Such after-the-fact justifications paint Lynyrd Skynyrd in the best possible light, suggesting that any ugliness was not the fault of the band: either they had good intentions or were just playing the industry’s game. These incidents were later explained away by the band: MCA pushed the group to adopt the Stars and Bars, assuming it’d accentuate their Southerness and rebellion, while the “Sweet Home Alabama” lyric “In Birmingham they love the governor” was said to be undercut by the backing vocals chanting “boo boo boo” afterward.
From the outset, Skynyrd danced on the edge of controversy, performing in front of the Confederate flag and alluding to George Wallace, the segregationist governor of Alabama, in song.
Inevitably, as this latter-day Lynyrd Skynyrd – which would eventually incorporate former Blackfoot leader Rickey Medlocke as its lead guitarist in 1996 – continued to tour and release the occasional new record, they complicated a legacy that was never quite as simple as recycled histories made it seem. While they’d shed members over the years, either due to disagreement or death, this reconstituted group kept the flame burning another 30 years, more than tripling the lifespan of the original band.
#Sweet home alabama plus
More importantly, at least in terms of their ongoing cultural presence, Skynyrd resurfaced a decade later with a lineup consisting of all of the surviving members – Gary Rossington, Leon Wilkeson, Billy Powell and Artimus Pyle, every one of who made it through the crash, alongside Ed King, who split in 1975 – plus Van Zant’s younger brother Johnny, who stepped into his sibling’s shoes as Skynyrd’s singer. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducted the band in 2006 Skynyrd’s songs remain a staple of classic-rock radio calling for “Free Bird” during a concert is still a rite of passage 1973’s Pronounced Leh’nerd Skin-Nerd and 1974’s Second Helping (and sometimes 1977’s Street Survivors) regularly appear on lists of the greatest records ever recorded and “Sweet Home Alabama” is often called the National Anthem of the South, a cry of Southern pride no longer tied to the titular state – which, not incidentally, was not the homestate of Lynyrd Skynyrd, who by and large hailed from Jacksonville, Florida. Lynyrd Skynyrd remained a vital part of the cultural landscape for the next 40 years, which is the reason why their retirement from the road is garnering attention. The tragedy seemed to provide a neat conclusion to Skynyrd’s story, forever tying the band – and, specifically, Ronnie Van Zant – to the New South of the 1970s, an era when the states below the Mason Dixon line attempted to refashion themselves as progressive in the wake of the civil rights movement of the 1960s.Įxcept, that’s not exactly true. Their place in history seems secure not merely because they were one of the progenitors of Southern rock – the hybrid of country, blues and hard rock that swept through the 1970s – but also because the ending to their story seemed to be written decades ago, when its leader Ronnie Van Zant perished alongside guitarist Steve Gaines, backing vocalist Cassie Gaines and assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick in a Mississippi plane crash on October 20th, 1977. Lynyrd Skynyrd launched its farewell tour earlier this month, confident in the knowledge that they’ll be remembered as one of the great American rock & roll bands of the 20th century.
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