TRAGIC DEATH of Metallica Cliff Burton

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Tragic Death of Metallica's Cliff Burton
Cliff Burton's Early Death
How Did Cliff Burton Die?
Metallica Tour Bus Crash

On September 27, 1986, the music world was struck with tragedy when Metallica's talented bassist, Cliff Burton, lost his life in a horrific accident at the young age of 24. The incident occurred while the band was on tour in Sweden promoting their third studio album, Master of Puppets.

Cliff Burton was asleep in a bunk location he specifically chose for himself by winning a contest to see who got to sleep in the bunk. Cliff Burton randomly pulled an ace of spades from a deck of cards, winning his preferred choice of bunk, to which Kirk said "Fine... I'll sleep up front, it's probably better anyway." - Hammet, Metallica - VH1's 'Behind the Music' - Remastered (2009), quoted through Wikipedia (Cliff Burton)

Singer James Hetfield chose to sleep in a lounge near the back of the bus because he didn't want cold air seeping in from the windows giving him a sore throat and affect his singing voice.

As the tour bus made its way through a remote area it suddenly skid off the road and tumbled over, throwing a sleeping Cliff Burton through the window before landing on top of him, killing him instantly.

As James Hetfield told an interviewer:

“My throat was going bad, so I was asleep in the back lounge. The tour buses you see here are all metal-sided, but it was all windows on the side, and that was the main cause of the death.

It hit so-called black ice, skidded out and bounced once, and that’s when he went through the window, and the bus went right on him. It was pretty quick and I know he didn’t know what hit him.” - Hetfield, Metallica Recall Their Anger At Cliff Burton's Death, Martin Kielty, Metal Hammer (Sep 20, 2022) -

Reports differ as to what exactly caused the bus to skid off the road. The bus driver claims that the bus hit a patch of black ice. However, James Hetfield was quite skeptical. After pulling himself from the wreckage, he walked back and forth along the road looking for the so-called patch of black ice and was unable to find one. Police who investigated the scene were also unable to locate any patches of black ice on the road.

Making matters worse, when the bus was being lifted by a crane so that paramedics could get to Cliff's body, the bus slipped and fell on Cliff a second time.

A frustrated and confused James Hetfield explained:

“Coming out and finding your buddy under the bus is not something you want to go through. Our first reaction was anger – one of the things we were good at.
‘Why did this happen? Where’s the driver? Let me smell your breath.’ I walked for miles looking for this black ice in my underwear, when it’s 20 below. There were screams from the crew who were still trapped in there, screaming in pain – broken collar bones, toes, all that.” - Hetfield, Metallica Recall Their Anger At Cliff Burton's Death, Martin Kielty, Metal Hammer (Sep 20, 2022)

James Hetfield initially accused the driver of being drunk but when speaking about the incident years later, other members of the band discussed the possibility that the driver may have fallen asleep. Local detective Arne Pettersson also believes this may have been the case, as he claimed that the skidmarks left at the scene of the accident resembled those of other accidents where a driver had indeed fallen asleep. However, the driver claims that he had previously slept and was well rested.

Although James was skeptical about what he was told, the driver of another tour bus that was carrying Metallica's gear agreed with the testimony provided by the driver of the crashed bus. The mystery may never be officially solved, as the driver was ultimately determined to not be at fault and no charges were pressed against him.

As guitarist Kirk Hammett explains:

"It’s one of those things you never learn the entire truth. We were all asleep when it happened. Who knows – maybe the driver was asleep too." - Hammett, Metallica Recall Their Anger At Cliff Burton's Death, Martin Kielty, Metal Hammer (Sep 20, 2022)

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