In what year did Cliff Burton die?

Cliff Burton died in 1986. The Metallica bassist was killed on September 27, 1986, when the band’s tour bus crashed near Dörarp, Sweden, during the European leg of the Damage, Inc. Tour.

Burton was 24 years old. He had joined Metallica in 1982 after the departure of Ron McGovney and quickly became central to the band’s musical identity. His playing combined heavy distortion, classical influences, melodic lead-bass passages, and an unusually prominent role for the bass in a thrash-metal group.

His final studio album with Metallica was Master of Puppets, released earlier in 1986. His final concert took place in Stockholm on September 26, one day before the crash. After his death, Metallica returned to the United States and eventually recruited Jason Newsted as his replacement.

Burton was later given a posthumous writing credit on “To Live Is to Die” from ...And Justice for All. That credit can cause confusion, but the song was completed after his death and he did not perform on the album.