It's Official: METALLICA's Late Bassist To Be Honored With 'Cliff Burton Day'

Cliff Burton will be honored with a "Cliff Burton Day" on February 10 in Castro Valley, California. The proclamation comes after METALLICA fans started a Change.org petition and tallied thousands of signatures to recognize the band's late bassist.

METALLICA announced the news on Twitter, writing: "It's official! The Board of Supervisors from Alameda County has just proclaimed February 10th, 2018, which would have been Cliff's 56th birthday, 'Cliff Burton Day.' Thanks to all of the fans who got behind this initiative. We love that he remains so revered."

Burton was born in Castro Valley. His life was tragically cut short at the age of 24 in a tour bus crash on September 27, 1986 in Sweden.

Petition organizer Robert Souza asked the Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) to back his effort, and the Council voted 7-0 in favor of it. The issue then went to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, who met earlier today (Tuesday, February 6).

Burton was asked to join METALLICA in 1982 after the band saw him perform with his group at the time, TRAUMA.

The bassist was not willing to move to Los Angeles, where METALLICA was based at the time, so they decided to move to the San Francisco area so that he would join.

Burton played on METALLICA's first three studio albums — "Kill 'Em All", "Ride The Lightning" and "Master Of Puppets" — and co-wrote classic songs like "Ride The Lightning", "For Whom The Bell Tolls", "Fade To Black", "Creeping Death" and "Master Of Puppets".

Burton's initial replacement in the group was Jason Newsted, who stayed in the lineup until 2001. Robert Trujillo joined in 2003 and remains in the band to this day.

Above photo of Cliff Burton by Harald Oimoen taken from the Bazillion Points photo book "Murder In The Front Row: Shots From The Bay Area Thrash Metal Epicenter", which can be ordered here.