Metallica's 1986 tour bus crash in Sweden killed Cliff Burton and trapped guitar tech Aidan Mullen beneath the wreckage. Mullen, who was pinned under the overturned bus with Burton lying across his arm, shares the full firsthand account of that night for one of the only times publicly — from waking up mid-crash to being unable to breathe under the debris to hearing production manager Bobby Schneider's voice pulling him free.Mullen traces his path from answering a classified ad for the Eric Martin Band in BAM Magazine to getting the call from Bobby Schneider offering him the James Hetfield guitar tech position on the Master of Puppets tour supporting Ozzy Osbourne. He arrived in Lexington, Kentucky having never heard a single Metallica song, only to find Hetfield in a cast from a skateboarding accident and Ozzy wandering the hotel lobby in a yellow dress at nine in the morning.The conversation covers the Metallica bass player auditions after Burton's death, including Mullen's account of picking up a scrawny Jason Newsted at San Francisco International Airport — and knowing immediately he would get the gig. Mullen details the lasting physical and psychological effects of the crash, from chronic back problems caused by decades of defensive sleeping postures on tour buses to panic responses triggered by turbulence and lane departures. The accident also prompted sweeping changes to European tour bus safety regulations, ending the era of plywood-over-window bunk construction and exhausted drivers working spotlight trusses before overnight drives.Hosted by Craig Gass and Chris Kael of Beardo and Weirdo, this episode captures a rare insider perspective from someone who lived through one of rock history's most devastating losses and continued working at the highest levels of the touring industry with Def Leppard, Phil Collins, Eddie Money, and Mesa Boogie.
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