Lynyrd Skynyrd: Classic or Dud?

I don't know much after the 1st 3 alb's tho. Diminishing returns I wd imagine.

Yeah, all their songs sound alike, blah blah blah, BUY YOURSELF SOME NEW EARS, MISTER.

The first one.

I'd rather listen to them than Killing Joke any day of the week.

I also resent them for the redneck following they've developed

I don't know if I like blaming bands for their audience.

Except for maybe ICP... No, they suck no matter who listens...

Lynryd Skynryd are a bunch of drunk rednecks from Florida who pretend to be from Alabama and have songs in commercials about food from Kentucky. Fuck them.

Richard Wood Johnson, you're a dick.

the user name would certainly suggest so.

classic all day long, esp. first two lp's.

S: "Working For MCA" and "Gimme Back My Bullets" and whole lot of others.

Richard Wood Johnson, you're a dick.

Eh. I'd rather be a dick than like SKYNYRD, DUUUDDE!!

the vision of drunk, toothless rednecks with confederate flags plastered all over their rusting pick-up trucks, air guitaring to "Gimme Three Steps" in white trash bars has cemented my hatred for this sort of country-fried nonsense forever. and i'm not just knocking the band for their audience, either. their music is pure, unadulterated bullshit cooked down to its purest form and smeared all over the last few vestiges of passable artistic taste that still exist in this world.

BAN RICHARD WOOD JOHNSON

Dud. I know there's not much point in posting negative opinion here, but really people - two words: "Free bird". RWJ OTM.

DOM OTM

Ban people who don't like Skynyrd. That's the kind of legislated sense of aesthetics that ILM really needs.

Ban people who don't like Skynyrd.

co-sign

people who don't like Skynyrd are one aesthetic step from not liking the Allmans, which in a just world would be a capital offense

Really, people, two words: THAT SMELL

I really am digging 'Simple Man' lately.

*puts 'Ban people who don't like Skynyrd' on a t-shirt*

RIP Billy Powell.

RIP indeed

play it pretty for atlanta

people who don't like Skynyrd are one aesthetic step from not liking the Allmans, which in a just world would be a capital offense

Gee, I guess that means we should make alcohol illegal too, since people who drink are one step away from smoking pot.

We should make pot legal because it makes the Allmans sound better.

res with the penetrating insight into a joke post

a year-old joke post

also, james polk otm

res with the penetrating insight into a joke post

you got whooshed dude

got any more awesome wikipedia links res

i found this one yesterday.

Poor guy just got off the Skynyrd criuse:

http://www.simplemancruise.com/smc2009/lineup.php

Rest in peace, Billy.

Looks like many of the posters here have never listened to a LS album all the way through. How novel. Four of their five original studio albums are great. I was just listening to Street Survivors. It's actually relatively delicate and pretty.

there's some crazy talk dissing the allman bros upthread.

'sweet home alabama' might be the most popular pop/rock song of all-time, and for good reason, it's fuckin perfect.

Classic. Some clueless (and classist and elitist) posts on this thread, especially the late "Richard Wood Johnson", who truly is a dick.

Street Survivors': so so so CLASSIC. I really dig the alternate verison of You Got That Right on the re-release.

But in general...killer lyrics, awesome vocals, that band was TIGHT AS HELL...how can they be anything BUT classic.

I thought this might get bumped to talk about the new album. Haven't heard it, but saw it in the store and was mildly, mildly curious. Judging by the genesis of the album title, God & Guns, they don't like Barack.

I will admit that I have a mental block when it comes to incarnations of Skynyrd post-crash. It just doesn't sound right without Ronnie singing. Plus all that feuding and infighting afterwards really turned me off.

Ultra classic when Ronnie was alive. The reunited version bad in about 1000 ways.

New Lynyrd Skynyrd thing in stores = flypaper for idiots.

"Whiskey botttle, brand new car, oak tree you're in my way"...talk about a great song opener.

Yeah, I don't count post-plane crash Skynryd.

xpost: new record is called "God & Guns". Yeesh

Yeah, kind of dumb. The real Skynrd at least had some subtlety to them, ie the anti-gun "Saturday Night Special"

"Working for MCA" totally beat both "EMI" and "Complete Control" for classic major label songs about major labels not being classic. And wasn't "Gimme Back My Bullets" actually about not landing on the Billboard charts? And "That Smell" was anti-drug in the darkest way possible. So: so classic. Also, actually one of the few acts whose "Essential" collection I play as much as the albums proper. I find it makes the album tracks pop out even more when I play the albums.

Yes, their Essential is fantastic.

I really like Platinum & Gold compilation (is that what it's called)?

All the eye-rolling over 'Sweet Home' and 'Free Bird' kind of bothers me. I know they've been played to death, and that they've become signifiers for something pretty far from what the band represented at the time...but it bums me out that everyone hears the cliche, rather than the actual songs.

Nah, the Essential is a two-disc collection that is relatively recent (okay, maybe turn of the century-ish?). Speaking of "Freebird", while waiting to pick up a prescription at CVS last night the store was playing some horrible adult-contemporary medley that went into the chorus from "Freebird" out of a Richard Marx song. It was pretty bizarre.

Does anyone have the Muscle Shoals Album? Recommended? Yes no? Want to expand my Skynyrd collection a little, and that one looked interesting to me.

xpost: "signifiers for something pretty far from what the band represented at the time"

OK, I'm a hater, but I'm genuinely curious, so tell me - what did the band represent at the time?

Yeah, I don't count post-plane crash Skynryd.

^^ is otm

the store was playing some horrible adult-contemporary medley that went into the chorus from "Freebird" out of a Richard Marx song

You sure that wasn't the legendary Will to Power medley of "Freebird" and "Baby I Love Your Way"?

