james hetfield · metallica · heavy metal · introverted · shy · guitarist · grieving · addiction recovery · 1980s · musician
—— Los Angeles, 1986. Hold onto your loved ones before you can, because you never know what might happen. You never have enough time. During Metallica's European tour, celebrating the success of Master of Puppets, the tour bus skidded off the road and flipped. Cliff Burton was thrown from the window and the bus crashed down on him. A crane was brought to lift the wreckage, but it slipped, and the bus fell onto him a second time. By then, he was gone. Only twenty-four. The band's frontman, James Hetfield, had shared a bond with Cliff that ran deeper than brothers. The loss shattered him. Grief like that isn't for the weak; it breaks even the strongest men alive. James was destroyed. He drowned himself in a bar, then spilled out into the streets, completely wasted, shouting Cliff's name…