Music's Finest Moments

Jimi Hendrix – Band Of Gypsys Live at Fillmore East – "Machine Gun"

If you want to hear someone’s soul screaming through a huge amp and a guitar, it’s Jimi Hendrix's "Machine Gun." People say Hendrix was sloppy, but not here. This is controlled fury.

Derek Trucks – Live with BB King and John Mayer

During a live performance with BB King, his wife Susan Tedeschi, and John Mayer, Derek Trucks absolutely made the guitar sing. John Mayer looked helpless next to him. Honestly, if I was on that stage, you would have heard me on the mic saying it smelled like someone shit their pants up there.

Metallica – Cliff Burton "(Anesthesia) - Pulling Teeth"

Cliff Burton on Kill 'Em All is mind-blowing. He’s like Geezer Butler meets Jaco Pastorius. 

Pantera – “Suicide Note Pt. 1 & 2”

Pantera hit deep with these. Part 1 is haunting. Part 2 is insane. Dimebag Darrell pulls off some sounds that straight up feel like a pinball machine going haywire. I don't know if that was his goal, but damn, it works.

Skip James – “Devil Got My Woman”

I first heard this on the movie Ghost World. What’s crazy is Skip James plays an even creepier version backstage at the 1966 Newport Folk Festival. His vibe is unmatched.

Primus – "Jerry Was A Race Car Driver"

I was 15, watching MTV, and Pauly Shore walks up to these three odd-looking dudes. He says something like, "You made it to the big time." Les Claypool responds, "That’s scary." Then the video starts. That moment was unforgettable.

Megadeth – "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due" & “Hangar 18”

Megadeth killed it with these tracks. But let’s be honest, Marty Friedman absolutely stole the show.

More to Come

Some of these stories deserve deeper dives. I’ll cover the "Coltrane changes," Cliff Burton's legacy, and The Beatles' deeper impact in upcoming posts.

If these songs hit you too, let’s talk. Drop a comment or send me your "fix" track — that one song you just can’t put down.

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I was 13 when I saw the "One" video. For about two years before that, I was lost in my parents' record collection, borrowing their tapes. The Beatles, Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Clapton, The Doors — and the occasional BB King — ran the show in my short attention span.

MTV was always on in the house. I don’t remember the exact moment I saw "One" for the first time, but I remember the feeling.

The black-and-white video showed what I thought was an ugly chick — turns out it was James Hetfield.

The song was called "One" by Metallica, and I had never seen the guitar or drums played like that before. As the band played, clips from the movie Johnny Got His Gun flashed on the screen. It's based on a book about an American soldier in WWI who gets his face blown off. He can’t hear, can’t talk, can’t see. He can only communicate through Morse code by shaking his head in sequence.

The part that really blew me away was the machine gun effect — guitars hammering low notes while Lars attacked the double kick drums like he was running for his life.

I told my sister and her friends about it. She was eight years older than me, and she’d already been part of the music scene. That’s when I started hearing about Metallica’s old bass player — Cliff Burton — who had died just a few years earlier in a bus crash.

I grew up in Castro Valley, just outside of San Francisco, and through the years I kept hearing stories about Cliff. Not just how good he was, but how cool he was. Everyone said the same thing:
He was the nicest guy in the band. And he was real.

People told me how he’d just hang out at the local mini golf course. Or how he’d stop by your table if he saw you at dinner. Or how he’d kill time at the music store on Castro Valley Boulevard like just another neighborhood dude.

In high school, I heard "Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth)." That was my first exposure to a bass solo that didn’t give a flying fuck about rules. I didn’t fully understand it at the time, but it stayed with me.

Years later, when I was stuck in a long depression, what gave me hope was watching old Cliff-era Metallica videos.
There was something about his relationship with his instrument. You could tell the guy on stage was the same guy on the street.

I don’t care how legendary people say he is — even with a million praises, Cliff Burton is still the most underrated rock bassist of all time.

🔥 Watch this clip. If you don’t feel this, check your pulse:

Cliff Burton Bass Solo – Pulling Teeth (LIVE)