10 Things You Didn't Know About Metallica

10. Cliff Burton's Classical Background

For most of Metallica’s early years, Cliff Burton was always known as the secret weapon. From the leather jackets he sported to the manic bass solos that he would put in between the band’s live sets, Burton was the band’s true resident badass. However, from a musical perspective, Burton could be considered the main outlier in the band.

While a true fan of all things metal, Burton’s musical education was more into the theory side of the music. Even though the band worshipped at the altars of bands like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, Burton would always infuse a bit of classical instrumentation into the band’s material.

Starting with Kill Em All, Burton introduced James Hetfield to the concept of harmony, which ended up playing a key role down the road.

Along with contributing bass lines, Burton also ended up writing a lot of the guitar harmonies in the early days, from the lick at the end of “Creeping Death” to the classically tinged opuses that start of songs like “Fight Fire With Fire” and “Damage Inc.”

Metallica may get marginalized for being a one trick pony by some, but just throw on something like “Orion” if you want to see what the band could really do with Burton among their ranks.