This article originally appeared in a 2013 issue of Revolver Magazine.
Bassist Cliff Burton’s impact on Metallica was immense—beyond his revolutionary, distorted, finger-playing style, he introduced his band members to core influences from the Misfits to Johan Sebastian Bach to H.P. Lovecraft. Just months after the release of his and the group’s masterpiece, Master of Puppets, Burton was killed when Metallica’s tour bus skidded on black ice in Sweden. Here, drummer LARS ULRICH remembers his friend.
“When I saw Cliff playing onstage the first time, I had just never really seen anything quite like it. I think we were a little intimidated by him in the beginning because he was just so unique. Cliff was up to challenge the normalcy, you know, just fuck with things, musically, in the way he dressed, the way he carried himself. Me and James [Hetfield], at that time, were more kind of the squarer guys, ’cause we were more like, “Motörhead!” “Iron Maiden!” Heavy-metal T-shirts, and long hair, and bang our heads into the wall. It was definitely Cliff’s music and his approach towards life that really inspired me and James to broaden our horizons, broaden Metallica’s horizons musically. All of the sudden, in between the Diamond Head tapes being played in the shitty vans, the fuckin’ Police album Zenyattà Mondatta would come on. Or that Yes album, 90125. It was just like…it was just nice.
It would’ve been interested to see what else he could’ve contributed because it felt like we were just getting started. But I’m so glad that I got a chance to play with him. And got a chance to know him, and got a chance to drink with him, and all the shenanigans that probably shouldn’t be printed in a nice, family publication like Revolver. It definitely was a pretty nutty time, and we certainly embraced what life was offering us.”