10 Hidden Details You Never Noticed In Metallica Tracks
9. "Bass Solo: Take One"
The four infamous words that begin one of the best bass performances in the history of music: Cliff Burton's calm declaration of "Bass solo: take one."
What to the uninitiated may just be four minutes of the late, great Burton showing off with his monstrous four strings is actually the soundtrack to one of the most important moments in metal history. The basic layout and structure of the bass solo that would later be called "(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth" is something that had been with Burton for a while prior to joining Metallica in 1982; it's the riff that he was laying out on-stage with his original band, Trauma, when he was spotted by Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield, who were both (naturally) stunned by his performance.
The "Bass solo: take one" statement on the Kill 'Em All (1983) record is intentionally left in to cement the fact that Burton could indeed perform such a technical, intricate and, when compared to his contemporaries, long bass solo entirely in one go, with no stops or faults. It was a subtle but effective way to hammer home his true genius.
Furthermore, the absence of any six-string guitars makes this the only Metallica track to not feature James Hetfield in any capacity, and one of only two songs without Kirk Hammett.
The other song? Well...