As in:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lxDwfMaQsc

That was indeed it! It was a Richard Marx song before the medley then.

^^hello 6th grade slow dance

I had honestly never heard that before in my life.

xxpost to soukesian even though I know I'm being baited.

I'll be blunt but my dumb hipster friends equate both songs with 'the stupid South', with redneck racist lowbrow hillbillys. Skynyrd weren't that anymore than the Allman Brothers were. They played blues rock like their heroes the Stones, and they sang with southern accents. Their songs spoke about where they came from, they celebrated it, but they never celebrated the things that...outsiders?...*equate* with the south. Like all the Southern Man/Sweet Home stuff...Ronnie & Neil were friends. But people act as though some kind of rocknroll civil war re-enactment took place.

and EW to that will to power clip

(shudder)

OK. Really, I'm not trying to bait you. I've been listening to Thin Lizzy a lot recently. Reading this, I'm trying to figure out why I love them and hate Skynyrd, who are approximate contemporaries and, when it comes down to it, not a million miles remote in sound. I've got no answers.

If it's just a matter of taste, then it is what it is. You know? I love Lizzy a TON...but Lizzy don't 'bring the south' like Skynyrd, and maybe that's where you draw the line. I can appreciate that. It's like Beatles v Stones, or Who v Kinks, or whatever...sure they're contemporaries but sometimes your ears just like one over the other, for whatever reason.

Maybe that's it. I'm not from the South, and I associate Skynyrd with wannabe bikers who aspired to that redneck, racist, lowbrow stereotype in suburban UK in the late 70's. Ridiculous as it seems, there were such people. But Skynyrd didn't create them, and aren't to blame for'em.

I think that's kind of what I was getting at upthread. Skynyrd attracts those kinds of associations all over, like iron filings to a magnet. It took me a long, LONG time to get into country for a lot of the same reasons. And Skynyrd for that matter too, I really didn't come into them til the last 5 years or so.

It's hard to hear the music and not bring all your own associations with it.

You need to listen to one "Southern Rock Opera" to fully grasp the duality of "the Southern thing," you see.

^^ otm. Actually, that album was what sent me back to the Skynyrd catalog. It's a good way in for folks who might be wary of Skynrd. At least for me

I could be wrong, but I'm relatively certain that "Saturday Night Special" is the greatest rock song ever recorded (imo, right this minute).

I think it's only from the deluxe version of One More For From The Road double live, but on the live version of "Sweet Home" at the Fox in Atlanta, Ronnie basically gives a shout-out to then candidate Carter, who was about to become president.. "and sweet Georgia, home of the future president of the USA"

Pretty optimistic considering that record was recorded months before the election (unless the deluxe versh featured tracks from much later)

No, it didnt, it was all from a three night stand in May (I believe) '76, a good 5 months before the election.

yeah but who was he running against - Ford? lol

Jerry Brown, Mo Udall, Scoop Jackson, George Wallace, etc.

Every time I see this thread pop up I have this sudden shock that anyone would find Lynyrd Skynyrd anything short of classic.

just listened to (Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd) in its entirety ... damn, there isn't a single bad song, not a single bad NOTE on the entire album. lynyrd skynyrd was always the one southern boogie band that i actually admitted to liking (well, ok, maybe zz top too) -- but this was the 1st time i'd heard the entire record and DAMN it's good.

I need to get that. I have Street Survivors in the car...perfect driving cd! No bad songs, I never tire of hearing it. Ronnie sure did sing purdy...

I grew up in Atlanta, so it was Skynyrd 24/7, with occasional breaks for the Allman Bros. and Led Zeppelin. They were a good band with a few excellent songs, so I'm sorta in the middle regarding the thread's original question. Classic: Simple Man, Curtis Lowe, the live version of Tuesday's Gone, I Know a Little. No duds. Everything else is quite listenable, though a couple of things on Nothin' Fancy are w/in a stone's throw of dud.

Skynyrd 24/7, with occasional breaks for the Allman Bros. and Led Zeppelin

I think this condition pervaded the entire state of Georgia at one time.

Skynyrd are classic and deserving of more love on this thread. Not a whole lot of bands were swinging harder in 1973-74.

Classic rock radio does this band a huge disservice by focusing so much on their boogie stuff like Gimme Three Steps and Gimme Back My Bullets.

'that smell' reminds me of 'sister morphine'...maybe intentional considering the subject matter?

ban richard wood johnson btw

http://cgi.ebay.com/LYNYRD-SKYNYRD-LYNARD-SKYNARD-1968-SHADE-TREE-45-/350384165654?pt=Music_on_Vinyl#ht_500wt_971

hey y'all

Lynyrd Skynyrd inspiration dies in north Florida

Leonard Skinner, the basketball coach and gym teacher who inspired the name of the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, died Monday in Florida, his daughter said. He was 77.

I had no idea that Al Kooper discovered them. Listening to the debut right now and goddamn.
Ultra Classic.

I happen to think that Skynyrd is one of the best American rock bands ever. Sometimes I think they're the best ever, but I usually decide that Aerosmith is better.

Fav track: "Needle & The Spoon"

yeah they deliver on every level for a rock band - great rhythm section, great songs, great lyrics, great singer, fucking unreal guitar playing

I read somewhere that, prior to signing with MCA, Ronnie Van Zant locked Bob Burns and Leon Wilkeson in a room for 18 hours a day to solidify as a rhythm section. Sometimes I think, "Oh, that's an exaggeration." Then I listen to Second Helping and think, "Nope, that sounds about right."

