Lynyrd Skynyrd - Positivey Underrated

LivingRoomBass

LivingRoomBass

Come on you Spurs!
Aug 20, 2013
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Eden Prairie, MN
#1
Over the last few weeks I've been listening to a lot of Skynyrd.
  • Pronounced
  • Second Helping
  • Street Survivors
  • Etc.
In doing so I've been floored by how good they truly were.
It doesn't seem like they get a lot of love like other groups of that era.
Here's my theory:
  • They didn't call it quits after the plane crash
  • They've done so many tours since the crash (each one with fewer and fewer original members)
  • With each tour the mystique of the pre-crash Skynyrd becomes more and more trivialized
  • Today they are almost thought of more as a brand name "party, rednecks etc. than one of the great 70's bands
Its a shame, you watch clips of them in the 70's and you realized they could go toe to toe with any of the behemoths of that period (Zep, Who, Eagles, Stones etc.).

Excellent songs & excellent musicianship.

Lastly, I read that Skynyrd supported one of my all time favorites (Queen) in the UK during their Sheer Heart Attack Tour.
I chuckle when I think about what Van Zant, Rossington, Collins and Wilkerson must have thought as they watched Freddie prancing around in his unitard..........ha ha ha

P.S. Steve Gaines would have become a GIANT on guitar.
 
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#4
Ross McLochness said:
Over the last few weeks I've been listening to a lot of Skynyrd.
  • Pronounced
  • Second Helping
  • Street Survivors
  • Etc.
In doing so I've been floored by how good they truly were.
It doesn't seem like they get a lot of love like other groups of that era.
Here's my theory:
  • They didn't call it quits after the plane crash
  • They've done so many tours since the crash (each one with fewer and fewer original members)
  • With each tour the mystique of the pre-crash Skynyrd becomes more and more trivialized
  • Today they are almost thought of more as a brand name "party, rednecks etc. than one of the great 70's bands
Its a shame, you watch clips of them in the 70's and you realized they could go toe to toe with any of the behemoths of that period (Zep, Who, Eagles, Stones etc.).

Excellent songs & excellent musicianship.

Lastly, I read that Skynyrd supported one of my all time favorites (Queen) in the UK during their Sheer Heart Attack Tour.
I chuckle when I think about what Van Zant, Rossington, Collins and Wilkerson must have thought as they watched Freddie prancing around in his unitard..........ha ha ha

P.S. Steve Gaines would have become a GIANT on guitar.
Click to expand...
For those of us who came of age in the seventies and played their songs in our garages, I think they are still revered as one of the best American bands ever.
 
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#5
One of the problems was the over saturation of a niche market.
Outlaws, Molly Hatchet, Marshall Tucker, .38 Special, Charlie Daniels
and even bands like Blackfoot were all fighting for a corner of a small
market in the 70's. Most of my friends were into Zep, Tull or the Dead.
 
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#6
Ross McLochness said:
Lastly, I read that Skynyrd supported one of my all time favorites (Queen) in the UK during their Sheer Heart Attack Tour.
I chuckle when I think about what Van Zant, Rossington, Collins and Wilkerson must have thought as they watched Freddie prancing around in his unitard..........ha ha ha
Click to expand...

They probably thought, "Great singer, great frontman!"

P.S. I wouldn't call the Southern Rock market in the 70s "small" or "niche." It was all over FM radio, and the bands you mention sold a ton of records.
 
#7
Ross McLochness said:
Over the last few weeks I've been listening to a lot of Skynyrd.
  • Pronounced
  • Second Helping
  • Street Survivors
  • Etc.
In doing so I've been floored by how good they truly were.
It doesn't seem like they get a lot of love like other groups of that era.
Here's my theory:
  • They didn't call it quits after the plane crash
  • They've done so many tours since the crash (each one with fewer and fewer original members)
  • With each tour the mystique of the pre-crash Skynyrd becomes more and more trivialized
  • Today they are almost thought of more as a brand name "party, rednecks etc. than one of the great 70's bands
Its a shame, you watch clips of them in the 70's and you realized they could go toe to toe with any of the behemoths of that period (Zep, Who, Eagles, Stones etc.).

