The Tragic Death of Metallica’s Cliff Burton

Metallica bassist Cliff Burton is regarded as one of the greatest thrash metal bass players of all-time, and September marks the anniversary of his tragic death. Burton served as Metallica’s bassist from 1982 until 1986. He played bass and did back vocals on three albums: Kill ‘Em All, Ride the Lightning, and Master of Puppets. Sadly, Burton was killed in bus accident on Sept. 27, 1986, while Metallica was in Sweden on the Damage Inc. tour.

In the mid-morning hours, as the tour caravan was passing through Kronoberg County, the bus flipped off the road and into some grass. Burton was pinned underneath the bus and died instantly. He was 24 years old. The surviving members — drummer Lars Ulrich, lead guitarist Kirk Hammett, and vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield — sustained no serious injuries.

“I saw the bus lying right on him. I saw his legs sticking out. I freaked,” Hetfield recalled of the incident in a past MTV interview. “The bus driver, I recall, was trying to yank the blanket out from under him to use for other people. I just went, ‘Don’t f—ing do that!’ I already wanted to kill the [bus driver]. I don’t know if he was drunk or if he hit some ice. All I knew was, he was driving and Cliff wasn’t alive anymore.”

The circumstances surrounding Burton’s death have often been debated. One thing for sure is that Hammett was almost the one in the bunk, as both he and Ulrich have recalled that Burton and Hammett both wanted the bunk and drew either cards or straws for it, with Burton ultimately winning.

As Hetfield alleged in his comment, there had been some claims that the bus driver was drunk at the time of the accident. However, the driver refuted this and police investigations did not determine if he was under the influence. The driver claimed that the cause of the accident was a patch of black ice, but Hetfield has claimed that he walked up and down the road but never saw any black ice.

There had also been allegations that the driver fell asleep, which some experts believed there was evidence of, though this was refuted by a fellow tour bus driver from the caravan who corroborated the first driver’s story that he had slept during the prior day. Ultimately, the bus driver was not found guilty of any wrongdoing.

Following the tragic accient and investigation, Burton’s body was cremated and the ashes were scattered at the Maxwell Ranch. It’s been reported that at the memorial ceremony, the Metallica song “Orion” was played in honor of Burton.