[Today: Lynyrd Skynyrd go down in flames...]
Like Old Glory flapping in the breeze, Lynyrd Skynyrd were defiantly and unapologetically Southern. Along with The Allman Brothers, Skynyrd (named after Leonard Skinner, a hardass gym teacher from their high school) became the foremost practitioners of Southern Rock, which in their hands meant songs about boozing, chasing women, and kicking ass. But Skynyrd’s triple guitar attack and frontman Ronnie Van Zandt’s macho charisma ensured that they transcended stereotypes and genres. Van Zandt was a genuine badass who wasn’t afraid of using his fists to make a point – in 1975 alone he was arrested for fighting nine times – and that hard edge comes through in every one of the group’s songs.
On October 20th, 1977, on their way to a show in Baton Rouge, LA, the group’s ancient charter plane blew its right engine, which caused a panicked co-pilot to jettison the plane’s fuel just before the left engine also went out. When the plane crashed into the wooded swamps outside McComb, MS, three members of the group – Van Zandt, guitarist Steve Gaines, and backup singer Cassie Gaines – were killed on impact. In a 1997 Mojo article on the crash, journalist Jaan Uhelszki describes the aftermath:
Since the helicopters couldn’t get in, it was left to the local farmers who got to the scene to rescue those still clinging to life, carrying them out of the mud, one by one. But help wasn’t all that arrived. While police and medics bulldozed a makeshift road through the woods, human vultures had already reached the crash site. Rather than offering assistance, these backwoods scavengers began rummaging through the pockets and possessions of the dead and survivors alike, rooting in the wreckage for whatever valuables they could make off with. Especially prized was anything bearing the name of the famous rock band the chartered aircraft was carrying. Some say that during that long night, as many as 3,000 people came to the crash site. By the next morning the carcass had been picked clean.
Released just a few days before the crash, Street Survivors features an eery cover photo of the band engulfed in superimposed flames. Like much of Skynyrd’s output, the album chronicles the life of a rock-n-roller. ‘What’s Your Name’ (groupies), ‘That Smell’ (drugs), and ‘Honkey Tonk Night Time Man’ (self-explanatory) chart the day-in, day-out drudgery, hassle, and excitement of life on the road. Skynyrd’s genius was translating the details of touring into muscular rock classics. Their songs still pack a wallop, and in spite of the fact that surviving members of the band still tour under the name, they are missed.
Listen: That Smell
Listen: You Got That Right
Listen: What’s Your Name
