# Skynryd - love them or hate them? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 7, 2019, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skynryd-love-them-or-hate-them/836654 "2019-07-07T03:46:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skynryd-love-them-or-hate-them/836654/21 "2019-07-07T17:39:18Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > LZ? Led Zeppelin? SWA? what I suspect phone auto-correcting was going on there, and it was supposed to be “LS” and “SHA.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skynryd-love-them-or-hate-them/836654/22 "2019-07-07T17:40:38Z")
The first 3 LPs are my favorites. I don’t like the street survivors stuff as much. S H (!) A SNS Am I Losing WHiskey rock a roller On the hunt I ain’t the one Great stuff ---
**Author:** ![Flare4roach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7cd45c/32.png) [@Flare4roach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flare4roach)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skynryd-love-them-or-hate-them/836654/23 "2019-07-07T19:03:34Z")
I loved those guys. They had some of the finest 70’s guitar players in one band. Allen Collins, Gary Rossington, Ed King and Steve Gaines were all brilliant players. Still sounds good today. Plus I loved Billy’s keyboards…he was the magic ingredient for that band. I loved them then, love them now. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skynryd-love-them-or-hate-them/836654/24 "2019-07-07T19:11:57Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > I have no strong opinion either way. They’re ok, they’ve got a handful of good songs, but way overplayed and I’ve heard them all enough for one lifetime. > > And, while _Southern Man_ was rather sanctimonious and crude in its criticism of the South, I’ve always thought that Skynryd’s rejoinder was one of the lamest lines in all of rock&roll: > > Young: How are you going to address your history of slavery, racism and human rights violations? > > Skynryd: We don’t need you around here. > > What an insightful response. _Sweet Home Alabama_ was actually written in response to two of Young’s songs, _Southern Man_, and _Alabama_. Young himself admitted the criticism of _Alabama_ was valid, saying, “My own song ‘Alabama’ richly deserved the shot Lynyrd Skynyrd gave me with their great record. I don’t like my words when I listen to it. They are accusatory and condescending, not fully thought out, and too easy to misconstrue”. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skynryd-love-them-or-hate-them/836654/25 "2019-07-07T20:44:59Z")
It’s a shame Ronnie died so young. I think he would have spoken out about racism \*Skynyrd guitarist Gary Rossington co-wrote “Sweet Home Alabama,” and in the Showtime film he addressed that line. "A lot of people believed in segregation and all that. We didn’t. We put the ‘boo, boo, boo’ there saying, ‘We don’t like Wallace,’ " Rossington said. Dr. Henry Panion III thinks so, too. He’s a composer and professor of music at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who recently arranged the song for marching band and symphony orchestra. Panion is also African-American. "What they were trying to do when they wrote it was say, ‘Everybody’s talking about the South, but there are some wonderful things about the South,’ " he says. “And everyone don’t necessarily subscribe to the policies and practices of bigots and racists.”\* > **[Unfurling 'Sweet Home Alabama,' A Tapestry Of Southern Discomfort](https://www.npr.org/2018/12/17/676863591/sweet-home-alabama-lynyrd-skynyrd-southern-discomfort-american-anthem)** > > More than 40 years after its release, Lynyrd Skynyrd's Sweet Home Alabama is still one of the most recognized rock anthems celebrating the deep South. It's also a song with a complicated legacy. BTW, had tickets for Skynyrd in 1977. Show cancelled in Roanoke, VA. Would have been my first concert. Plane went down a month later. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skynryd-love-them-or-hate-them/836654/26 "2019-07-07T20:49:59Z")
To me the songs “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Simple Man” are repellant in terms of message. Otherwise I don’t have a strong opinion about the band. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skynryd-love-them-or-hate-them/836654/27 "2019-07-07T20:51:17Z")
Almost forgot, there is the line in Sweet Home Alabama, just after the Boo Boo Boo - Now Watergate does not bother me, does your conscience bother you, tell the truth? What the hell does that mean? ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skynryd-love-them-or-hate-them/836654/28 "2019-07-07T20:55:42Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > To me the songs “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Simple Man” are repellant in terms of message. Otherwise I don’t have a strong opinion about the band. “Forget your lust for the rich man’s gold All that you need is in your soul And you can do this, oh baby, if you try All that I want for you, my son, is to be satisfied” This is offensive? Now if you think the message is to be a Forrest Gump simple man, ok. But I don’t think that was the point. And re the"message" of Sweet Home Alabama, well it is complicated, see my link ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skynryd-love-them-or-hate-them/836654/29 "2019-07-07T21:29:32Z")
