integrating the 'Sweet Home Alabama' bit before the bass solo in Horsemen.

And their early look (LOTS of denim, not just Cliff's bellbottoms) you could easily have confused Metallica with some southern rock band just from their appearance. Metallica never really 'looked metal' in those early days. At the time looking metal was Rob Halford & Gene Simmons.

Deep Purple, Manowar and Motorhead aren't metal enough for you?

Deep Purple classified with Motorhead? I am a fan of both bands and I would have never thought of classifying them in the same genre. Have never heard of Manowar....

See this one is odd to me. There was an interview many many years ago. I forget whether I saw it on MTV or read it in a magazine or whatever. You ask many people who they credit with creating metal most will probably say Sabbath. Lars says Deep Purple, James says Cream. I might have those two backwards. Cliff said Hendrix. He went on to cite 'Free Form Guitar' the Terry Kath song from the first Chicago album which of course he and Jimi were good friends and Jimi really respected his ability.

I don't hear it in Deep Purple. Hard rock. Some good, some not so good, but not metal to me.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

People also think that BC Rich guitars & basses are only used for Heavy Metal. The guy who bought my Warlock guitar was planning on using it for Country.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

At the time looking metal was Rob Halford & Gene Simmons.

I never put KISS into the genre of Heavy Metal.

 

[Wolfenstein666]

Personally I can't stand them. They are hard to play and look like they should come with a patch of green shag carpet and wood paneling. The visual style of the 70s gets a big fat "F" from me.

I'm a total Ric fanboy and this post had me laughing. Shag carpet and wood paneling, we should see if John Hall will hook it up!

Here's Connie with Cliff's bass and guitar:



And the guitar he got from Aria:

Cliff's bass in its case:



I also had a '84 Black 'n Gold I, extremely nice bass!

Appears to me that Connie is keeping these priceless basses in a STORAGE UNIT.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Who is Connie?
A relation of Cliff's?

 

[Wolfenstein666]

Connie is Cliff's sister.

 

[crucislancer]

To be fair, Cliff wasn't a traditional trash kind of guy. He was definitely instrumental in developing the style, but man was he stuck in the 60s/70s. He looked like he should have been playing for the Doobie Brothers more than what we think of as Metallica.

Funny thing is that when I was in high school (1986-1990), the blue jeans with jean jacket look was the typical metalhead look, usually with patches all over the jean jacket, and of course a tour t-shirt from a favorite band. Leather biker jackets were popular as well with the metal/rock crowd. Don't think anyone wore bellbottoms, but my memory is fuzzy.

 

[socialleper]

Funny thing is that when I was in high school (1986-1990), the blue jeans with jean jacket look was the typical metalhead look, usually with patches all over the jean jacket, and of course a tour t-shirt from a favorite band. Leather biker jackets were popular as well with the metal/rock crowd. Don't think anyone wore bellbottoms, but my memory is fuzzy.

I was in High School at about the same time. Jean jackets with patches were definitely a big deal, but not with no shirt on under like the way Cliff rocked it. Bell bottom were WAY out. It was all about tight tapered jeans or leather pants. If Cliff had lived longer I would bet that he would have kicked off the retro metal/doom/stoner thing a lot earlier. He'd be all over stuff like Graveyard and Sleep.