Excellent songs & excellent musicianship.

Lastly, I read that Skynyrd supported one of my all time favorites (Queen) in the UK during their Sheer Heart Attack Tour.
I chuckle when I think about what Van Zant, Rossington, Collins and Wilkerson must have thought as they watched Freddie prancing around in his unitard..........ha ha ha

P.S. Steve Gaines would have become a GIANT on guitar.
Click to expand...

Good analysis. People like sentimentality. LS may have pushed their welcome too far after the good ole days.

On top of that, time has told us that city folk as a whole, and the majority of the US population is non-Southern city/suburb folk, saw that whole genre of music as a novelty? Just like the band Chicago. Huge and good musicians. But didn't stand the test of time. My guess is that rock paired with horns was a novelty that people got tired of. Freebird was a great song to drive fast to but it didn't get much deeper than that with city folk, from my observation. I go only about 2 deep for LS; I'll take 38 Special any day, but even they didn't hold up 'round these here Northern city parts. Just a novelty to most people.

PS: Regarding LS, I've heard a couple people say that they suck post-crash. Particulary the vocalist(s). Did the original vocalist die in the crash?
 
#8
Ant Illington said:
PS: Regarding LS, I've heard a couple people say that they suck post-crash. Particulary the vocalist(s). Did the original vocalist die in the crash?
Click to expand...
I saw them in the early 90's and they were great. Yes the original singer Ronny VanZandt died in the crash. One of his brothers at one time or another fronted the band. I don't believe they have ever had a nonVanZandt version of LS. I grew up in Massachusetts in the 70's graduated HS in 1976. LS was always a big band in that area of the country as well as Marshall Tucker and the Outlaws. In fact, from my area in SE Mass, their was up to this point anyway going back to at least the early 80's, a cover band called Southbound. They were headliners for many events over the years, especially Biker events which are really big up there. All they covered was Southern rock and blues, and they did it better, or do it better than anyone else. I was in a cover band in the 90's in that area also and a lot of our sets consisted of Southern rock, and my good friend up there now plays every weekend and does lots of the same. Still big in the Northeast!
 
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#9
I was lucky enough to see them in the 70s twice here in the UK, I've been a complete fanboy since 1975, they were a spectacularly good live band. I've also seen the twice more recently with Leon Wilkeson and Johnny Colt on bass, credit where it's due, Johnny Colt does an exceptionally good job at replacing Wilkeson.
 
#10
My old band ended every show with Free Bird. Never once did that fail to engage the audience. Never once.

Street Survivors is one of the greatest albums ever recorded by any band, with not a single dull moment. We would play I Know a Little from that one, and again, audiences loved it.
 
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#12
"On the hunt" is still slamming! Here is a couple I love throwing out while around my old buddy's who think Skynyrd is everything. They will say "Turn that crap off!" And I'll laugh and say "What, you guys don't like Skynyrd?" Ha!


 
#13
buldog5151bass said:
Someone recently posted the isolated bass from Freebird. Never realized the line was as tasty (or complex) as it is. There is a difference between playing their tunes, and playing them right.
Click to expand...


So very true. I've done, and still do, ALOT of skynyrd here in Fla. It is almost mandatory.
When I see a bassist in our area lazy their way through "simple man" or " gimme three steps".... it makes me want to throat punch them. Lol.
 
#14
buldog5151bass said:
Someone recently posted the isolated bass from Freebird. Never realized the line was as tasty (or complex) as it is. There is a difference between playing their tunes, and playing them right.
Click to expand...
Leon Wilkeson was highly rated as a player by none other than John Entwistle who even gave him his Fenderbird which Leon was often seen playing (the old grey whistle test session is one that comes to mind). I love listening to the bass lines in all their original work, it's all cracking stuff. They were/are an incredibly tight well rehearsed band capable of very close live reproductions of the studio work, I think it's hard to find a better live band.
 
#17
Long time Skynyrd fan, saw them opening for someone I do not recall early 70's, had to really search to find their first record and followed the band closely until the tragedy. Consider myself fortunate to have seen them several times including the the tour "One More From the Road" was taken from. "OMFTR" is an all time favorite live album.
 
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