‘One of the best biographies you’ll ever read.’ – Robb Flynn, Machine Head
Today, Metallica are known as consummate musicians, but it wasn’t always that way. Their early career is marked by a gradual evolution from garage thrash to sophisticated, progressive heights – an evolution driven by their bass player, Cliff Burton, who pushed the band to new heights with his songwriting ability and phenomenal bass skills across the band’s first three albums, including their undisputed masterpiece, Master Of Puppets.
Cliff’s life was short but influential; his death at the age of 24 in a tour bus crash on a Swedish mountain road was sudden and shocking. Following his passing, Metallica went on to huge global success, but by their own admission they never pushed the creative envelope as radically as they had done during the first four years of their career.
The cult of Burton grows year on year, and so too the list of bassists acknowledging his influence in metal and beyond. Published to coincide with the 40th anniversary of Metallica’s debut album, Kill ’Em All, this revised and updated edition of To Live Is To Die adds a new chapter that looks at Burton’s enduring legacy from a fresh perspective and includes commentary from current Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo and Aquaman star Jason Momoa, as well as an eyewitness account of the opening of the Cliff Burton Museum in Ljungby, Sweden, in 2022. There is also a brand new preface by Testament bass master Steve Di Giorgio, who shares his memories of meeting Burton as a teenager and then watching on from close quarters as Metallica began to take off.
Tabla de materias
Foreword by Kirk Hammett
Preface by Steve Di Giorgio
Author’s note
Introduction
Chapter 1: 1962 to 1979
Chapter 2: 1980 to 1982
Chapter 3: January to March 1983
Chapter 4: April to July 1983
Chapter 5: Kill ’Em All
Chapter 6: August 1983 to July 1984
Chapter 7: Ride The Lightning
Chapter 8: January to December 1985
Chapter 9: January to March 1986
Chapter 10: Master Of Puppets
Chapter 11: April to September 1986
Chapter 12: September 27 1986
Chapter 13: The Aftermath
Chapter 14: Metallica 1986 to 2009
Chapter 15: Metallica 2010 to 2016
Chapter 16: Unpacking Cliff 2016 to 2022
Chapter 17: Cliff’s Legacy
Afterword by Frank Bello
In others’ words
Who’s who
Musical terms
Discography
Acknowledgements
Index
Sobre el autor
Joel Mc Iver is the author of 35 books on music. As well as writing biographies of leading figures in rock and metal, he has co-written the memoirs of a number of musicians, including members of Megadeth, Deep Purple, Soulfly, the Spiders From Mars, and the Sex Pistols. He contributes regularly to magazines and newspapers such as Classic Rock, Metal Hammer, the Guardian, and the Daily Telegraph.