Metallica: Cliff 'Em All!

Years ago, this video tribute combined live footage, interviews and home video all involving Metallica's original bassist Cliff Burton. Who had just died in, possibly, the most bizarre bus accident this side of rock n roll. Today, "Cliff'Em All" stands out as a time capsule for fans of the original lineup with its great peak at a band that was in the 80s, the benchmark for all Metal bands.

At the time of the video's release, Hair Metal (Dokken, Poison, etc..) was the big thing on MTV but more upsetting was the assumption that these bands were the musical voice of male youth. Being a proud Metal vet let me clarify something in our old vernacular: NOT! Transgender, spandex clad, hair quaffed pretty boys churning out generic power ballads were for the Girls. Or at most, guilty pleasures and slow dancing at school. While, the relic metal bands from England with songs about Dragons, Rainbows and Guillotines were growing real old, real fast.

It was the time of a new, faster, louder, and chaotic Metal movement. One that embraced the stark sounds of Sabbath and Zeppelin while combining it with the anarchic, DIY attitude of punk. The results were bands like Slayer, Anthrax, S.O.D. and Megadeth. (sniff…god Bless, em!) But the crème del la crème of the new breed was undoubtedly Metallica.

At that time, they didn't look like the wanna be rock stars they are know. They looked like your average Headbanger. Complete with black jeans, shaggy hair and white high-tops sneakers. The kinda guys who drove the beat up Trans Am to school, which would rumble out of the parking lot around 1 PM, signaling, they were cutting class. The kinda guys who would come to school the day after a concert with the tour shirt as evidence that he saw Ozzy. The guys who were failing art class but had every band logo perfectly rendered on his folder. He couldn't remember the pledge of allegiance but he knew the lyrics of "Paranoid" backwards. But I digress… Alas Metallica's sound was what made the real difference: relentless, compelling and fast. It took the next evolutionary step from "British Steel" as opposed to "Theater of Pain." Metallica were the band that played for their fellow Headbangers instead of the hair chicks at the Roxy.

Watching "Cliff'Em All" and seeing the group during those great days, it's easy to see why they garnered a ravenous following. From frantic head shaking live performances to unprofessional interviews. You can sense that Lars, Kirk, James and Cliff lived and breathed Metal in its purest form: loud and heavy! Not the watered down, crossover, cop-out attempts done by the Motley Crue wannabes.

If you ever wondered why Metallica graced the T-shirts of so many guys in the 80s, "Cliff'Em All" will help shed some light. It also provides humorous moments of the band being candid. Especially Cliff, who in one scene, manages to set back all the hard work that Nancy Regan's "Just Say No" campaign, strove for.

Cliff's death was unfortunate! Seeing him then, it's just impossible to envision him in what Metallica has become today. "Cliff'Em All" proves he was never cut out to be an eyeliner wearing, art collecting, wannabe elitist that the current Metallica outfit has become. Thank the Metal Gods for that.

R.I.P, Cliff. We miss you!

Metallica in 1986 got perpetually shattered when bassist Cliff Burton died one of the more tragic and unexpected deaths in rock history. In the interim of finding a new bass player, they compiled together this very rough, raw collection of performances, back stage footage, screwing around footage, drunken bits, and just random shots of them doing stuff. It's amateurishly shot, but in the very 80s metal way that Metallica was then it's a kind of charmingly amateurish way. Sometimes the quality ranges from song to song, with some stretches being a little better than others (the first two songs are the rougher ones, with someone in the nose bleed section with one zoom in and out camera). Best is seeing the group play in Germany- where there are multiple cameras used- and songs like 'Fade to Black' and 'Seek and Destroy' get very good treatments to tremendous live performances of each. There are also memorable turns of 'Whiplash' (my personal favorite from Kill Em All with a much better than average bass solo by Cliff), and 'Creeping Death', and one of their very best 'Welcome (Sanitarium)', even with just one cam and deteriorating sound/picture quality it, for lack of a better term for this review, rules.

The behind the scenes footage is also worth it for any collector or just casual fan, as you see more-than-rare TV interviews, and even the group in their pre-Kill 'Em All time with Dave Mustaine (he also performs on Whiplash in another ultra rare appearance). It's sometimes funny, crude, f***-off-ish, but they're always realer and far less stuck up and estranged as in the recent Some Kind of Monster. This is a band at the real peak of their powers, and the musicianship is tight as can be even as Hammet or Burton brash through their solos like their on their way to the electric chair. Sometimes the off-kilter quality of the filming does get in the way- especially when someone's head gets in the way of the camera- but it's not as often as might be expected. It's un-polished but very memorable, and should be apart of any serious fan of metal; as it is there is quite the lot that have a dis-liking to Metallica of the post-Black album (or even Black album on), to which this is like the perfect shot of Kill em All through Master of Puppets live memorabilia. As much a fitting tribute as it is a pretty good video in its own right.

I remember when there were two camps in Heavy Metal. There were the poseur pussy camp who listened to Bon Jovi, Poison, Warrant, Motley Crue, etc. and then there was the true heavy metal or thrash metal camp that listened to Slayer, Metallica, Anthrax, Megadeth, etc. To this day I can remember when Cliff died because to heavy metal fans this was our "JFK" moment where you knew exactly where you were and what you were doing when you found out Cliff had died. Everyone thought Metallica was finished but Jason joined the band, "Garage Days" came out and the rest is history. Kirk Hammett said that there was only one bunk on the bus, so him and Cliff flipped a coin and Kirk lost. Think how different things would be if that coin flip would have come out differently. Not only did Kirk lose the coin flip, but everyone who loved Cliff lost that day too. R.I.P. Cliff you will always be loved and missed.

Yes Cliff Burton, one of the greatest bassists ever who sadly died before his talent could be greatly appreciated. In this collection of videos you get and inside look at who Cliff really was. You see home videos, concert clips and jam sessions. As you see his jaw dropping bass solos. Not only that but you get the chance to see a legendary band in their early years before the mainstream took them away and fed their egos until that was all that they had. Before napster, before St.Anger. The early years... the good years. From Kill em' all to Master of puppets marvel at the greatness of this band, marvel at the talent of Cliff Burton. 8/10 Great look at a great band in the early years.

I bought this movie on DVD about a year ago and it is awesome. It's like your at a metallica concert and your seeing all the band members Cliff, James, Lars, and Kirk. It is an amazing film as they perform all their hits from the albums Kill Em All to Master Of Puppets. You even get to see them drunk, solos, and footage of Cliff and an early clip of Metallica when Dave Mustaine was in the band. Imagine your in a band and your band acheiveing so much that Metallica has achieved throughout the years. In The DVD/VHS they have a rare interveiw with an early Metallica with Dave Mustaine and they have Cliff's 2nd gig on the video. Whoever got this on tape I thank you.

Sincerely Metallica's BIGGEST Fan