Lynyrd Skynyrd: Classic or Dud?

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