Metallica has kicked off a weekend of celebrations all over their hometown of San Francisco in honor of their 40th Anniversary Concerts and city-wide takeover. Mayor London Breed welcomed Lars Ulrich and Robert Trujillo from the band in a ceremony at San Francisco City Hall. Watch it now!
To celebrate 40 years of Metallica, the band joins Zane Lowe for a career-spanning conversation exploring the group’s early days, seminal moments, lineup changes, and the secrets to longevity. They also discuss why their 2004 documentary ’Some Kind of Monster’ was so ahead of its time, gratitude for former bassist Jason Newsted, the status of new music on the way, and more. The band will perform two 40th anniversary shows at The Chase Center in their hometown of San Francisco, CA this December 17th and 19th.
Legendary former Metallica bassist and Trash Metal Cliff Burton would have celebrated his 59th birthday this week, on February 10th. Burton passed away on September 27th, 1986 in the infamous Metallica bus crash in Sweden. This year to celebrate his life and music, there will be a virtual celebration on Twitch, hosted by Nicholas Gomez, and with guests such as Cliff;’s friends and peers Fred Cotton, James McDaniel, John Marshall, Harald Oimen (Photographer, thrash historian, bassist for ex –D.R.I., Murder In The Front Row book), Metal Maria, Corinne Lynn, Seann Killian (Vio-lence), and many more. Watch on February 10th at 7 PM PST, 10 PM EST, 3 AM GMT. at the link below.
Sad news to report as Bay Area Thrash vocalist Donnie Hiller of Trauma has died. The news came across from the band’s Facebook page, which you can see below. Donnie died yesterday September 28th, 2020, after a short illness, but no cause of death was revealed. Trauma is of course linked to Metallica history as they got Cliff Burton to leave that band and join them instead in 1982. Their last album As the world dies released in 2019. We send our sympathies out to Donnie’s family, friends, and the band as well at this difficult time.
Metallica’s weekly concert series #MetallicaMondays continues tonight with a livestream of the bands’ 1983 concert in Chicago! As they do every week, the band will host simultaneous fundraisers benefiting All Within My Hands via YouTube and Facebook. During the first two shows alone, fans raised tens of 1000s of dollars. Generous donations like these help AWMH provide grants like those for Feeding America, Direct Relief, Crew Nation, and the USBG National Charity Foundation in support of COVID-19 relief efforts. Continue reading
Sad news as Ray Burton, father of the late Metallica bassist Cliff Burton, passed away on Wednesday, January 15. He was 94. Burton’s death was confirmed by his daughter and Cliff’s sister — Connie, who wrote in a social media post earlier today: “To let you all know that my Dad died last Wednesday. Rest in peace Dad.” As shown in Adam Dubin’s 2019 film Murder In The Front Row, Ray and his wife Jan encouraged Cliff to study classical music and take piano lessons, later buying him a bass for Christmas at age 13, after his brother Scott died. After forming the band Trauma in San Francisco, Burton joined Metallica in 1982 and performed on the band’s first three studio albums: Kill ‘Em All, Ride The Lightning and Master Of Puppets. He also co-wrote To Live Is to Die from …And Justice For All and was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame as a member of Metallica on April 4, 2009. Cliff died in the tragic bus accident that claimed his life on September 27 th, 1986. We send our sympathies out to Connie and the Burton and Metallica family as this difficult time. Continue reading
The history of thrash metal got another ring on the world-tree in 1984 with the release of Ride the Lightning (Megaforce/Elektra Records), the second album by Metallica. With better songwriting, tight production, and more originality than their debut Kill Em All (Megaforce), Ride moved the needle forward for the entire genre and cemented Metallica as the premiere band in the genre. Continue reading
Today marks the thirtieth anniversary of Metallica’s And Justice For All (August 25th for some lucky folks in Europe). It was technically amazing, featured great songwriting, and immediately divided the fans. Sure every Metallica album has been an intentional departure from the last (see also David Bowie, Madonna, Deftones), but this album definitely jarred the fanbase when it first dropped. Sure we’ve heard over and over about the lack of bass or the inaudible bass, the “let’s see you play this!” long songs of over the top technicality, and the rushed solos Kirk Hammett recorded. Still, it’s an incredible, mostly heavy document of the band in one sense at a peak they have yet to return to creatively. Let’s take a quick look back at And Justice For All…Continue reading
In a recent interview with the Alphabetallica podcast, late Metallica bassist Cliff Burton’s father Ray Burton has admitted that he gives some of the royalty monies he collects to charity. Some of the money the elder Burton collects from the seminal albums Cliff played on, Kill ‘Em All, Master of Puppets, and Ride the Lightning, go to music schools in the Castro Valley. Continue reading
Photo by Brett Murray for Metallica.com
Yesterday was officially “Cliff Burton Day” in the Castro Valley, but that didn’t stop Metallica from paying tribute to their legendary bassist at last night’s show in Turin, Italy. Continue reading