These two songs would suggest that the Skynyrd of the 21st Century is considerably more conservative than the Skynyrd of the 1970s – a notion that is generally true, but with some important caveats.įirst of all, the Ronnie Van Zant of legend doesn’t quite square with the real Ronnie Van Zant. The divide is crystallized within the contrast between Van Zant’s “Saturday Night Special,” a 1975 hit where he claims “hand guns are made for killin’, they ain’t no good for nothin’ else,” and “God and Guns,” the title track to a 2009 album where Skynyrd pledges allegiance to these two things above all else.
This persistent narrative may soothe listeners of the liberal persuasion, who have difficulty reconciling how music this powerful may be telegraphing politics with which they disagree, but it also has the ultimate effect of widening the gap between Ronnie Van Zant and the latter-day Skynyrd, suggesting the two don’t share similar roots.
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.
A COMPLICATED SONG ORIGIONAL 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. Every Super Bowl Halftime Show, Ranked From Worst to BestĮxcept, that’s not exactly true.
0 kommentar(er)
