Cliff Burton is OVERRATED?! My Response

The guitar harmony section in Fight Fire With Fire, which was written by Cliff, is one of the most inspired moments in popular music in my book. He was absolutely a genius. Not to mention NOBODY was doing stuff like Orion back then, absolutely nobody -- which was a Cliff-led composition btw.

Cliff wasn’t just a bass player but an arranger. The band had noted many times how much input he had and they learned from him. He had alot of music theory knowledge that the rest of the band didn’t have at the time and they gained alot of knowledge from him.

The cassette of Primus, "suck on this" was a great example of the bass leading the way in a band🙂

Cliff was the "checks and balances" guy between Lars and Hetfield..He wrote all the parts in a way. Plus, he had more technical/theory/and ears, than both.

I've had Cliff tattooed on me for 3 decades, such an inspiration as a composer and player. Even better these days we have studio recordings with his bass turned up, brings whole new feelings to the songs.

I've said it time and again: you are a true treasure of a human. Your skill is unparalleled and yet we never see you boast about it in any way shape or form, even though you must know how good you are. Aside from that, being so objective about things and so respectful towards opinions that do not align with your thoughts really only adds to that. Don't ever change man, you are an example for many of us. Much love for you as a person and as a musician. <3

Cliff Burton is a huge reason why master of puppets and ride the lightning are the awesome albums they are. Cliff was classically trained, before Cliff everything they did was just simple pentatonic, hard rock influenced stuff like in seek and destroy. Cliff was the one who taught them about the Phrygian mode, different scales, classical harmonies, classical progressions and ornamentation. Listen to Orion(preferably a bass amplified version) and you’ll hear Cliff’s genius.

Cliff was one of the main reasons I started playing bass. As for modern metal bassists check out Jared Smith from Archspire.

Cliff Burton was the Jimi Hendrix of metal bass players.

After a decade without playing, your channel inspired to get back to my Bass, and Beato inspired me to take musical lessons. Both of you are pushing peoples lives for the better. You would never understand the positivity and happiness you bring to the world. Please never underestimate yourself, never focus on the hate of the comments. I would love to see you goofing around with wooten someday.

I remember talking about Cliffs' greatness in the 80s as a kid. 35 years later I stand by that 8 yr olds' opinion.

What's make a musician standout is not solely his virtuosity. It's all the satisfaction you're getting with his playing or his style. My favorite top tier bass player is Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy. Not necessarily 'metal' but still.

Cliff Burton's contribution to Metallica and Metal Bass overall made Metallica stand out. He was a Bass Player who could play his instrument and not just rattle off a string of root notes. (guilty as charged, m'lud!) He inspired a legion of Bass Players who picked up the instrument because of him.

I saw Cliff live at Lamoures in Brooklyn in around 1985, during Ride the Lightening tour

Cliff will never be forgotten (R.I.P we love u Cliff)

My favorite bassist is Jason Newsted. I love his solos and energy on stage

I know a bassist who did a lot of leads. Cliff Burton. He was just SO ahead of his time and the recording engineers pushed him into obscurity in levels. There are remastering of Metallica where they used a more modern volume levels and you can hear the bass in them. OMG he had so much stuff going on in those songs. There was a ton of bass soloing that got clipped out by old 80's mixing. Had I not heard those songs remixed I would have picked Steve Harris or Lemmy. But his stuff was so intricately woven into the songs. So many times you first think it's a guitar and then you realize its the bass. Amazing writer, visionary and player. It's a shame he died so young. It's a shame what everyone heard of his work has him with the volume practically off, when you can absolutely tell with the new remixes that is how it was supposed to sound. He still might not be your favorite, but I think it would be a lot harder for people to say he was over rated if they heard those remasters.

Cliff Burton inspires me a lot, I always like watching his videos and every detail I notice moves me, I think the love he had for his music shined through, something very authentic and unique to him. His work on Metallica's first 3 albums was exquisite, as he had more study in musical theory and harmony in Metallica and makes us imagine what would happen to Metallica if Cliff were still alive. But I prefer to think that he fulfilled his role on Earth and through it all Cliff became the legendary bassist.

Charles, what would be fun would be for you to repeat this kind of poll but with musicians from different times- in my case, the late 60s- I would select Jack Casady, John Entwistle, Jack Bruce and maybe Phil Lesh. Of these, who would you pick? and I think it might be time for you to collab with El Estepario Siberiano- the mind reels! Or with Mohini Dey or Federico Malaman.

Ironicly, your reasons for naming Cliff the best are the reasons I name Steve Harris the best. His body of work - and lets remember he is the main songwriter in Iron Maiden - is astounding. His playing is what made ME want to pick up a Bass. Songs like 'The Trooper", "Phantom of the Opera", "The Clairvoyant", "Wrathchild"... just bkew me away. I wish we could have seen what Cliff would have done if he'd lived, but his untimely passing keeps him off the top for me. Unfair, but that's life. "Orion" is still my favorite track to jam.