There Isn't Enough Skynyrd on the Radio

One of the horrible radio stations in my area recently got changed over to a classic rock station. And it's not the usual Top-100-Classic-Rock-Hits-That-Everyone-Knows kind of station. It's a We-Seriously-Play-Any-And-All-Classic-Rock-Tunes-Especially-The-Random-Ones-Your-Dad-Played-On-Repeat-In-His-Car kind of Classic Rock station. It's got everything from the staples of Def Leppard and Led Zep all the way to Judas Priest and Lynyrd Skynyrd. And it's not just "Free Bird". I got to sing along with "Gimme Three Steps" and "What's Your Name" on the way home some days.

The Original Members of Lynyrd Skynyrd

My history with Skynyrd begins at about age 11 when I heard "Sweet Home Alabama" for the first time. I really enjoyed the tune and my Dad decided that it was high time for me to start listening to the band. I then fell in love with tunes like "Workin' for MCA," "Tuesday's Gone," and "Saturday Night Special." There's a ton of great Skynyrd songs, just go look them up. Pretty much anything produced between 1973 and 1977 (pre-plane crash) was pretty awesome and rockable.

Unfortunately, after the plane crash where three band members, the head roadie, and the pilot and the co-pilot died, Lynyrd Skynyrd disbanded with the remaining band members reuniting only in January of 1979 to play "Free Bird."

The Original Street Survivors Cover. The flames were removed following the 1977 Plane Crash.

Luckily for us, the band got back together in 1987 and is still rocking today. It was during this time that "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Saturday Night Special" were produced, both off the Endangered Species album. In 2009, they released God & Guns and in May they announced the production of their next studio album, Last of a Dying Breed. Musically, the band has really changed their sound even during the post-reformation. "Still Unbroken" from God & Guns shows this dissonance.


To recap: these guys have done and continue to do a lot of rocking. It's only the duty of the Classic Rock stations to continue playing anything but "Free Bird" and to keep my generation informed of their great rock plight which has spanned over many decades. Big nod to 94.1 WSOS in Jax for playing a variety of Skynyrd. But then again, that might just be because Jax is where the band hails from.


For those of you who wish to keep up with the news of their upcoming album and tours, you can do so by going to their site: www.lynyrdskynyrd.com