Thirty-seven years ago, Metallica lost its bassist Cliff Burton in a heartbreaking way.
Metallica started savoring success when it debuted in 1981 in Los Angeles after James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich formed the group. The pair soon recruited Ron McGovney and Dave Mustaine, years before the co-founding members recruited Burton after seeing him play at the Whisky A Go Go with his band, Trauma.
However, the bassist's time with Metallica was cut short following a tragic event.
Cliff Burton's Cause of Death Revisited
Metallica was in the middle of its European tour when Burton died.
Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian's autobiography "I'm the Man: The Story of That Guy From Anthrax" documented the time he became part of Metallica's tour when the bassist passed away. He revealed in the book that Anthrax had 27 more shows to play with Hetfield and Ulrich's band after starting the leg in Lund, Sweden.
They also played near Stockholm in Sweden, which eventually became Burton's last show.
Ian said they traveled to Copenhagen, Denmark, for their next show. After checking into a hotel, he saw their tour manager talking to someone while looking shocked, leaving the guitarist anxious.
"The promoter for the show tonight says there's been an accident," Ian said the tour manager told him. "Metallica's bus crashed on the way here."
The tour manager then delivered the heartbreaking news, confirming that Burton was killed in the accident while everybody else was okay.
Metallica's tour bus crashed when its driver lost control of the vehicle, causing Burton to be thrown out of the window before it rolled over him.
The surviving members tried to find the driver to know whether he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
"I walked for miles looking for this black ice in my underwear, when it's 20 below," Hetfield recalled. "There were screams from the crew who were still trapped in there, screaming in pain - broken collar bones, toes, all that."
Meanwhile, Hammett said they were all asleep when the accident happened, leading him to assume that the driver might had fallen asleep, too.
Metallica moved on with Jason Newsted - who joined them in 2001 - and Robert Trujillo - who has been a member since 2003.
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