There are some days that are just plain weirder than most and September 27, 1986 was definitely one of the weirder ones in music history.That a single day could see Lionel Richie's "Dancing On The Ceiling" hit #1 and The Beatles "Twist & Shout" re-enter the singles chart more than twenty years after its release, while, at the same time, seeing Metallica bassist Cliff Burton be thrown from the bus in which he was sleeping only to have said bus land on top of him, killing him instantly is hard to fathom.
Chances are that very few people remember that day in 1986 for being the day that Lionel Richie hit #1, or that an old Beatles song started selling like hot cakes for no other reason than it was featured prominently in the film "Ferris Beuller's Day Off".
What they remember, and rightly so, is that Cliff Burton died that day. Like most rock & roll tragedies that involve some form of transportation, Burton's death was the result of the four members of Metallica drawing straws for the best bunk on the tour bus. Burton won and, as a result, he got to sleep in the best bunk on the bus right up until he was pulled from his bunk by the forces of dumb, cruel luck and crushed to death.
The motto of this story: sometimes it doesn't pay to be lucky. If you draw straws today, my advice is to let somebody else win.