When I was learning to play metal bass guitar in my teens Metallica’s Cliff Burton was a big influence on me. I bought a distortion pedal for my bass and spent hours with the tab for Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth) trying to get those licks down. I probably should have bought a crybaby wah too really.
I loved the way Cliff bought the bass to the fore and gave it some full-on fretwankery to rival the lead guitarists and the fact that he dressed like Neil from The Young Ones was a bonus too.
So I was chuffed to find this video of him on You Tube giving it some big solo action.
Bizarrely after Cliff’s untimely death Metallica decided to pretend that the bass guitar didn’t exist on And Justice… taking it so low in the mix you can’t hear the damn thing.