I was always surprised that Christgau, an early fan/booster/defender, downplayed the quality of Skynyrd's lead guitarists. He underscores their "lack of virtuosos" and "elementary riffs" - admittedly, those are complements, and I get what he means, but just because Skynyrd sure as hell knew how to write and play good songs should not overshadow their way with guitars.

My fave elementary riff, btw, is the one in "Working for MCA." Angry, evil, awesome.

Lynyrd Skynyrd - "The Needle & The Spoon"
Sex Pistols - "Submission"

― өөө (Pleasant Plains), Monday, December 15, 2008 2:53 PM Bookmark

I mean, they're not the same, but same enough. Of course Skynyrd came first.

Back in the day when hard disk space was at a premium, I deleted songs that I didn't like from compilations and remember being surprised at having such a hell of a time getting rid of any tracks from their box set. Their huge number of hits blend together into a giant Skynyrd-sounding blob after hearing them on rock radio for the billionth time (I went to high school in Atlanta) but it's an extremely impressive and varied set of songs when lined up. Not quite Creedence level but close, and they sounded totally relevant in late 90s Atlanta--and probably still do.

My fave elementary riff, btw, is the one in "Working for MCA." Angry, evil, awesome.

― Josh in Chicago

"Working for MCA" is a fucking MEAN tune. Second Helping is pretty heavy through and through.

Man, it's been a while since I went on a Skynyrd kick.

Bob Burns was their Phil Rudd. They made good records without him, but it was never the same.

bill otm on Workin for MCA, love Second Helping so much. "Don't Ask Me No Questions" is my personal fave.

I got Skynyrd's First a while ago...man that studio version of "Free Bird" is hooooooooly shit. Blows my mind that Billy Powell was a roadie up til then! All of his piano is so great but on that, jesus christ.

Actually I've been meaning to ask, does anyone know of a good bio about early Skynyrd? Or Skynyrd in general?

This is great.

!! Thank you, that looks EXACTLY like the Skynyrd book I want to read.

no names are better than artimus pyle

I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE it when you're listening to "Free Bird" on classic rock radio and they play the version that fades out after nine minutes. Why not just get the one on Skynyrd's Inyrds that has a real ending? You've been rocking for nine whole minutes, what's another minute gonna cost you? Should've been like that on the original LP.

Pitchfork listed "Free Bird" on their "Worst Guitar Solos of All Time" list. Fuck them.

<3 snrub

Ditto.

Also, the part during the solo where the guitars aren't quite in unison, and it ends up sounding like an insane delay.

Pitchfork can eat my poo.

!! Thank you, that looks EXACTLY like the Skynyrd book I want to read.

― Janet Snakehole (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, January 11, 2012 11:35 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

It's a motherfucker of a page-turner, and a nice corrective to rampant misinterpretation. To wit:

Leon Wilkeson: "I support [George] Wallace about as much as your average American supported Hitler."

Ronnie Van Zant "We received a plaque from Governor Wallace to become a lieutenant colonel in the state militia, which is a bullshit gimmick thing."

Awesome, can't wait to get my hands on this!

and xposts: I really love the sentiment of Freebird, it bums me out so much that it's a punchline for everyone. And Pitchfork can eat my ass. Those dueling guitars and the whole fucking thing is just a fucking great ride, I don't care what anyone says.

Pitchfork listed "Free Bird" on their "Worst Guitar Solos of All Time" list. Fuck them

^how could it possibly be the worst? it's like some of the greatest shit ever put to wax. Possibly one of the most dubious pieces of rock "criticism", non-Christgau division. I seriously cant get my head around how stupid somebody would have to be not to think the guitars on Freebird are anything but glorious.

Also, i need that book.

Dumb question: on the song "You Got that Right", it sounds like Van Zant is trading vocals with another guy. Am I right, and if so, who is the guy?

The late, great Steve Gaines.

Possibly one of the most dubious pieces of rock "criticism", non-Christgau division.

Though gotta say, Christgau is one of the few critics to treat Skynyrd with some degree of respect.

Pronounced Leh'-nerd Skin'-nerd [Sounds of the South/MCA, 1973]
Lacking both hippie roots and virtuosos, post-Allmanites like ZZ Top, Marshall Tucker, and Wet Willie become transcendently boring except when they get off a good song. But in this staunchly untranscendent band, lack of virtuosos is a virtue, because it inspires good songs, songs that often debunk good-old-boy shibboleths. Examples: "Poison Whiskey," "Mississippi Kid," and "Gimme Three Steps," whee Ronnie Van Zant, instead of outwitting the dumb redneck the way onetime Dylan sideman Charlie Daniels does in "Uneasy Rider," just hightails it out of there. Savvy production from onetime Dylan sideman Al Kooper. A
Second Helping [Sounds of the South/MCA, 1974]
Great formula here. When it rocks, three guitarists and a keyboard player pile elementary riffs and feedback noises into dense combinations broken by preplanned solos, while at quieter moments the spare vocabulary of the best Southern folk music is evoked or just plain duplicated. And any suspicions that this substantial, tasteful band blew their best stuff on the first platter should fall in the wake of the first state song ever to make top ten, which will expose you to their infectious putdowns of rock businessmen, rock journalists, and heroin. A-

Nuthin' Fancy [MCA, 1975]
On the one hand, two or three cuts here sound like heavy-metal-under-funk--check out "Saturday Night Special," a real killer. But on the other, Ronnie Van Zant has never deployed his limited, husky baritone with such subtlety. Where Gregg Allman (to choose a purely random example) is always straight, shuttling his voice between languor and high emotion, Van Zant feints and dodges, sly one moment and sleepy the next, turning boastful or indignant or admonitory with the barest shifts in timbre. I mean, dumb he ain't. A-

