The Curse of Lynyrd Skynyrd


wildwoman1313
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wildwoman1313
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08/30/2012 8:57 pm

The Curse of Lynyrd Skynyrd




In the 1940s and '50s, Southern rock was more a description of an artist's birthplace than a definitive musical style. Many of rock's earliest pioneers—artists like Elvis Presley, Little Richard, and Buddy Holly—were identified more by their Southern roots than they were their musical themes, which were somewhat broader than the region.

With the British Invasion and the rise of folk rock and psychedelic rock in the '60s, focus shifted away from the rural south for a time and onto large cities like Liverpool, London, New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. But the South reclaimed its place in the spotlight with the dawn of the '70s, when a different wave of Southern rock emerged, one that infused music with a unique blend of rock, country, gospel and blues and a heaping measure of good old Southern attitude. The Deep South, looking to redefine its identity in the post-civil rights era, saw bands like the Allman Brothers, Charlie Daniels, and Marshall Tucker rise to prominence and transform American music. Southern rock was on the map. Suddenly everyone wanted to be a redneck.

One of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed groups to come out of this period was Lynyrd Skynyrd. With their signature triple-lead guitar, boogie rhythms, and lyrics that extolled the values, aspirations and excesses of the Southern working class, Skynyrd spearheaded a second wave of Southern rock that was a little grittier than their fellow Rebels. They dominated the genre with anthems like the enduring "Free Bird" and "Sweet Home Alabama," and were on course to realize their dream of playing at the level of their idols—groups like the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, and The Beatles—when tragedy struck and decimated the band.

The story of the ill-fated Southern rockers begins in 1964 on a baseball field in Jacksonville, Florida, where a twelve-year-old Gary Rossington and a thirteen-year-old Bob Burns were watching a little league game when Burns was hit in the head by a foul ball off the bat of a sixteen-year-old kid named Ronnie Van Zant. After Van Zant ran out to make sure the unconscious Burns was okay, the three boys became fast friends. They soon discovered they shared not only a love of baseball (Van Zant and Rossington both had dreams of pursuing a career in the major league), but of music as well.

Soon enough the trio formed a band they called My Backyard with Ronnie on vocals, Gary on guitar, Bob on drums, and fellow Jacksonvillians and friends Allen Collins on guitar and Larry Junstrom on bass. The five teenagers practiced in the Burns' carport. Throughout high school, they learned what they could by watching other performers and by dissecting songs they heard on the radio. The band played their first gig when Ronnie's brother-in-law hired them as cheap entertainment for his company Christmas party.

Over the next five years, the fledgling band would change their name many times—from My Backyard to The Noble Five to Conqueror Worm, Sons of Satan, the Wildcats, and the One Percent. Utilizing some creative vowel work, the group finally settled on Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1970, paying mock tribute to their high school gym teacher Leonard Skinner, the nemesis of all "longhairs" including Gary and Bob, whom he'd disciplined back in the '60s for letting their hair grow.

Skynyrd started playing juke joints all over north Florida and Georgia and quickly established themselves as one hot jukin' band. They won the opening slot on several Southeast shows for the California-based psychedelic rock outfit Strawberry Alarm Clock, whose guitarist, Ed King, would join Skynyrd in 1972, briefly replacing Leon Wilkeson (who became Larry Junstrom's permanent replacement when Junstrom moved to Miami) on bass. When Wilkeson eventually rejoined the band, King stayed on with Skynyrd, switching to guitar as part of the group's distinctive triple-guitar sound along with Rossington and Collins.

By now Lynyrd Skynyrd were being managed by Alan Walden. They secured some cheap studio time at Muscle Shoals in Alabama after session men Jimmy Johnson and Barry Beckett liked what they'd heard of Skynyrd's music. Walden shopped the demos around, but unbeknownst to him, somehow the tape got twisted on the reel so that it played on the wrong side, resulting in a muffled sound. Skynyrd were unceremoniously turned down by every record label Walden approached.

The band's big break continued to elude them, and they returned to the grueling Southern bar circuit. During these lean years, minor personnel changes occurred from time to time, but the core of Allen, Gary and Ronnie, along with Ed King, Leon Wilkeson, and Billy Powell (who had served as Skynyrd's roadie for two years before being invited to join the group in 1972 on keyboards) held the band together.

Things finally started to gel for Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1973 during a week-long stint at Funochios in Atlanta, Georgia. It was there that the band were discovered by musician and renowned producer Al Kooper (Dylan, Blood, Sweat & Tears), who had attended one of their shows while out scouting talent for his new label, Sounds of the South, a subsidiary of MCA Records. After signing with Kooper, Skynyrd went to work writing their first album.

Holed up in tiny old cabin with a tin roof located in the woods on a farm in Green Cove Springs, Florida, the band wrote and rehearsed from 9 in the morning till dusk, everyday without fail, in 100-degree temperatures and 100% humidity, with alligators crawling up out of the creek and thieves coming down it by boat to steal their amps at night. Hell House, as it was called, was where Skynyrd wrote most of their first two albums.

