Today (September 27th) marks the 25th anniversary of the death of legendary METALLICA bassist Cliff Burton who was killed in a bus accident in Sweden (near Ljungby) on September 27, 1986 at the age of 24. A memorial stone currently rests at Gyllene Rasten, Dörarp. Cliff Burton appeared on three albums that shaped the face of heavy metal which still sells hundreds of thousands of copies each year. Namely: Kill 'Em All (1983), Ride The Lightning (1984) and Master of Puppets (1986).

To mark this sad anniversary, BraveWords.com has unearthed a near 40-minute chat longtime scribe Mark Gromen had with Burton and guitarist Kirk Hammett when the band was promoting Ride The Lightning.

Mark Gromen's story can be read below:

"Dateline: February 7th, 1985

As a college radio DJ, I'd done a couple of on-air interviews, but the prospect of METALLICA playing the Variety Theater, outside Cleveland, OH, alongside W.A.S.P., seemed like the perfect opportunity to have a face-to-face chat. In the years since, I've done hundreds of them, but this was my first and have never replicated the exact procedure either. Day of show, my production assistant Josh and I rode the Rapid (Cleveland subway) to the West side and walked the remaining distance to the Marriott at W. 150th (which is still there). No simple pocket recorders or MP3s back then, so he brought along a home tape deck, capable of two stereo inputs and corresponding microphones!

When I arrived at the hotel, I was surprised to find the band, touring in support of Ride The Lightning, were registered under their given names, so after no answer from Lars and James, it was on to Cliff and Kirk, who were sharing the same room and just rolling out of bed. We gave them a few minutes to get ready (Cliff's hair was still wet, up in a towel when he entered the room and if you listen carefully, you can hear him brushing his teeth: the recording is that clear!). The majority of the line of question was directed by me, but Josh couldn't help but chime in.

All these years later, still sort of rare to hear Hammett speak and Burton, well consider this a long buried treasure. After it aired on my WRUW radio show (at some ungodly hour of a weekday morning), it has been gathering dust (along with a lot of other tapes that BraveWords.com will gradually unearth). Sit back and enjoy the youthful exuberance of a band on the rise and a couple of fans."

The interview is currently streaming online at BraveWords.com - head to the left-hand-side of the site to launch the KnuckleTracks Online Audio Player.