Gimme Back My Bullets [MCA, 1976]
Ronnie Van Zant may intend those bullets for "pencil pushers" (which means not only me but you, I'll bet) but that's no reason to shoot him down. In fact, it's just the opposite--his attraction has always been the way he gets his unreconstructed say. Unfortunately, the music could use some Yankee calculation--from Al Kooper of Forest Hills, who I figure was good for two hooks per album, and Ed King of New Jersey, the guitarist turned born-againer whose guitar fills carried a lot more zing than three doodooing Honnicutts. B+

One More From the Road [MCA, 1976]
Like I always say, live doubles function mostly as aural souvenirs for benighted concertgoers, and here's a band I never miss. Their hits rock, their covers sidle, and yahoo. A-

Street Survivors [MCA, 1977]
Some rock deaths are irrelevant, while others make a kind of sense because the artists involved so obviously long to transcend (or escape) their own mortality. But for Ronnie Van Zant, life and mortality were the same thing--there was no way to embrace one without at least keeping company with the other. So it makes sense that "That Smell" is the smell of death, or that in "You Got That Right" Van Zant boasts that he'll never be found in an old folks' home. As with too many LPs by good road bands, each side here begins with two strong cuts and then winds down. The difference is that the two strong cuts are very strong and the weak ones gain presence with each listen. I'm not just being sentimental. I know road bands never make their best album the sixth time out, and I know Van Zant had his limits. But I mourn him not least because I suspect that he had more good music left in him than Bing and Elvis put together. A

The late, great Steve Gaines.

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, January 12, 2012 10:58 AM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Damn, I would have loved to have had more songs like that. Terrible that he was with the band so shortly.

Don't see this mentioned yet--my favourite:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwQgHxbjibo

GAH why is Free Bird's extended version the only grayed-out track on Skynyrd's Innards on Spotify! Jerx.

I love the alternate version of "You Got That Right", on the Street Survivors re-release. It just has a more "rough & tumble" feel.

"Extended version"? Yikes...longer than Berlin Alexanderplatz, I bet. (Not a knock on the song, which I love.)

Here's that Pitchfork hackjob: http://web.archive.org/web/20040723103918/http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/top/solos/

who the eff is Michael Sandlin? (apparently it's originally from 1998, and then re-run in 2004 just to be cheeky.)

hey there fella with the hair colored yella

God that Pitchfork list is just...ngggahhhhh

yeah man that made me real angry

what kind of monster doesn't like "mandecello" by cheap trick????

Michael Sandlin seems like a miserable provocateur who probably lives under an overpass in Indianapolis now and sucks dick for cigarettes.

ACE OF SPADES FFS.

The fact the guy runs down Rory Gallagher as "soulless" makes me think this list is some kind of joke.

Oh god I didn't get that far

I pretty much stopped caring at "Ace of Spades." I mean, where can you go after deriding that? And it's the first entry.

^^^

Magic Man. COME THE FUCK ON.

This is the same guy who put "Supernaut" on his list of Worst Riffs of the Millenium. He has good taste.

The fact the guy runs down Rory Gallagher as "soulless" makes me think this list is some kind of joke.

Seriously, that's some hipster contrarian bullshit.

i'm kind of annoyed w/myself for letting such transparent trolling get to me

Speaking of Skynyrd haters, this profoundly misses the point, and embarrasses itself in the process.

lol I appear to have started a thread about it in 2004: Pitchfork resurrects old feature: 50 Worst Guitar Solos of the Millenium

i'm kind of annoyed w/myself for letting such transparent trolling get to me

― the 500 gats of bartholomew thuggins (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, January 12, 2012 4:45 PM (29 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Good point!

Speaking of Skynyrd haters, this profoundly misses the point, and embarrasses itself in the process.

― Let A Man Come In And Do The Cop Porn (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, January 12, 2012 4:54 PM (21 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

jesus, i think i just turned to stone reading that.

Dear Ronnie, wherever you are, please avert your eyes.

What. The. Fuck.

What them say. Made it about 2/3 of the way through, and I deserve a fucking medal.

"DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT RONNIE LIKE THAT" *cries*

WTF, is she suggesting she is more southern than Skynyrd?

I mean, damn, that excerpt is stupid on so many different levels.

play it pretty for atlanta

<3

Man, that boy is funky

it's hotter'n a fox in a forest fire

New album now available for pre-order, comes with best T-shirt of 2012.

Yeah, I would wear that with no shame.

wow

but that's the Yankee flag!

branchin' out:

1. Last of a Dyin' Breed
2. One Day at a Time
3. Homegrown
4. Ready to Fly
5. Mississippi Blood
6. Good Teacher
7. Something to Live For
8. Life's Twisted
9. Nothing Comes Easy
10. Honey Hole
11. Start Livin' Life Again

It's actually a pretty good record - I bet xhuxk will love it. Blurs the line between Southern rock and modern hard country, in a non-suck way. My favorite song is "Homegrown."

I can't handle anything after 77...

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100908173410AAulTB3

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker
The Liberals and Radical Extreme Leftists would wet their pants if they ever heard Lynyrd Skynyrd

Lynyrd Skynyrd is definitely not friendly to Liberals or Radical Extreme Leftists.

