I grew up just miles from where that bus crashed. Was 13 at the time and remember it well. Not that i was on sight that day but I have been there many times in my life. Now, September 26-27... There is NOOOO way they hit ice on the E4 that night. Rarely that ever happens for still close to a month later. But there were quite a lot of serious crashed on that stretch since it is about 5 hours from Stockholm, all the way about 270 miles, in total darkness... most of it was on perfect straight freeway.... Now they rebuit the road to be safer but back then where they crashed is an hour into a forested region making you drive without a single light source in sight except your headlights and those of other cars., it was also an hour since the freeway changed into highway. TONS of especially tourists and foreign truckdrivers etc have gone off on the same stretch... 5h in pitch black darkness is where you fall asleep. Monotony and all other passengers (if any) are asleep leave the driver in silence... My mom worked the ambulance for that stretch and shes rescued and lost many adults and more than one baby after the same kind of accidents. Always because of drowzy or sleeping drivers. As with the Metallica driver, especially if he blamed ice, which it certainly wasn't. Meaning he made something up because he choosed to do so. And the roadie who woke up first confirms that even more. Bus went off road THEN started to slide... - Sleep... (just to back up what I say a bit. The last 40 years there is 0 (zero) days with any snowfall reported in that area) By total coincidence it is the 27th of september today and this week, and for a week forward the coldest it is there the coldest hour of the nigh is: 12 celsius (53,6F)
Fantastic. Nice job pulling this together Joel! It is nice to hear from people who knew and respected Cliff as much as Bobby and Aidan obviously did. Thank you.
This was really, really cool. Thanks for doing this. It's obviously cool to hear stories from the band, but the stars of the show are never going to remember details like someone that was on the fringes like the crew. Roadies were the ones that had to keep a level head when things got rough, had to stay (reasonably, and not always) sober when the band was getting hammered, had to cater to the band, had to handle press, had to keep fans at bay, etc. They've technically seen more than the band itself in a lot of ways, because the bands are shielded the whole time. This interview felt very genuine.
Hello fellow Metallica family, this intreview is an important historical document of the people behind the scenes of the reality of really happened during those times by the guys who lived it. Thank you for you time to make this interview, Jason Newsted is a stand up pure metal dude, who deserves multitudes of respect. RIP to Cliff Burton, his father Ray, and all the others that paved the way for Metallca to become the most important band in modern music history. This will never happen again. Peace.
Wow interesting conversation. I never really thought about the roadie side of things. These stories are probably more interesting than stories from the actual musicians'. Certainly a rare glimpse into the world of professional music. Thanks!
Wonderful episode. I really enjoyed this. Very intense subject for Aidan and Bobby, but they handled it with grace!!! As a rock n roll roadie myself, and a huge super Metallica fan, i enjoyed this episode!!!
18:26 in and I swear my fucking face is like 2" from the screen listening in awe to the stories! Hell yeah! Please do more! Gods what a magical time! \m/ As a fan I can track what they are saying in terms of timeframes...James broken arm on the back half of the Puppets/Ozzy Support in the US...John Marshall coming in, James in a cast....then onto the European leg where tragedy strikes but these guys are like glue tying everything together and I freaking love it! Wow! So badass!
56:59 I think for us fans that was obvious looking back because since Cliff passed, so much reference and credit was given to Cliff in terms of what Metallica was...but even with Cliff in the mix the prominent voices in that band were James and Lars...they might set direction and riffs (overall) but Cliff was strong enough personally and musically that if he voiced something (and he did), it happened! They respected him immensely! Hence, his contributions and highlights across those first four albums! 57:13 Exactly! His voice held so much weight and rightly so! RIP!
