WHILE METALLICA WAS ON TOUR IN SWEDEN IN SUPPORT OF MASTER OF PUPPETS, BAND MEMBERS COMPLAINED ABOUT THEIR TOUR BUS BUNKS SO 2 BAND MEMBERS GUITARIST KIRK HAMMETT AND BASSIST CLIFF BURTON DREW STRAWS AND BURTON WON, CHOOSING TO TAKE HAMMET’S BUNK…THE CHOICE PROVED TRAGICALLY FATEFUL. AS THE BAND SLEPT JUST BEFORE 7 AM ON THIS DATE IN 1986, THE TOUR BUS SKIDDED OFF THE ROAD AND FLIPPED ONTO THE GRASS…WITH ZERO SAFETY RESTRAINTS ON THE BUNKS, BURTON WAS THROWN THROUGH THE WINDOW AND THE BUS LANDED ON HIM, KILLING HIM INSTANTLY…HE WAS JUST 24 YEARS OLD. WHILE NOT A FOUNDING MEMBER, BURTON PLAYED AN INTEGRAL ROLE IN THE FIRST 3 METALLICA PIONEERING THRASH OR SPEED METAL ALBUMS…PLAYING BASS, AND CO WRITING SONGS…BURTON WAS A FAN FAVORITE FOR HIS MIND BENDING SOLOS AND RIGHTEOUS STAGE PRESENCE. A LEGENDARY BASSIST, HE’S RANKED 25TH ON ROLLINGSTONE’S LIST OF THE 50 GREATEST BASS PLAYERS OF ALL TIME AND WAS POSTHUMOUSLY INDUCTED IN THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME AS A MEMBER OF METALLICA IN 2009, 23 YEARS AFTER HIS UNTIMELY DEATH. BURTON CO WROTE SOME OF METALLICA’S MOST MEMORABLE SONGS, INCLUDING “FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS”, “MASTER OF PUPPETS” AND TODAY’S ROXY’S ROCK REWIND “FADE TO BLACK”.