* 2 years ago
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Sorry, you must be Level 2 to rate

Asker's Rating:
5 out of 5
Asker's Comment:
HEEEEEEEEEEEE HAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWW

y'all heard saturday night special

what do y'all think about curtis loew

currrrtissss loew was the fiiiinest pickah to evaaaahhh play the blueeeeess

otm

Did you ever see a she-gator protect her young
Or a fish in a river swimming free
Did you ever see the beauty of the hills of Carolina
Or the sweetness of the grass in Tennessee
And Lord I can't make any changes
All I can do is write 'em in a song
I can see the concrete slowly creepin'
Lord take me and mine before that comes

These idiots would probably be shocked to know how much money Skynryd and the Allmans raised to help Jimmy Carter get elected president. Carter was essentially unknown and they helped a ton.

Plus Saturday Night Special advocates tossing all guns into the sea. Not exactly NRA-friendly. Workin for MCA denigrates the "pencil pushers", which Mitt Romney seems to epitomize.

One could go on and on....

These idiots would probably be shocked to know how much money Skynryd and the Allmans raised to help Jimmy Carter get elected president. Carter was essentially unknown and they helped a ton.

I agree with you completely, but as a footnote, the same could be said for Rick Perry.

looking at them right now...

fkn perfect summer music really, innit? sweating my ass off in the car right now, skynyrd making it tolerable

"[The Confederate flag] was strictly an MCA gimmick to start us off with some label. It was useful at first, but by now it’s embarrassing except in Europe, where they really like all that stuff because they think it's macho American." - Ronnie Van Zant

Seriously, if he were to resurface as a zombie, his second thought (his first thought being "braaaiins") would be, "Who the fuck are these fuckers claiming to be fucking Lynyrd fucking Skynyrd?!"

fkn perfect summer music really, innit?

Turn it up

So many good stories about Skynyrd, but I love how they discovered Billy Powell could play piano

[from Wiki]

Born in Corpus Christi, Texas, Powell grew up in a military family (his father was in the U.S. Navy) and spent several years of his childhood living in Italy where his father was stationed. After his father died of cancer in 1960, he moved with his family back to the United States and settled in Jacksonville, Florida. He met his lifelong friend, Leon Wilkeson in elementary school. Billy's interest in piano began to grow and he began taking piano lessons from a local teacher named Madalyn Brown. She swore he did not need her, claiming that Billy was a natural and picked things up well on his own. When it was time for high school, his mother enrolled Billy and his brother, Ricky at Sanford Naval Academy in Sanford, FL.
Musical career

Billy returned to Jacksonville where he enrolled at Bishop Kenny High School. When he graduated in 1970, he enrolled briefly in a community college, majoring in Music Theory. Around this time he found work as a roadie for Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Billy remained a member of the Skynyrd crew for two years (which included, amongst the grittier shows, highlights such as Skynyrd landing a support slot for Leslie West's "Mountain") In his second year with them, 1972, Skynyrd played one particular gig, a show at the Bolles school prom. After his usual routine working with Kevin Elson, Billy had time to rest for a short while. In the corner he spotted a piano, so Billy went over and sat down with it. Just fooling around, Billy launches into his piano based version of Freebird for the boys in the band to listen to. Ronnie, astonished at his roadies hitherto secret ability said 'You mean to tell me, you've been playing the piano like that and you've been workin' for us for a year....'. Billy replied, "Well, you know, I've been classically trained most of my life.' He was then told Skynyrd were looking for a keyboard man, and Billy was in![1]

Love that. Also, supposedly, Ronnie locked Leon Wilkeson and Bob Burns in a room for 8 hours a day to get them to properly gel as a rhythm section. Dunno if that's true, but it sure sounds like it.

damn good story either way

Gary Rossington finally turns his back on the Confederate flag! I guess he just realized it was sort of racist or something?

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-lynyrd-skynrd-denounces-confederate-flag-angering-some-fans-20120920,0,4023988.story

Ha, was just about to post that. Right on, Rossington.

Just posted this in the comments section, but it hasn't shown up yet: "It's hilarious to me that old school Lynyrd Skynyrd fans conveniently gloss over the fact that the original band was actually left-leaning (they campaigned hard for Carter in 1976, wrote a pro-gun control song called "Saturday Night Special"). It's only after the replacements came in that they started spoonfeeding their conservative fanbase exactly what they wanted. The confederate flag may mean heritage to some people, but I grew up in Alabama and I know what it really means. It means that there was a point in history that states were willing to go to war with the union over the right to own human beings."

*applause for Johnny Fever*

fuck yeah

Rossington backpedaled on their facebook page though.

I wanted to clarify the discussion of the Confederate Flag in our recent CNN interview. Myself, the past and present members (that are from the South), are all extremely proud of our heritage and being from the South. We know what the Dixie flag represents and its heritage; the Civil War was fought over States rights.
We still utilize the Confederate (Rebel) flag on stage every night in our
shows, we are and always will be a Southern American Rock band, first and foremost. We also utilize the state flag of Alabama and the American flag, ‘cause at the end of the day, we are all Americans.
I only stated my opinion that the confederate flag, at times, was unfairly being used as a symbol by various hate groups, which is something that we don’t support the flag being used for. The Confederate flag means something more to us, Heritage not Hate…
-Gary Rossington

Eh, that's as fair a backpedal as one can likely manage for flying the Confederate flag.

Of course, I have a hunch Skynyrd fans don't necessarily agree on what constitutes "hate." Like, I bet many of them, too, decry Nazis and the KKK, yet have no problem demanding illegal aliens be sent back to Mexico, where they belong, or that the socialist secret African Muslim president is destroying everything that made our country "great" or "good" or "white."

Considering that the guy who wrote and sang their songs was against using the flag in 197fucking5, the backpedal is disappointing.

And Ed King, Bob Burns, and Artiumus Pyle might take issue with the statement that Rossington is "the group's lone surviving original member."

sigh

I might have to check out this fresh new Southern band, 'Obama's Politically Correct Sell Your Soul Make Believe Impostors'.

