Today, February 10, 2012, would have been Cliff Burton‘s 50th birthday.

The revered Metallica bassist played on the band’s first three albums — Kill Em All, Ride The Lightning and Master Of Puppets. His charging, finger-picking basslines added much to the early Metallica and thrash metal music sound.

Burton was tragically killed almost 26 years ago when Metallica was on a European tour to support the Master Of Puppets album. The tour bus skidded off the road and crashed in southern Sweden killing Burton aged just 24.