10 Perfect Rock Songs That Don't Have Any Lyrics

When Metallica first burst onto the scene, there was something different going on with them than any other band on the thrash scene. While Kill Em All may be the most straight ahead thrash record they have ever made, things started to turn a corner on Ride the Lightning, as the songs got longer and sounded a lot more fine tuned, with Cliff Burton's knowledge of music theory helping them spread their wings that much more. Cliff had bigger plans than just a few riffs here and there, and Orion might be the closest metal had ever come to classical music.

After originally being a part of Welcome Home Sanitarium, the original lick that Cliff had for the song quickly turned into a bass symphony, writing out different layers of harmony until everything was just right. As the track starts out with bass, the straight ahead thrash licks just seem to lure you in, with Kirk Hammett's solo being a lot more lyrical this time around compared to the more bluesy runs that he would normally play.

Once you reach the midsection though, Cliff really turns his bass into a lead guitar for a few minutes, starting off with the main riff before taking a solo halfway through, complete with different bending techniques and even layering up his bass parts twice and playing fast runs with only a few fingers. Cliff would never see his baby played live though, dying in a bus accident on the tour cycle for Master of Puppets. Metallica had the strength to soldier on with the knowledge that Cliff gave them, but this is a good indicator of why he should be so missed.