Ktulu

After ages I heard Metallica's "The Call of Ktulu" and then I thought I'd ask this question. Which Metallica song is your favorite? Enter Sandman? Unforgiven? Nothing else matters? One?

None of these are my favorites. Mine are, by far, Orion, Call of Ktulu, To Live is to Die and Pulling Teeth. They are all Cliff Burton songs. Songs where Cliff, Metallica's bassist at that time, played a dominant role in writing and arranging these songs. He shows off his musical ability not just with the bass guitar but by displaying sheer genius in composing and some super genius in song arrangement skills.

But Cliff Burton died in a freak bus accident at the age of 24. Since then the other members of the band have tried so hard to create music of Cliff's caliber. Lars Ulrich the revered drummer and James Hetfield considered my many the ultimate front man, pale in comparison to Cliff. They have tried very hard for the last 22 years to recreate music at Cliff's level but never ever came close in capturing the magic that Cliff could bring. Don't get me wrong the rest of the band has made some really good stuff but Cliff was the 'X' factor that the band and we as well will never ever have again. They tried a lot, on subsequent albums and songs like "The Outlaw Torn" etc etc but never came close. Also I am not claiming Cliff did it all by himself and if one of the others had left instead of him, outstanding music would have still continued to be made. No, everyone in the band played a part but it was Cliff who paid the biggest and most influential role.

For me their best albums are the second and third ones, "Ride the Lightning" and "Master of Puppets". On the first album the songs were already written by the time Cliff joined but he still managed to influence a couple of songs but in the next two albums he played a major role. Then the first album after his death there were still some remnants that Cliff had put down that the band members used and turned out a decent album but since then, without Cliff, the rest of the band just haven't been able to make anything close. They have been lost like kids without their elder brother. Lost in trying to create music that blows people away, the band has only managed to create commercial upheval but nothing that can be called path breaking or mind blowing. Things that they were known for when Cliff was around...

All this by the way is my belief. Metallica has been a phenomenal commercial success. They have gone from strength to strength with regards to the number of fans and money. They easily sell out stadiums in any remote corner of the world but for me their music has become worse and worse. Their music is stale, taking the easy way out wherever they find it.

I think the band members do realize what they lost when Cliff died and probably that is why they hardly ever play in entirety some of the Cliff Burton songs...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Burton