@@Doomzdayxx4 records bro. He wrote anesthesia (pulling teeth) and was there for the writing of whiplash on kill em all, an he obviously wrote stuff on lightning and puppets, but as well he wrote parts of to live is to die on justice. And no it wasn't the written words, cause that was actually from a poem or novel that cliff loved... but there is rehearsal tapes from when cliff first joined Metallica in late 82 where they are working on riffs for to live is to die. So count em up. That's four
Wonderful interview guys!! I'm not sure but I either met you both at Cliff's memorial at Ray and Jans house or at The Rehearsal Spot in Hayward!! GOD Bless you both for sharing your memories!!
Wonderful stuff, thanks for doing this. I'm both half glad and sad that Aiden couldn't remember the bus driver's name. I've always been curious about him but I'm sure he's more than happy to remain anonymous. Anyway, my big question is trying to reconcile the fact that supposedly Cliff was trapped under the bus, yet Aiden recalls Cliff's hair being on his arm as he was trapped under rubble inside the bus. I'm not sure how to reconcile that. Any ideas?
It's sickening, frightening , and saddening about the comment, "dont worry about Cliff .." You just know that the scene had to have been extremely gruesome. It's a wonder that they didn't immediately go into therapy after such a traumatizing event. R I.P. Cliff.
@@Doomzdayxx I was joking; there was a band who had a hit in the nineties called ''Therapy?''..But for real, in these days there wasn't such a therapy-culture as nowadays. Back then people had to deal with tragedy as being more or less things that occur in life. People are rather pampered these days and whine at the slightest thing, so, instead of solving problems people prefer to wait for an expert who earns a lots of money by feeding you high expectations.
Always suspected Cliff was at least 3-4 maybe even 5 yrs older, he certainly looked it, than the rest of the band and management made them fib about his age to fit in better. At that time that age difference was huge, not so much now. I'm a Cliff Burton birth truther 😄😄 The ace of spades card pull sounds like the famous "Johnny Thunders died holding his guitar" that Willy DeVille (the only other person who knew Thunders very well and lived in the vicinity thus was there when the coroner was pulling the body out of the room) made up just bc it sounded much cooler and extremely rock n roll, everyone believed it in the beginning. In any case, R.I.P. Cliff 🖤
Didn’t Kirk himself say it was the ace of spades? I don’t remember if it was the MTV documentary or Metallica’s documentary “A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica”, but I’ve always thought Kirk said he drew a two of hearts and Cliff drew the ace of spades.
I read comments from fans on youtube about how they'll say Cliff was the better bassist or Jason is better,but that is just plain silly when you think about it since the two had different playing styles, plus Jason had a great respect for Cliff and wasn't trying to replace him,all he wanted was to belong and prove himself to have a chance to show what he could do,further more Cliff was in a class by himself and to me is irreplaceable,not only was he a very talented musician but was also educated in music and brought alot of ideas to the table which is obvious on Metallicas first three albums.
Right on, childish crap, I'm a big cliff guy but the album that Jason did with Flotsam.&Jetsam before Metallica, where he was the main song writer is one of my favorite bass albums of all time, he kills it its steve Harris meets Dave ellefson and he has some legendary bass riffs on that album which I still listen to today, he just kinda came into Metallica, well at.the right time financially and popularity but to.really find room in those songs for iconic pieces like cliff had, the band took a departure from those things, he had a couple of cool moments here and there and his tone is brilliant on alot of the stuff but he never had the chance to cut loose like that Flotsam &.Jetsam album, damn he was brilliant on that it's up there with M.O.P. ,Powerslave, Hemispheres, early sabbath, Among the Living (Frankie is a under the radar badass) and peace sells etc. for me as far as a great metal bass album ,so he's always gonna have that for me in my book
Maybe Cliff would be interested in the idea of doing something with classical instruments. But I am not sure if he would enjoy the way Metallica did it on S&M, which was slapping a "movie soundtrack" onto Metallica song.
i never bought another metallica album after cliff died and to this day im still not sure if its because of the absence of cliff or Slayer releasing reign in blood.after that Metallica just sounded corny to me.
