On the 26th anniversary of METALLICA bassist Cliff Burton's death, the surviving members of the band have paid tribute to their fallen friend, who was killed in a bus crash in 1986.

METALLICA posted a photo of Cliff on the band's official Facebook page accompanied by the caption "We miss you" before adding, "While you're remembering Cliff on the 26th anniversary of his passing, give a listen to this free download from the 'Ride The Lightning' tour."

METALLICA's entire November 22, 1984 concert at at Le Riff in Toulouse, France is available at this location.

Burton, best known as a heavy metal bass player who made use of distortion and special effects, was killed in an accident on September 27, 1986 at the age of 24, four years after joining METALLICA. It was Burton's early influence that helped create METALLICA's unique musical style for which the band has become famous.

Burton's huge talent and achievements were chronicled in book form with the 2009 global publication of "To Live Is To Die: The Life And Death Of Metallica's Cliff Burton", written by U.K.-based author Joel McIver and published by Jawbone Press. The foreword has been provided by Cliff's close friend in METALLICA, Kirk Hammett. Other interviewees who spoke to McIver for this book, many for the first time on the public record, include Cliff's bass teacher Steve Doherty; legendary reporter and photographer Brian Lew; Bay Area headbanger Harald Oimoen, the subject of "The Ballad Of Harald O" by the infamous SPASTIK CHILDREN, in which Cliff played; that band's frontman Fred Cotton; EXODUS founder Gary Holt; the Metal Blade label founder Brian Slagel; photographer Ross Halfin; Cliff's first guitar tech Chuck Martin; METALLICA's first fanclub manager KJ Doughton; "Ride The Lightning" and "Master Of Puppets" producer Flemming Rasmussen; the last reporter to interview Cliff, Jörgen Holmstedt; roadie and ex-METAL CHURCH guitarist John Marshall, who was also in the bus crash which killed Burton; Lennart Wennberg, the photographer at the scene of the crash; and Cliff's girlfriend for the last year of his life, Corinne Lynn. After Kirk Hammett's foreword, separate introductions are provided by a range of musicians influenced by Burton, including Mikael Åkerfeldt (OPETH), Alex Webster (CANNIBAL CORPSE), Alex Skolnick (TESTAMENT), Dave Ellefson (F5/ex-MEGADETH) and a host of other musicians and writers.

An Italian-language documentary on Burton can be seen in two parts below. According to Overkill.pl, the film was produced by the Italian METALLICA chapter ZonaMetallica and was shown for the first time in 2010 at Rock'n'Roll Arena in Romagnano Sesia (near Novara) at a ZonaMetallica party.

Part 1:



Part 2: