The original 'Street Survivors'
coverIt's hard to believe that it has been 35 years since one of
rock's best-known tragedies occured. On October 20, 1977, a chartered plane
carrying the band Lynyrd Skynyrd--in the midst of a headlining tour and fresh
off the release of their sixth album--crashed in a Gillsburg, Mississippi
swamp.
The toll was dire: Three band members perished; the others were all severely
injured. The drummer--who was one of the few able to walk--staggered out for
help, and was allegedly shot at by an alarmed farmer. The band's record label
scrambled to replace the new album's cover, which eerily forecasted the accident
by portraying the members engulfed in flames.
Although the crash remains now and forever the darkest centerpiece in the
band's legend--as well as a breeding ground for gruesome urban legends
surrounding the various members' demises--fans know quite well it's far from the
first or last tragedy the definitive Southern Rockers endured. In fact, Lynyrd
Skynyrd has managed to earn the dubious distinction of "unluckiest band in
history" over the years. Here's a cheat sheet to their unfortunate past few
decades.
It is undisputably the
creepiest, but the flaming album cover wasn't
the
first prediction of deadly events for Skynyrd. Trouble began for
the hard-partying band a year before the plane crash, when guitarist Gary
Rossington plowed his brand-new car into a tree along a Jacksonville, Florida
road. He survived the incident and admitted he was under the influence at the
time, prompting bandmates Ronnie Van Zant and Allen Collins to write "That
Smell"--an ominous tune warning "Say you'll be all right come tomorrow, but
tomorrow may not be here for you." (Ironically, the 60-year-old Rossington is
the sole member of the original lineup still performing in the band.)
After the plane crash, which claimed the lives of Van Zant and guitarist
Steve Gaines (Gaines's sister and backup singer Cassie, the band's road manager,
and the plane's pilot and co-pilot also died), the remaining members of Lynyrd
Skynyrd disbanded to recover from their extensive injuries. As might be
expected, the album that was released just three days before the tragedy,
Street Survivors, became one of their greatest hits in the wake of the
spotlight on the events. Save one performance in 1979, "Lynyrd Skynyrd" would
not emerge again for a decade.
The remaining band members continued to make music through the '80s under
various configurations, most notably the Rossington-Collins band--which was
cooked up by Rossington and guitarist Allen Collins, who took special pains to
distance the new outfit from a "reborn" Skynyrd tag by recruiting a female lead
singer, Dale Krantz. The new band did not include drummer Artimus Pyle who--in
another stroke of Skynyrd misfortune--had badly shattered his leg in a
motorcycle accident.
This lineup eventually was doomed for misfortune as well. Shortly before the
Rossington-Collins band was slated to go on its debut tour in 1980, Collins's
wife Kathy died unexpectedly from a miscarriage-related hemorrhage. The tragedy
effectively splintered the band by 1982 and threw the grieving Collins himself
into a spiral of substance abuse. Collins made another attempt by starting the
Allen Collins band, which released one album in 1983 to lukewarm response. Three
years later, an intoxicated Collins crashed his car in Jacksonville, killing his
girlfriend and rendering him paralyzed from the waist down and with limited use
of his upper body.
At this point, talk of a Skynyrd-proper reconfiguration had been in the works
for some time. By 1987 it seemed solidified: The late Van Zant was replaced by
brother Johnny; while crash survivors Rossington, Pyle, Billy Powell, and Leon
Wilkeson resumed their former duties. Collins, who was charged with manslaughter
for the death of his girlfriend, took position as musical director of the
group--and as part of his plea bargain, addressed the band's audience every
night on tour from his wheelchair on the dangers of drunk driving.
Yet more despair was in store, however. Collins was felled by pneumonia in
1989, and died shortly after in 1990.
Although the worst seemed to be behind them by the '90s--after all, it would
be hard to top the past 20 years of upsetting events--the reunited Skynyrd's
lineup luck did not endure. The members either left, were asked to leave, or
simply have passed away: Wilkeson was found dead a hotel room in 2001 at age 49;
while keyboardist Billy Powell, who was only 56, died at home in 2009. The
result has been a long string of replacements, leaving Rossington as the sole
representative of the classic lineup (Pyle is still alive, but is not part of
the current roster).
Despite the long history of misfortune, the band does one shining
strength--its undeniable and enduring longevity. Lynyrd Skynyrd was inducted
into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. Although only one original member
remains, Skynyrd continues to have a significant presence in both the rock and
country worlds, as well as continues to shake things up--with the
latest buzz being controversy over whether or not to continue
their long-held tradition of waving the Confederate flag on stage.