Ed King and Artimus def. not original members, though they were every bit as essential to the Skynyrd story and rise as Burns. Also, Artimus Pyle is one of the coolest names ever.

35 years

35 years, and go figure, most of the rest of them are dead, too. RIP, guys.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LptOc6OKoWs

re-listening to Skynyrd's First: Complete Unreleased this afternoon

happy place, imo

Feelin this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VX3cbFJ3lYU

"Freebird" is soooooooo underrated.

It's as affecting to me as Simple Man, for a lot of the same reasons. I think it's a really beautiful song

Ed King = underrated

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY2T0gE4mSo

had no idea he was a Strawberry Alarm Clock guy.

WAY underrated. He contributed more than a few signature Skynyrd licks/riffs, but has largely been frozen out of most of the reunions.

what song is it you wanna hear

Play it pretty for Atlanta

That concert the guy posted on the Southern Rock thread the other day smokes. From Winterland. Ed King was totally on fire.

been up and down since i turned seventeen

<3

tell all those pencil pushers, better get out of my way!!

Mr & Mrs Van Zandt sure did love rhyming names

Donnie
Ronnie
Marlene
Darlene
Johnny

At least they didn't all start with the same letter.

c'mon okie
meet atlanta

Was just reading about them. The crash happened on the same date as my son's birthday.

Love how straight-forward Wikipedia is about plane crashes. I would've gone with "Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash" but they went with

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_Convair_CV-300_crash

Categories: Aviation accidents and incidents in 1977 | Aviation accidents and incidents in Mississippi | Accidents and incidents involving the Convair CV-240 family | Amite County, Mississippi | 1977 in Mississippi

greenville to baton rouge

Buddy Holly gets more of a personal touch:

1959 Air Charter Turkey crash
American Airlines Flight 320
American Airlines Flight 514
Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 202
Braniff Flight 542
Capital Airlines Flight 75
The Day the Music Died
Lufthansa Flight 502
National Airlines Flight 967
1959 Okinawa F-100 crash
Piedmont Airlines Flight 349
Southeast Airlines Flight 308
TAI Flight 307
1959 Transair Douglas Dakota accident
1959 Turkish Airlines Gatwick crash
TWA Flight 891

skynyrd kind of day

otm

happy 45th to the debut

Who is left in the touring band?

Just Gary Rossington.

thank u for this revive

happy birthday pronounced lehnerd skehnerd

i dont care if everyone in the world hates free bird i still love it & i love the piano & the muscle shoals session

https://youtu.be/hcnrbuubxck

Gimme Three Steps was their *first* single. Insane.

they were not dicking around.

Who hates "Free Bird"? It's not even that long! I like it better than "Tuesday's Gone."

Gimme Three Steps is all-time obv but may not even be the best Skynyrd song with "Gimme" in the title!

an inconvenient truth: Tuesday's Gone sux0r

Was listening to a couple of boots of them opening for the Who in '73, and it's awesome how they start their set with "Workin' for MCA."

Tuesdays Gone does not suck tracer how dare u

live tuesday's gone is where it's at. fuck a mellotron

No way, the mellotron makes it.

Best song on the debut.

vg i don't like how he pronounces "wiiiind" - it's a curate's egg

rmde

i support VG enforcing this thread like a mob boss

i'm not being entirely honest - in general i am not a fan of their sentimental stuff, no matter how it's pronounced, and this is largely not their fault but a function of what it sits alongside on classic rock radio; it winds up feeling of a piece with all the other sentimental crap that i basically hate on there. but yeah it's also the pronunciation; also not their fault; it's of a piece with everyone i know in the south who pronounces "wind" that way. there are lots of things i like about southern accents but that's not one of them. guilt by association.

train roll on

I only know Freebird and Tuesday's Gone but I love them both. What other Skynyrd songs are in that vein?

simple man?

Ballad of Curtis Loew

but rock is the band's metier. you don't have all those lead guitarists for ballads.

if you're into self-pitying sentimental songs featuring meditations on trains and where they're headed, the Bob Gibson version of Abilene is pretty great, though he sounds a little Pete Seeger-ish and frankly I'm not sure the definitive version of Abilene has yet been recorded

if you like Freebird and Tuesday's Gone you'll probably like pretty much every Skynyrd song there is i reckon!

And they have a lot of great songs for a band often dismissed as a one joke punchline. Like, easily more great songs than most bands, probably.

the intro drum loop sounding thing on this is too funky
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoPGi8uWDb8

Dentist waiting room just started playing Sweet Home Alabama!

I'm not much of a fan, but this song rules.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXNGOB-Znps

it's of a piece with everyone i know in the south who pronounces "wind" that way.

How many other ways are there to pronounce that word, Commonwealth countries included?

Serious question! I mean, does it sound too much like "wend" or what?

it's a real nasal "eeeeyyyyunhh" thing i can't stand it

wee-ind

ha exactly

Whuch is Whah readin und wratin bouyout thayet sturuhffff (music) is superior: don't gotta hear iyut:

http://nodepression.com/album-review/summer-sunday-flashback-four-gimme-three-stepsisters
(xp Southern Rock Opera, xp "Freebird," xp "The Ballad of Curtis Loew" xp etc.)

Simple Man is my alltime fave Skynyrd ballad, then Free Bird close second. Sentimental Ronnie is gold to me, the songwriting is so simple & direct, he doesn’t shy away from being earnest. And both are musically beautiful too, of course.

I also like the alternate version of I Never Dreamed
https://youtu.be/c8YpN4wuYNw
(so much so that I hardly ever listen to the album version now, i hate the drums!)

