Cliff Burton - Legacy

Legacy

Burton was cremated and his ashes scattered at the Maxwell Ranch. At the ceremony, the song "Orion" was played. The lyrics "...cannot the Kingdom of Salvation take me home" from "To Live Is to Die" are written on Burton's memorial stone. Shortly after Burton's death, Jason Newsted from Flotsam and Jetsam became Metallica's new bassist; a position he held until 2001 when he quit and was replaced by Ozzy Osbourne's former bassist, Robert Trujillo.

The best-known non-Metallica tribute to Burton is the song "In My Darkest Hour" by rival thrash metal band Megadeth. According to Dave Mustaine, after hearing of Burton's death, he sat down and wrote the music for the song in one sitting. The lyrics, however, are unrelated to Burton's death. Mustaine was Metallica's lead guitarist in the early days and was a close friend of Burton at the time. Mustaine said the song was inspired by Burton's death.

On October 3, 2006, a memorial stone was unveiled in Sweden near the scene of the fatal crash. It is located by the parking lot to Gyllene Rasten.

Contemporary thrash metal band Anthrax dedicated its album Among the Living to him, as did Metal Church with The Dark.

On April 4, 2009, Burton was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with the rest of Metallica. During the ceremony, the induction was accepted by his father, Ray Burton, who shared the stage with the band and mentioned that Cliff's mother was actually Metallica's biggest fan.

A biography, To Live Is to Die: The Life and Death of Metallica's Cliff Burton, written by Joel McIver, was published by Jawbone Press in June 2009. Hammett provided the book's foreword.