This is such a stupid way to think. You don't sound mature enough to be that old. If you stopped listening to Metallica at puppets you missed alot of good stuff.
You can't say that though, you only remember young Cliff because that's all there was. Young James and young Lars wouldn't have cut their hair either. People change
@krisfaulkner6872 people also don't realize that cliff wasn't all about thrash thrash thrash just because he was only on the first 3 records don't mean that is all he was about. Matter of fact it was the opposite. Cliffs broad musical taste and influence on the guys is why they did things like load and the s&m albums. Cliff would have been down with all that and I'm not sure why people think otherwise.
As sad as this is. I'm mean it's really a story about a company making these crappy made tour busses. Card board over the windows? Like seriously? I did some research. Looking at the bus crash photos, looks like the bus was the A129XNH Len Wright Travel 1984 Volvo B10M Jonckheere Jubilee C49Ft and it was converted to a tour bus.
Cliff was all about doing his own thing. He hated the idea of becoming a commercial band. He didn’t give a fuck what people didn’t like. All he cared for was having a good time and thrashing his ass off. Maybe he would’ve liked the black album but he’d probably hate the load era. I guarantee you they would’ve stayed thrash if cliff was still here. If cliff was still here, there would be no commercial bullshit, Lars would’ve been fired, no AJFA, better kick ass albums. Cliff knew how to control the band. He knew right from wrong. He was taken way too early. He had so much god damn potential. He was the top 10 best bassist in the world and he was only 24.
Do you really know that Metallica would've stayed Thrash with Cliff? Cliff introduced the band to Simon and Garfunkel, Cliff loved The Eagles, Lynard Skynyrd, Thin Lizzy and Blue Oyster Cult. However, I don't believe Cliff would've cut his hair and ditched the bell Bottoms during the Load era. We can only imagine.
@wc1994 this. His influence is why they did albums like load and s&m. He was real into lots of music including classical. The only reason people think cliff was all about thrash is because he was only on the early records so that is the only cliff we know. I gaurantee they would have done the same stuff maybe even sooner if cliff had still be around. These guys thinking they would have stayed thrash only for 40 years if cliff was around still are delusional. They wasn't all thrash even in those days they did slower ballots and slower heavy stuff too they didn't play exclusively thrash after maybe kill em all.
Thanks for the link! Just for the record: I thinks it's not a taxi but a police car. You can see the "LIS" (like POLIS) on the door. James wears an Anthrax t-shirt idd. If I'm not mistaken, Metal Hammer had the same picture, or one of the other magazines I used to buy back then. It was sobering to see my heroes in such state. Great interview btw! RIP Cliff \m/
I have no idea why this hasn’t got traction. Some heavy stuff. Thank you everyone who participated in this and shared some deep, emotional stories.
Probably cuz that one guy won't shut the hell up and let other people finish their stories
@@StuffWhatGoesBoomSounds like James and Lars
Because this did not have an editor.
I grew up just miles from where that bus crashed. Was 13 at the time and remember it well. Not that i was on sight that day but I have been there many times in my life.
Now, September 26-27... There is NOOOO way they hit ice on the E4 that night. Rarely that ever happens for still close to a month later.
But there were quite a lot of serious crashed on that stretch since it is about 5 hours from Stockholm, all the way about 270 miles, in total darkness... most of it was on perfect straight freeway....
Now they rebuit the road to be safer but back then where they crashed is an hour into a forested region making you drive without a single light source in sight except your headlights and those of other cars., it was also an hour since the freeway changed into highway.
TONS of especially tourists and foreign truckdrivers etc have gone off on the same stretch... 5h in pitch black darkness is where you fall asleep. Monotony and all other passengers (if any) are asleep leave the driver in silence...
My mom worked the ambulance for that stretch and shes rescued and lost many adults and more than one baby after the same kind of accidents. Always because of drowzy or sleeping drivers.
As with the Metallica driver, especially if he blamed ice, which it certainly wasn't. Meaning he made something up because he choosed to do so. And the roadie who woke up first confirms that even more.
Bus went off road THEN started to slide... - Sleep...
(just to back up what I say a bit. The last 40 years there is 0 (zero) days with any snowfall reported in that area) By total coincidence it is the 27th of september today and this week, and for a week forward the coldest it is there the coldest hour of the nigh is: 12 celsius (53,6F)
Fantastic. Nice job pulling this together Joel! It is nice to hear from people who knew and respected Cliff as much as Bobby and Aidan obviously did. Thank you.
After all the myth and conjuncture, it's nice to hear from the people who were actually there during this dark period of Metallica career.
Amazing. These guys matter so much. RIP The Major Rager! Cliff Burton \M/
This was really, really cool. Thanks for doing this. It's obviously cool to hear stories from the band, but the stars of the show are never going to remember details like someone that was on the fringes like the crew. Roadies were the ones that had to keep a level head when things got rough, had to stay (reasonably, and not always) sober when the band was getting hammered, had to cater to the band, had to handle press, had to keep fans at bay, etc. They've technically seen more than the band itself in a lot of ways, because the bands are shielded the whole time. This interview felt very genuine.
Hello fellow Metallica family, this intreview is an important historical document of the people behind the scenes of the reality of really happened during those times by the guys who lived it. Thank you for you time to make this interview, Jason Newsted is a stand up pure metal dude, who deserves multitudes of respect. RIP to Cliff Burton, his father Ray, and all the others that paved the way for Metallca to become the most important band in modern music history. This will never happen again. Peace.
Incredible that these guys haven't really talked about this before.
Wow interesting conversation. I never really thought about the roadie side of things. These stories are probably more interesting than stories from the actual musicians'. Certainly a rare glimpse into the world of professional music. Thanks!
1:06:40 can we acknowledge that Aidan was not too pleased with being shut out? I would have loved to hear his perspective.
Yeah, kinda shitty on Metallica's part to snub him at the ceremony
RIP Cliff forever in our hearts and minds cheers from Greece, great interview!!! Aiden and bobby are part of Metallica for ever
Wonderful episode. I really enjoyed this. Very intense subject for Aidan and Bobby, but they handled it with grace!!! As a rock n roll roadie myself, and a huge super Metallica fan, i enjoyed this episode!!!
Great multi interview. Glad you guys finally got to talk about this.
18:26 in and I swear my fucking face is like 2" from the screen listening in awe to the stories! Hell yeah! Please do more! Gods what a magical time! \m/
As a fan I can track what they are saying in terms of timeframes...James broken arm on the back half of the Puppets/Ozzy Support in the US...John Marshall coming in, James in a cast....then onto the European leg where tragedy strikes but these guys are like glue tying everything together and I freaking love it! Wow! So badass!
Had the honor of seeing Metallica Twice with Cliff. Simply incredible. Saw them once without … they were never the same.
I respect all roadies and thank you for putting on a great show for all of us! You Rock! 🤘🥁🤘 Cliff will live on forever! 🤘🤘
56:59 I think for us fans that was obvious looking back because since Cliff passed, so much reference and credit was given to Cliff in terms of what Metallica was...but even with Cliff in the mix the prominent voices in that band were James and Lars...they might set direction and riffs (overall) but Cliff was strong enough personally and musically that if he voiced something (and he did), it happened! They respected him immensely! Hence, his contributions and highlights across those first four albums! 57:13 Exactly! His voice held so much weight and rightly so! RIP!
3 albums. But yes, your point stands.
@@Doomzdayxx4 records bro. He wrote anesthesia (pulling teeth) and was there for the writing of whiplash on kill em all, an he obviously wrote stuff on lightning and puppets, but as well he wrote parts of to live is to die on justice. And no it wasn't the written words, cause that was actually from a poem or novel that cliff loved... but there is rehearsal tapes from when cliff first joined Metallica in late 82 where they are working on riffs for to live is to die. So count em up. That's four
@@afterforever71Is Cliff credited on the Justice Album ? I’ve never noticed
@@TroyHarperGoBucksGo yes, on track 8 To live is to die
Such great insight I've never heard. Thank you for sharing
Thanks!
