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No greater Americana legend in music then Ronnie Van Zant, has been trampled on. With only one remaining member who ever played a recorded lick on a track or two, Lynyrd Skynyrd has decided to drop the Confederate flag as part of their aesthetic.
On the strength of Atlanta music scene indie heroes, Drive By Trucker’s, Southern Rock Opera, all got a fuller picture of the legend:
Now Ronnie and Neil became good friends their feud was just in song
Skynyrd was a bunch of Neil Young fans and Neil he loved that song
So He wrote “Powderfinger” for Skynyrd to record
But Ronnie ended up singing “Sweet Home Alabama” to the lordAnd Neil helped carry Ronnie in his casket to the ground
And to my way of thinking, us southern men need both of them around-”Ronnie and Neil”, Drive By Truckers
In the glam rock scene, there is much discussion, all negative, about the multiple acts using the same name–there are two Great Whites, and two LA Guns touring right now, for example. And Axl takes a load of heat for still using the Guns N Roses name, even though he is the only one left–Axl who once covered himself in the Confederate flag to sing the Midwest isolationist anthem, “Civil War”, and one who lost a relative in the late Unpleasantness that seemed to play on his mind.
But whatever have we done, to live long enough, to see the great Lynyrd Skynyrd bastardized by the corporate manager, attempting to promote an album with of all titles, “Last of a Dyin’ Breed”?
Neil Young helped lower the coffin into the ground.
H/T AmRen
Weaver on 21 Sep 2012 at 8:22 am #
Country music values are so shallow and trivial – little better than a flavour of the same liberalism. It’s shocking that dropping the flag is “good business” now.
Btw, on one Lynyrd Skynyrd interview I heard awhile back: The real Curtis Loew was white, but the band had to “colour it up” so the song would be more popular. I want to say the song was based on someone’s uncle, but I can’t say for certain.
That’s not to say such was selling out (nothing was lost). Rather, if anything I’m emphasizing how brave the original Sweet Home was, being created in such an environment. And it reminds how the band was never hateful: Southern pride doesn’t mean hate.
Cleophus on 21 Sep 2012 at 8:17 pm #
You know what I say? Gary Rossington and “pseudo Skynyrd” can kiss my rebel ass, a Southern man don’t need them around anyhow!!!!!!!
Feltan on 22 Sep 2012 at 12:06 am #
You know what I say? It is business, pure and simple. These aren’t wide eyed kids anymore, they are trying to feather the retirement nest while they can still get out there.
Regards,
Feltan
RonL on 22 Sep 2012 at 3:47 am #
How is this good for business? They annoy many of their fans. How can they even play “Sweet Home Alabama” anymore? When will they disown it?
Sorry, but “turn it down”
RIP Lynyrd Skynrd
Born 1970
Died 9/9/2012
Cause of Death: PC Suicide
C Bowen (Hawthorne) on 23 Sep 2012 at 8:21 pm #
Skynard died in the Mississippi swamps a long time ago, but you are right, like NASCAR adopting PC public relations techniques, this is not good for business–Feltan is wrong, unless he is suggesting something deeper like a Super Bowl halftime in the works which is a good angle.
I was being too disingenuous regarding the only Skynard member in the current band. Gary Rossington worked with an all-star 90′s cast to record ‘Tuesday’s Gone’ for the Metallica release, Garage Days Revisisted (late 90s.)
They are still doing the song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-SfCb3hGWo
Rossington has had a good run, and the best tactics here are to insure that halftime gig–where he can redeem himself…
Chris Hewlett on 24 Sep 2012 at 8:42 pm #
For what it is worth.
http://dailycaller.com/2012/09/24/lynyrd-skynyrd-to-keep-waving-confederate-flag/
C Bowen (Hawthorne) on 24 Sep 2012 at 10:05 pm #
Good find, Mr. Hewlett. I am not sure how accurate his comments are in the year 2012 (perhaps in the 90s he had a point), but so long as they, if by fan backlash alone, are not disowning the flag’s relationship to the Skynryd legend–there might yet be some positive from the news cycle.