With Kooper at the helm, the band entered the recording studio. Skynyrd's debut album, (Pronounced 'lĕh-'nérd 'skin-'nerd), was released in August 1973 and included Southern rock standards like "Gimme Three Steps," "Simple Man," and the incendiary, guitar-driven classic, "Free Bird." The beloved anthem earned Lynyrd Skynyrd national attention and became one of the most requested songs in the history of rock music. Following MCA's debut of the band, Skynyrd was chosen to be the opening act for the North American leg of The Who's 1973 Quadrophenia Tour.

The success of (Pronounced 'lĕh-'nérd 'skin-'nerd) led to almost constant touring, which only escalated after the release of the band's sophomore effort, Second Helping, in April 1974. That album included the monster single, "Sweet Home Alabama," which some consider to be the greatest Southern rock song ever written.

As the pressures of the road increased, heavy partying began to take a toll. Bob Burns left Skynyrd, the band he helped found, due to being overwhelmed by life on the road and was replaced by drummer Artimus Pyle. When the time came for recording their third album, the band's creativity was at an all-time low. Skynyrd entered the studio with only "Saturday Night Special" written, and spent weeks trying to finish the Nuthin' Fancy album, released in March 1975, in between tour dates. The hectic schedule soon grew too much for guitarist Ed King, who slipped away in the dead of a Pittsburgh night in the middle of 1975s Torture Tour.

By the time the band were ready to cut their fourth album, Skynyrd realized that things had to change if they were to keep themselves from completely self-destructing. They hired on a female backup vocal group called The Honkettes, which consisted of JoJo Billingsley, Cassie Gaines, and Leslie Hawkins, and made changes in management. Gimme Back My Bullets, released in February 1976, represented a conscious effort to improve both the band's sound and their tattered image.

While the crowds were as big as ever, Skynyrd had lost some of their bite over the years. They decided to restore their trademark three-guitar lineup, and hopefully a lot of the Skynyrd spark, when they hired on guitarist Steve Gaines, brother of vocalist Cassie. Steve rounded out Skynyrd's sound and radiated an infectious enthusiasm that motivated everyone else in the group. Just a few weeks after Steve joined the band, Skynyrd recorded its first live album, One More From the Road. The excitement generated by the release of the two-record set in September 1976 carried over to the new concert tours and their next album, Street Survivors.

Skynyrd's fifth studio record reflected a new maturity in songwriting and musicianship for the band. It featured the singles "What's Your Name" and "That Smell." Street Survivors, released on October 17, 1977, recaptured much of the raw power and freshness of Skynyrd's early albums. It sold a half million copies right out of the gate, and peaked at #5 on the Billboard chart, giving Skynyrd their first top 5 album.

A lifelong dream of Ronnie Van Zant's was about to come true when Lynyrd Skynyrd were set to headline some of the most prestigious venues in the country, including Madison Square Garden. The band were on top of the world when, on October 20, 1977, at 6:42 PM, just three days after the release of Street Survivors and five dates into the celebrated tour, the pilot of Skynyrd's chartered Convair 240 airplane radioed that the craft was dangerously low on fuel. Less than ten minutes later, the plane plummeted into a densely wooded thicket in the middle of a Mississippi swamp. Ronnie Van Zant, Steve and Cassie Gaines, and road manager Dean Kilpatrick were all killed instantly, as were both pilots. The rest of the band and crew were seriously injured. The horror was graphic. In an interview with Uncut magazine, Artimus Pyle spoke of clambering through the shredded roof of the downed plane to find the co-pilot decapitated in a tree and Kilpatrick lying face down with the fuselage wedged in his back.

“We were approaching the peak of our career,” Billy Powell said of that time. “Then all of a sudden, due to gross negligence and pilot error, we were down to nothing. We were very bitter about what happened. [The crash] had a major psychological effect on all of us.”

Indeed, the disaster has haunted the survivors down the decades. Allen Collins lost his wife Kathy in 1980 when she died suddenly of a massive hemorrhage during a miscarriage of their third child. And then in January 1986, Collins crashed his new Ford Thunderbird in Jacksonville when he lost control and flipped the car, killing his girlfriend and paralyzing himself from the waist down and limiting the use of his arms and hands. Collins would never again play guitar on stage. He pled no contest to a DUI manslaughter charge but was spared a prison sentence since his injuries made it obvious he would never again be a threat to society. Four years after the crash, with his condition steadily deteriorating, Allen Collins died of pneumonia-related causes on January 23, 1990, at the age of 37.

Bassist Leon Wilkeson served a three-month jail sentence for beating up his girlfriend in 1993. He died in a Florida hotel room in July 2001 of natural causes. He had apparently been suffering from chronic liver and lung disease. Wilkeson was 49 years old.

In 1992 Artimus Pyle was arrested in Jacksonville Beach and charged with sexual battery against his daughters, aged 4 and 8. Facing a potential life sentence, Pyle arranged a plea bargain with prosecutors to spare the children a trial. He received eight years of probation and was entered into the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's "Sexual Offender" database. Pyle has always maintained that his longtime girlfriend and mother of their daughters had him arrested on bogus charges after he'd lost his rockstar status. Little was known of this incident until November 2007 when Pyle was arrested in St. Johns County, Florida, for failure to register as a sex offender. Artimus Pyle was acquitted of all charges after a jury trial.