Rest in peace 🪦 Cliff Burton
Great interview
Wonderful interview guys!! I'm not sure but I either met you both at Cliff's memorial at Ray and Jans house or at The Rehearsal Spot in Hayward!! GOD Bless you both for sharing your memories!!
They shuda did this with a copy of Back to the Front book!!!
Wonderful stuff, thanks for doing this.
I'm both half glad and sad that Aiden couldn't remember the bus driver's name. I've always been curious about him but I'm sure he's more than happy to remain anonymous.
Anyway, my big question is trying to reconcile the fact that supposedly Cliff was trapped under the bus, yet Aiden recalls Cliff's hair being on his arm as he was trapped under rubble inside the bus. I'm not sure how to reconcile that. Any ideas?
Wasn’t the Bus too big to get on the ferry because it was a double decker so that’s why you got another Bus in Europe - that’s what I read once.
What's ever in my head someone else's said...
It's sickening, frightening , and saddening about the comment, "dont worry about Cliff .."
You just know that the scene had to have been extremely gruesome. It's a wonder that they didn't immediately go into therapy after such a traumatizing event. R I.P. Cliff.
Therapy? they only started in 1989.
@@2112SNEEK wat
@@Doomzdayxx I was joking; there was a band who had a hit in the nineties called ''Therapy?''..But for real, in these days there wasn't such a therapy-culture as nowadays. Back then people had to deal with tragedy as being more or less things that occur in life. People are rather pampered these days and whine at the slightest thing, so, instead of solving problems
people prefer to wait for an expert who earns a lots of money by feeding you high expectations.
Always suspected Cliff was at least 3-4 maybe even 5 yrs older, he certainly looked it, than the rest of the band and management made them fib about his age to fit in better. At that time that age difference was huge, not so much now. I'm a Cliff Burton birth truther 😄😄
The ace of spades card pull sounds like the famous "Johnny Thunders died holding his guitar" that Willy DeVille (the only other person who knew Thunders very well and lived in the vicinity thus was there when the coroner was pulling the body out of the room) made up just bc it sounded much cooler and extremely rock n roll, everyone believed it in the beginning.
In any case, R.I.P. Cliff 🖤
Didn’t Kirk himself say it was the ace of spades? I don’t remember if it was the MTV documentary or Metallica’s documentary “A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica”, but I’ve always thought Kirk said he drew a two of hearts and Cliff drew the ace of spades.
I read comments from fans on youtube about how they'll say Cliff was the better bassist or Jason is better,but that is just plain silly when you think about it since the two had different playing styles, plus Jason had a great respect for Cliff and wasn't trying to replace him,all he wanted was to belong and prove himself to have a chance to show what he could do,further more Cliff was in a class by himself and to me is irreplaceable,not only was he a very talented musician but was also educated in music and brought alot of ideas to the table which is obvious on Metallicas first three albums.
Right on, childish crap, I'm a big cliff guy but the album that Jason did with Flotsam.&Jetsam before Metallica, where he was the main song writer is one of my favorite bass albums of all time, he kills it its steve Harris meets Dave ellefson and he has some legendary bass riffs on that album which I still listen to today, he just kinda came into Metallica, well at.the right time financially and popularity but to.really find room in those songs for iconic pieces like cliff had, the band took a departure from those things, he had a couple of cool moments here and there and his tone is brilliant on alot of the stuff but he never had the chance to cut loose like that Flotsam &.Jetsam album, damn he was brilliant on that it's up there with M.O.P. ,Powerslave, Hemispheres, early sabbath, Among the Living (Frankie is a under the radar badass) and peace sells etc. for me as far as a great metal bass album ,so he's always gonna have that for me in my book
What about the S&M Albums???? Would Cliff have enjoyed those????