“Was I Right Or Wrong” is my favorite combo of Simple-Man-ballad-mode Ronnie songwriting with facemelting Skynyrd riffage, hits like a punch in the face.

Howl at the moon in your backyard with a bottle of somethin music

https://youtu.be/BXNGOB-Znps

WUHKIN FO MCAAAAAAAA

otm

I love “working for Mca” so much, it’s on in my head 24/7

“Sat night special” a close second probs

https://open.spotify.com/track/0UvV5m926Gm0xvNcZyAPrj
AHHHHHHHHHH

Needle and the Spoon rulez, Second Helping slays

don't mess with the needle, calstars

it'll do you wrong

trip to the moon

That snare hit stereo pan from right to left on the opening hit and during the chorus

I love the chorused guitar in Tuesday's Gone that almost has a Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds feel, beautiful sound

otm

Agghhhhhhh, seven years of hard luck

"Gimme Three Steps" has got to be one of the funniest songs about cowardly running away from a fight.

fifth-best, to be generous

i attended a memorial service today for an old friend who passed away

i held it together ok for most of but they did a long photo collage to music & one of the songs was “Simple Man” & i lost it

but i was telling mr veg afterwards and it was kinda funny

me: i lost it at “simple man”, and they played “old man” by neil too so i was a mess
mr veg: wow that’s kinda mean
me: huh?
mr veg: SIMPLE man, OLD man, i’d be pissed off it that was my memorial
me: loooool no he’s just a classic rock guitar dude, those were his favorite songs
mr veg: hmm. ok. well, don’t play them in that order at my funeral, anyway.
me: noted

This should be over here:

pic.twitter.com/Y5IKBjbALA

— duck (@ExtremeBlitz__) October 8, 2022

Simple old men vs angry young men

45 Years Ago Today...

“Aghhhhhhhhhhhh” Woo!

Just listening to skynrd’s “I’m a country boy” which fucking rules but it made me think of this thing southern people do by calling themselves “country.” The pov of this dude is literally I’m not a big fan of city but you’re good I’ll be down here picking cotton so why don’t you do like me and mind your own business. Positioning themselves as country or redneck which none of them actually are, they’re essentially denying any of their agency in struggle of black people by saying we’re all just down here struggling the same as each other which is bullshit apologetics. Anyway that songs a jam

so basically the republican party, but as a jam

Still better than the John Denver Country Boy song.

I love this band but I’m not sure I buy the myth that they would be any different now politically if Ronnie had lived.

it's hard not to agree with that, but otoh

Hand guns are made for killin'
They ain't no good for nothin' else
And if you like to drink your whiskey
You might even shoot yourself
So why don't we dump 'em, people
To the bottom of the sea
Before some old fool come around here
Wanna shoot either you or me?
Mister Saturday Night Special
You got a barrel that's blue and cold
You ain't good for nothin'
But puttin' men six feet in a hole

i know! i've been wrestling with these differences for the past week. there's this one as well:

Well, have you ever lived down in the ghetto?
Have you ever felt the cold wind blow?
Well, if you don't know what I mean
Won't you stand up and scream?
'Cause there's things goin' on that you don't know
Let it roll

Too many lives they've spent across the ocean
Too much money been spent upon the moon
Well, until they make it right
I hope they never sleep at night
They better make some changes
And do it soon
Do it now, do it to it

I would love to read a good book about Ronnie and the early years if anyone knows of one

Just listening to skynrd’s “I’m a country boy” which fucking rules but it made me think of this thing southern people do by calling themselves “country.” The pov of this dude is literally I’m not a big fan of city but you’re good I’ll be down here picking cotton so why don’t you do like me and mind your own business. Positioning themselves as country or redneck which none of them actually are, they’re essentially denying any of their agency in struggle of black people by saying we’re all just down here struggling the same as each other which is bullshit apologetics. Anyway that songs a jam

pretty much OTM

I guess I would file this song between the post-Altamont ready-for-the-country trend and the glory days of Jimmy Carter. It's not "Sweet Home Alabama" but it feels more aligned with the counter-culture, such as that was in their time and place, than with reactionary rural conservatism. It has a very different vibe than, say, Hank Jr.'s "A Country Boy Can Survive."

Lynyrd Skynyrd: An Oral History by Lee Ballinger is supposed to be good but I haven't read it yet; the documentary If I Leave Here Tomorrow is wonderful on the pre- and early history of the band and is available on Netflix.

RIP Gary Rossington

last of the og’s

afterlife skynyrd in their ABSOLUTELY NO PLANES tour idk that was corny sorry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsIqEq9OFxE

One of a rare handful of bands where everyone is now dead?

seriious q: what do you mean rare handful? lots of bands are dead surely

where literally everyone is dead? not many, iirc!

Though this band still has Artimus Pyle around from the end of the classic era.

The only other one I can think of is the Ramones.

All two members of the original Tyrannosaurus Rex, Jimi Hendrix Experience ... not many!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiwEvslZGWk

seems kind of distasteful to say a band was hampered by a monumentally tragic/disastrous/lethal plane crash but good lord, we might live in a very different world I think, I mean who can say but losing the preeminent prog country band couldn't have helped

Everyone on the debut Canned Heat album is now dead. xp

I'm sure a bunch of the doo wop groups are all dead now, but I guess it depends on when you're starting the clock.

anyway rip gary

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/84/4d/c1/844dc14b31edfa6eb7f9d563808b029c.jpg

A little wild to think Al Kooper has survived his most famous discovery.

nice shoes gary

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/99/a7/9a/99a79a7a50ba4a2550a00b60bc1b623f.jpg

ronnie & gary with tom hamilton of aerosmith - file HIM under bands you never thought would survive

“hey ronnie you’ll never believe this”

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/34/f4/16/34f416fe0efb788983dbad9b36cb7b42.jpg

I'm sure a bunch of the doo wop groups are all dead now, but I guess it depends on when you're starting the clock.