In September 1996, Billy Powell was charged with domestic violence after allegedly attacking his wife at their Jacksonville home after an argument over a cell phone. He, too, was cleared. Powell died of an apparent heart attack in January 2009 at the age of 56.

With death, injury, illness, and lawsuits stalking their post-crash history, some have suggested Lynyrd Skynyrd are hexed. But this badass band from the Deep South were imbued with an indomitable spirit.

The surviving members of Lynyrd Skynyrd reformed in 1987 for a tribute tour with Ronnie's brother Johnny as its heart. For the past 25 years now, Johnny Van Zant and guitarist Gary Rossington, the last man left standing of the legendary band's founding lineup, have been keeping the music of Ronnie Van Zant, Allen Collins, Bob Burns and company alive in a very reverent and respectable manner.

The current incarnation of Skynyrd has just released a new album. Titled Last of a Dyin' Breed, it is the band’s first studio album since 2009s God & Guns. In an interview with The Huffington Post, Rossington says of their latest effort, which debuted at #14 on the Billboard Top 20, Skynyrd's highest chart debut since 1977s Street Survivor, "We're a band on the run and a dying breed; we feel like old bikers and touring bands of the Seventies and Sixties and Eighties. That's kind of a dying breed of bands. You don't see them around as much. It's more of single acts and dancing and hip-hop. Mostly just pop music."

As the last link to the original spark that resulted in "Free Bird" and "Sweet Home Alabama," you might say likewise of Rossington the man.

For more on Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Golden Age of Southern rock, check out the BBC documentary Sweet Home Alabama - The Southern Rock Saga. It's a fascinating look back on America in the wake of the civil rights movement and the music that came out of the American South during that period. There's some pretty cool early demo footage of "Freebird" too.
# 1
The Beach Boys
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The Beach Boys
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09/12/2012 4:15 am
Yeah, sorry, was never a fan. I mean, when you listen to the Allman Bros and some of the true Southern greats, from Delta Blues on, Lynyrd Skynyrd always seemed pretty anaemic...
# 2
wildwoman1313
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wildwoman1313
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09/13/2012 4:14 pm
Hey, Beach Boy! Yeah, Skynyrd isn't for everyone, but thanks for taking the time to read and respond to the article. ;) And yes, the Allman Brothers are pretty darn great.
# 3
haghj500
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haghj500
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09/19/2012 2:13 am
I remember the day I heard One More from The Road. I had heard Skynyrd on the radio, liked it.
But when I dropped the cassette into the player. I was blown away, every song rocked and kicked so much jelled together azz that I would not let my friends play any other music. I listened to it 7 times in a row the first day and do not remember how many times the next day. I spent 4 years in school bands when I was younger and the last 1.5 years playing in a 5 man band. Always working to get it tight.
So when I heard 3 guitar players playing as one I was amazed till I heard the dueling leads. Note for note, Bend for bend then the 3rd guitar player would add little licks behind and on top of the other two as they were playing screaming leads. They did it song after song LIVE for a Whole Double Album.

I believe the music world lost as much when they died as when Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn or any other blow rocked it.

Wildwoman1313 you did a great job on your article. Thank you for taking the time and doing the research to do it well.
# 4
wildwoman1313
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wildwoman1313
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09/19/2012 12:20 pm
Thanks for the kind words, Haghj500! Glad you liked the piece. :)
# 5
gypsyblues73
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gypsyblues73
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09/20/2012 2:31 am
Great article Wildwoman1313! Being a guitarist from Alabama who has had to play "Free Bird" and "Sweet Home Alabama" more times than I can count in various cover bands, I've always had a love/hate relationship with this band. But I've always been fascinated by their story, and their spirit, especially carrying on after so much tragedy, when other bands would've called it a day long ago.
# 6
wildwoman1313
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wildwoman1313
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09/20/2012 2:10 pm
Thanks, Gypsyblues73! Skynyrd are survivors. No matter the challenge, they rise to meet it. I was fascinated to learn all that's happened to the original members of the band over the years since the crash.
# 7
Nomad2
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Nomad2
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12/09/2012 2:20 am
I can't remember who introduced me to the music of L.S. but it proved to be a good move. Having watched their music, & later seen their gigs on You Tube, it still has me open mouthed watching their performance. Every once in a while there is an iconic band that comes to the fore. Lynard Skynyrd was such a band. For those that did not survive, may you rest in peace, for those that did, may the music continue, Sirs I salute you all.
# 8
linda p
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linda p
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12/31/2012 12:00 am
I'm from Jacksonvile an I remember a bunch of us were putting on a concert an who should come to play but the Skynard boys .It was a time no one knew them but they put on a show along with Peace an Quiet an I can't remember who else.That's when everyone knew everybody,the good old days.
# 9
wildwoman1313
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wildwoman1313
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12/31/2012 12:39 am
Amen to that, Nomad2.

Very cool that you got to play alongside Skynyrd when they were just starting out, Linda. What a memory that must be!
# 10

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