Of course he would have he was real into classical music. His influence has alot to do with why they did something like s&m to begin with.
Maybe Cliff would be interested in the idea of doing something with classical instruments. But I am not sure if he would enjoy the way Metallica did it on S&M, which was slapping a "movie soundtrack" onto Metallica song.
i never bought another metallica album after cliff died and to this day im still not sure if its because of the absence of cliff or Slayer releasing reign in blood.after that Metallica just sounded corny to me.
This is such a stupid way to think. You don't sound mature enough to be that old. If you stopped listening to Metallica at puppets you missed alot of good stuff.
Jason’s 2nd show was jezebels club. Gave Lars a copy of it
Would Cliff have cut his hair when the others did in 96? Probably not
You can't say that though, you only remember young Cliff because that's all there was. Young James and young Lars wouldn't have cut their hair either. People change
@krisfaulkner6872 people also don't realize that cliff wasn't all about thrash thrash thrash just because he was only on the first 3 records don't mean that is all he was about. Matter of fact it was the opposite. Cliffs broad musical taste and influence on the guys is why they did things like load and the s&m albums. Cliff would have been down with all that and I'm not sure why people think otherwise.
Definitely not...
As sad as this is. I'm mean it's really a story about a company making these crappy made tour busses. Card board over the windows? Like seriously? I did some research. Looking at the bus crash photos, looks like the bus was the A129XNH Len Wright Travel
1984 Volvo B10M Jonckheere Jubilee C49Ft and it was converted to a tour bus.
Thus is awful, forget about Cliff?! Wtf this is disgusting
People dont realize theres more that goes into a gig other than just the *talents* perspective.
Cliff was all about doing his own thing. He hated the idea of becoming a commercial band. He didn’t give a fuck what people didn’t like. All he cared for was having a good time and thrashing his ass off. Maybe he would’ve liked the black album but he’d probably hate the load era. I guarantee you they would’ve stayed thrash if cliff was still here. If cliff was still here, there would be no commercial bullshit, Lars would’ve been fired, no AJFA, better kick ass albums. Cliff knew how to control the band. He knew right from wrong. He was taken way too early. He had so much god damn potential. He was the top 10 best bassist in the world and he was only 24.
Do you really know that Metallica would've stayed Thrash with Cliff? Cliff introduced the band to Simon and Garfunkel, Cliff loved The Eagles, Lynard Skynyrd, Thin Lizzy and Blue Oyster Cult. However, I don't believe Cliff would've cut his hair and ditched the bell Bottoms during the Load era. We can only imagine.
@wc1994 this. His influence is why they did albums like load and s&m. He was real into lots of music including classical. The only reason people think cliff was all about thrash is because he was only on the early records so that is the only cliff we know. I gaurantee they would have done the same stuff maybe even sooner if cliff had still be around. These guys thinking they would have stayed thrash only for 40 years if cliff was around still are delusional. They wasn't all thrash even in those days they did slower ballots and slower heavy stuff too they didn't play exclusively thrash after maybe kill em all.
I am pretty sure this is Bobby as they got out of the Taxi at the hotel...100% that was James "There is no band" i.redd.it/emmyp6f7p8f81.jpg
@@mikerockshard8282 Yes sir! I know exactly the promo you are talking about....ua-cam.com/video/6a0nDll7A3w/v-deo.html
That's Bobby, and notice Kirk with the Samhain ace of spades shirt, pretty eerie. James looks like he has Anthrax on
Look at how shellshocked they were and rightfully so.
Thanks for the link! Just for the record: I thinks it's not a taxi but a police car. You can see the "LIS" (like POLIS) on the door. James wears an Anthrax t-shirt idd. If I'm not mistaken, Metal Hammer had the same picture, or one of the other magazines I used to buy back then. It was sobering to see my heroes in such state. Great interview btw! RIP Cliff \m/