Yeah, the '50s and early Rock/R&B are a different thing. Johnny Burnette & the Rock'n'Roll Trio--all dead. The Crickets are down to Sonny Curtis etc.

I worked for Skynyrd's label - CMC, not MCA - so I saw the band a bunch, though not the classic incarnation.

Now everyone from then is gone.

For my money they are in the conversation for best American rock band ever.

RIP Gary. I'll still remember you.

Listening to the One For The Road live double album
i love the studio albums but the band just sound so much like ~themselves~ live
pure electric boogie

Classic trio line-up of Motorhead all gone too.

RIP Gary

fwiw artimus pyle still lives

When you inspire the line “Whiskey bottles, brand new cars, oak tree you’re in my way”, survive a plane crash and still make it to 71, you are a tough old bird.

Fly on freebird…RIP Gary

Ramones all gone too

Except late-era drummer Artimus Ramone

The original lineup of The Beatles aka The Quarrymen

I thought Artimus Starr was still with us...

Not anymore unfortunately. Cause of death: bizarre archery accident.

Original Skynyrd bus drive Optimus Prime is still with us, isn't he?

john ingham, a uk writer who interview skynyrd in glasgow in the mid 70s, wrote this in a letter to bob lefsetz:

I joined them in Glasgow at the Albany Hotel (the only place musicians stayed). We were the only people sitting in the dining lounge. At the end of the room was a low stage and a keyboard and mics. After awhile a guy and girl combo climbed on to the stage and started to play in a very Carpenters style. Not brilliant, not terrible, an ordinary hotel band.

As soon as they started Ronnie Van Zandt and Gary Rossington paid attention and listened to them and at the end of each song applauded. Then the record company lady made a disparaging comment about the playing. Instantly Ronnie spun on her and with real anger said, “They’re musicians. They’re working. You show them respect.”

A-plus

<3

A+

RVZ OTGDM

that's awesome

rossington's slide work on "Freebird" is all time, beautiful

Singer-songwriter (and one-time '90s Blues dude) Ian Moore, from FB:

Gary Rossington- I want to tell a short story about his humanity.
My band was touring with Skynard and Ted Nugent. It was, as you can imagine, a very trippy tour. I would spend a lot of evenings hanging with Gary and his wife Dale. Gary and Ted were very different people. Opposite ends of the spectrum.

One night, during the show, Ted’s main guitar, a late 50’s Birdland, fell and the neck broke. I was hanging with Gary. He was distraught. Despite their differences, he couldn’t stand that Ted’s main guitar was broken. He stayed up all night, found the exact same guitar, bought it, and had it at the arena the next morning. That is the kind of guy Gary Rossington was

Gary and Ted were very different people. Opposite ends of the spectrum.

trying to think of higher praise that you could give someone

so tough

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx5gdTtBq90

the preeminent prog country band

I was caught off guard this morning by the mellotron on "Tuesday's Gone" and "Free Bird" before remembering this scientific fact

captain beyond might like a word but i get it

That respect thing says so much, don’t want to mess with it but summarizing or paraphrasing etc.

But=by

second helping was released 50 years ago today

turn it up

I'm *still* not sure of the politics of "Sweet Home Alabama." At the least it's probably the most maddeningly ambiguous/misunderstood/complicated song of its ilk aside from "Okie from Muskogee," with which is shares a lot of DNA. Even the band was inconsistent when talking about it.

Skynyrd are playing with ZZ Top not too far from me, but the line-up now is basically Ricky Medlocke, Ronnie Van Zant's brother and a bunch of random dudes. How they get to go out playing under the name is beyond me.

“SWA” is a good sophomore year high school talent show entry, just be prepared that the bass player will be the only one in the band who remembers the F-E-D turnaround

Ronnie was in his twenties when he wrote that and came from a very backward place. That song is well beyond him and his politics now. Anyway saying the governor’s true in that situation is pretty reprehensible.

“All I can do is write about it” is his best defense of the south.

Disney Skynyrd ride when

yeah 'watergate does not bother me/does your conscience bother you' is pretty straightforward

but the Swampers

“Now watergate has got the swompers”

“Now we all did what conscience do”

I've got to admit, as a simple man, that I've never had any idea what "watergate does not bother me/does your conscience bother you (tell the truth)" was meant to convey.

I think he’s questioning whether the average citizen should feel guilty about the behavior of their elected representatives.

Or is it kind of the same idea as Randy Newman's "Rednecks"? Like, you get all righteous about misbehaving politicians, but maybe you secretly harbor similar beliefs? ("Tell the truth")

You can't read too hard into these lyrics, folks.

https://i.imgur.com/wvB32jh.jpeg

Or is it kind of the same idea as Randy Newman's "Rednecks"? Like, you get all righteous about misbehaving politicians, but maybe you secretly harbor similar beliefs? ("Tell the truth")

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, April 18, 2024 12:19 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

different in that Randy gets to say the n-word cuzza he's such a Smart Guy

instagram reminded me that the plane crashed on this day in 1977

the boys going ham mere months before in happier times:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTgd5MWGtHA

skynyrd is a pretty good balm for depression imo

lord knows i (apparently) can't change

<3

You can't read too hard into these lyrics, folks.

🖼

Seven years of hard love

9 o’clock in Boise, Idaho

*8

wont you come upstairs girl and have a drink of chaaampaagne

I worked in every joint you could name