You can all thank an old Navy buddy of mine, Mr. John Shelton, for reminding me that today is the birthday of one of the greatest bass players who ever took the stage, Mr. Clifford Lee Burton.

One viewing of the video of Anesthesia -Pulling Teeth and you’ll begin to understand.

Clifford Lee Burton was born February 10, 1962 in Castro Valley, CA. He discovered music as a youngster, immersing himself in blues, classical, country, jazz and one of his favorites, Mozart. When Cliff was six years old he learned to play the piano, picking up the bass guitar as a teenager and taking bass lessons from 1978 thru 1980. In college, he studied musical theory and his knowledge of musical theory became a huge influence on the first three Metallica albums.

Pre-Metallica Cliff spent time in several San Francisco area bands including EZ~Street with future members of Faith No More, Jim Martin and Mike Bordin.

In…