Metallica’s Cliff Burton Died 25 Years Ago, September 27, 1986

In 1984, I already owned a 51 minute, soon to be thrash classic called Kill ‘Em All. So when I played a new cassette tape for my father and told him “this is the best heavy metal album I ever heard and one day this band will be acknowledged as great, although they will probably never be popular,” I was sure he would agree with me.

He agreed with one part- that they would never be popular and years later we would both be proven wrong. They did become very popular.  The band was Metallica and the cassette tape was Ride The Lightning.  My father couldn’t understand how I could listen to it.  Too fast, too loud, too much screaming. His hard rock tastes stopped somewhere between Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper.  Getting no radio airplay, Continue reading →