It was 40 years ago this week, a mash-up collided that would ultimately change the course of both Metal and Rock…Cliff Burton joined Metallica.
Burton, a serious and trained musician, would hold out for months, before the persuasive efforts of Hetfield and Ulrich paid off. Cliff would replace original bassist Ron McGovney on one condition: That the band leave LA for San Francisco.
“…..I think in L.A. we had always felt like outcasts, like we never belonged,” Ulrich said in Enter Night. “It seemed like the music was secondary to the partying. Up in San Francisco, there was just a different level of passion, and people reacted differently to the music. So when we decided to not only pursue Cliff but to offer ourselves to Cliff, when I told him we would be glad to leave behind L.A., and when I realized that it actually became conditional for him, that the only way he would even consider joining the band would be if we moved to San Francisco, it was a no-brainer.”
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