{"id":653979,"date":"2026-10-22T16:42:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T16:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/653979\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T16:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T16:42:11","slug":"cliff-burtons-ex-bandmate-remembers-the-late-metallica-bassists-prodigious-talent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/653979\/","title":{"rendered":"Cliff Burton\u2019s ex-bandmate remembers the late Metallica bassist\u2019s prodigious talent"},"content":{"rendered":"

Metallica<\/a> bassist\u2019s prodigious talent in conversation with Metal Hammer.<\/p>\n

Talking exclusively in our latest issue<\/a>, Mike Overton \u2013 the guitarist in Burton\u2019s first professional band, Trauma \u2013 remembers the Castro Valley, California native as his \u201cstage buddy\u201d. However, he reveals that Burton\u2019s chops caused some friction between them in the early days, given the bassist had studied classical music and music theory at Chabot College.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually battled a little bit in the beginning because he was playing way too much stuff, and I was just confused,\u201d he laughs. \u201cCliff was all over the place, but it fit. I really had to learn a little bit in those few months we were playing and practising.\u201d<\/p>\n

Latest Videos From Louder<\/p>\n

He also looks back on the time Trauma, who featured future Faith No More<\/a> member Jim Martin, entered a local battle of the bands and baffled the judges.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe looks on the judges\u2019 faces when they came out playing were just, like, shock and awe,\u201d Overton explains with a laugh. \u201cMost of us were going, \u2018Man, that stuff sounds great. It\u2019s so progressive and out of the box.\u2019 But the judges were looking for the next Journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in the interview, Brian Slagel \u2013 the founder of Metal Blade Records, who released Metallica\u2019s first song Hit The Lights in 1982 \u2013 recalls watching Burton play with Trauma at a Los Angeles concert.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin 30 seconds I realised that the band was OK but this bass player they had was just incredible,\u201d he says. \u201cYou know, he was Cliff Burton. He was in the denim with the big, wavy hair and the bass and going crazy onstage. I spent the whole show staring at him pretty much.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Burton\u2019s virtuoso style and stage presence led to Metallica poaching him from Trauma barely a year after he joined the fledgling band. Despite losing such a gifted player, Overton says he wasn\u2019t upset over Burton jumping ship.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other guys in Trauma were getting more into the lighter stuff, so I wasn\u2019t upset,\u201d he says. \u201cIn fact, the first show Metallica did with Cliff, he put me on the guest list, and I\u2019m sitting there going, \u2018Oh my gosh.\u2019 I was blown away with the raw power. I missed my stage buddy but I think it\u2019s clear he made the right decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

After joining Metallica and getting the rising thrashers to relocate from L.A. to San Francisco for a more fertile alternative music scene, Burton played on three of their albums: Kill \u2019Em All (1983), Ride The Lightning (1984) and Master Of Puppets<\/a> (1986). His classically trained talents came across through the bass solos on such tracks as Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth) and For Whom The Bell Tolls, as well as the neoclassical songwriting on Puppets\u2019 title track.<\/p>\n

Burton died on September 27, 1986, after Metallica\u2019s tour bus crashed and flipped onto its side on tour in Sweden. He was 24. A memorial still exists near the crash site outside the town of Ljungby and is regularly visited by fans. The band paid tribute on 1988 album \u2026And Justice For All, including a line on the song To Live Is To Die which Burton had adapted from a Paul Gerhardt poem.<\/p>\n

Metallica hired Jason Newsted in November 1986 and continued to tour and record, affirming themselves as the biggest band in heavy metal<\/a> with 1991\u2019s Diamond-selling Metallica. Newsted departed in 2001 and was replaced by current bassist Robert Trujillo. The band are currently hosting a residency at Las Vegas\u2019 multimedia venue The Sphere<\/a> and will take the stage again tonight (October 22).<\/p>\n

Raed Hammer\u2019s full celebration of Burton\u2019s life and legacy in the new issue. As well as his early years, we explore his time in Metallica and the impact he made on future generations of musicians. Order your copy now and get it delivered directly to your door. <\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

\"Cliff\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Future)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Old friends and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[146,85,46,409],"class_list":["post-653979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}