Back in the day, I could take them or leave them. Mostly leave. Hated Free Bird and didn’t like the (perceived) message of Sweet Home Alabama. Not a fan of Gimme Three Steps. I liked Neil Young much better. And one of my best friends was a LS fan, so we’d rib each other for our respective musical choice shortcomings. 🙂 “A Southern Man don’t need him around, anyhow!” "Turn it [del]up[/del] off! ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skynryd-love-them-or-hate-them/836654/30 "2019-07-07T21:33:54Z")
I like them, but I always associate them with strip clubs. Back in the day, at least in West Texas, the surest way to whip a strip club’s audience into a maddened frenzy was to do a set of “Freebird.” ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skynryd-love-them-or-hate-them/836654/31 "2019-07-07T22:46:35Z")
Liked “Saturday Night Special”. Not sure if this is apocryphal, but I heard a funny story (funny only because it happened to someone like Artimus Pyle) that after the plane crash (which he survived) he eventually wandered into a farmer’s pasture and received some buckshot up his posterior because the farmer thought he was trespassing. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skynryd-love-them-or-hate-them/836654/32 "2019-07-07T22:49:03Z")
> [@Mike\_Mabes](#): > > Almost forgot, there is the line in Sweet Home Alabama, just after the Boo Boo Boo - Now Watergate does not bother me, does your conscience bother you, tell the truth? > > What the hell does that mean? I take it as “You didn’t vote for Nixon, and you ‘did what you could do’ just like us down here, right? Or did you?” Basically that a lot of crap Alabama got could be applied to the US as a whole. Skynyrd was a good band, but like other people. I kind of OD’d on them due to radio overplay. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skynryd-love-them-or-hate-them/836654/33 "2019-07-07T22:57:29Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I like them, but I always associate them with strip clubs. Back in the day, at least in West Texas, the surest way to whip a strip club’s audience into a maddened frenzy was to do a set of “Freebird.” That reminds me, I loved the way that song was used during the church scene in _Kingsman: The Secret Service_. It worked perfectly with the madness and mayhem. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skynryd-love-them-or-hate-them/836654/34 "2019-07-07T23:26:53Z")
I loved the music, saw them in concert and was about 30 miles away from the spot where the plane crashed. Broke my heart. I no longer seek the music out, but I don’t mind hearing them now and again. I don’t listen to classic rock though, so I rarely hear them these days. ---
**Author:** ![Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enter_the_Flagon)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skynryd-love-them-or-hate-them/836654/35 "2019-07-08T00:47:37Z")
Way back, when I moved to Virginia, the guys I worked with LOVED some Skynyrd. They were also pretty racist, as in: Me: “Wow, you guys are pretty racist.” One of them: “You’re in the South now, Son.” So the subtleties of Skynyrd’s lyrics were lost on them. I just associate that band’s music with assholes, I can’t help it. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skynryd-love-them-or-hate-them/836654/36 "2019-07-08T13:58:10Z")
I just checked, and every Southern Rock song I like was done by CCR, so I guess I feel nothing for Skynryd. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skynryd-love-them-or-hate-them/836654/37 "2019-07-08T18:02:29Z")
> [@Mike\_Mabes](#): > > Almost forgot, there is the line in Sweet Home Alabama, just after the Boo Boo Boo - Now Watergate does not bother me, does your conscience bother you, tell the truth? > > What the hell does that mean? It’s an admonition against stereotyping and mass blame. Blaming a southerner for racism is like blaming a northerner for Watergate. First, many southerners oppose racism. Second, racism isn’t strictly a southern issue. Last but not least, it’s not my goddamn job to manage your (for example Neal Young’s) ignorant stereotypes about me. Watergate (a popular contemporary topic) was the analogy drawn. If Watergate sounds like a stupid analogy for this, then you are close to understanding the point. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skynryd-love-them-or-hate-them/836654/38 "2019-07-08T18:04:59Z")
> [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](#): > > So the subtleties of Skynyrd’s lyrics were lost on them. This does happen, but have you ever thought about how weird it is that the rust-belt lament _Born In The USA_ has become the de facto national anthem? Music is what people make it, but the artist’s intent matters. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skynryd-love-them-or-hate-them/836654/39 "2019-07-08T18:10:48Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > This does happen, but have you ever thought about how weird it is that the rust-belt lament _Born In The USA_ has become the de facto national anthem? To paraphrase a skilled Spanish swordsman: “You keep using that song…I do not think it means what you think it means.” ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skynryd-love-them-or-hate-them/836654/40 "2019-07-08T18:52:20Z")
Love me some Skynyrd. They hardly make a bad song. Maybe “That Smell.” Love the riff in [The Needle and the Spoon.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b_CqeyKWYg) Freebird, it’s about twice as long as I can stand to listen to yet again, but the first several minutes are still sublime. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skynryd-love-them-or-hate-them/836654.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skynryd-love-them-or-hate-them/836654.md?page=3)