Gary Rossington

Philly_Q

The only remaining member of the original Lynyrd Skynyrd has died, aged 71.  RIP.

hollywoodrox

RIP  

BillDL

The "dream" has sadly ended.

Philly_Q

Tragic really, quite apart from the plane crash, none of them lived to a ripe old age.  And the same with many, many other musicians from the Southern Rock scene.

Tannin

A wonderful player with a life sadly wrecked by drugs and drink. Did well to last as long as he did. And regardless of all that, he has left us some magnificent rip-roaring rock 'n roll guitar.

Dominic

Fly High Freebird

guitars4you

I was probably more into Lynyrd Skynyrd in the late 70's and 80's than I have been in many recent years - Yet can always find time for a nostalgia 'greatest hit' playlist, so will dial in again today - So part of my late teens and 20's - RIP Gary - Go and have a hug, beer and jam with your old band mates 

Voxman

guitars4you said:

I was probably more into Lynyrd Skynyrd in the late 70's and 80's than I have been in many recent years - Yet can always find time for a nostalgia 'greatest hit' playlist, so will dial in again today - So part of my late teens and 20's - RIP Gary - Go and have a hug, beer and jam with your old band mates 

Early 70's for me when I was still at school. So sad but its inevitable that as we each get older more greats like this that we grew up with are going to leave us.  The first and second Skynyrd albums were just masterpieces and these just blew my mind when I first heard them as a kid when I'd never heard of Southern rock before. A school friend lent these to me and I then went out and bought them myself & I still have the original vinyls.

But such a tragic history to such a great band. RIP Gary   

Interesting bit of trivia - as complex as some of the guitar work was and as improvised as it might sometimes sound with 3 guitars wonderfully crafted together, it wasn't improvised - they were all just such phenomenal players and it was all meticulously worked out. 

axisus

I still remember the first time I heard Freebird, it was one of those magical moments in life where you hear something so amazing that it blows your mind. A real 'hairs on the back of your neck' moment when the solo kicks in.

bertie

very sad day.    (pre air crash) my all time #1 fave band ever 

axisus said:

I still remember the first time I heard Freebird, it was one of those magical moments in life where you hear something so amazing that it blows your mind. A real 'hairs on the back of your neck' moment when the solo kicks in.

yep,  (that and SHA for me),  people mock it all now as "worn out over played grandad rock"  but that first time,  especially as a "just teenager" - mind blowing.  Never heard anything like it.

Tannin

bertie said:

yep,  (that and SHA for me),  people mock it all now as "worn out over played grandad rock"  but that first time,  especially as a "just teenager" - mind blowing.  Never heard anything like it.

SHA only got to be overplayed in the first place because it was so fucking good. One of the ten best riffs of all time.

(And most of the other top ten aren't as great as people think they are.)

CoolCat

Another loss to the world of music.

R. I. P.

daveyh

Philly_Q said:

The only remaining member of the original Lynyrd Skynyrd has died, aged 71.  RIP.

Not quite true, Ricky Medlocke was there in the Hell House at the start, just on drums before he left to start Blackfoot.

I’m a huge Southern Rock fan, so this is a big loss.

Ironic that the man who lasted the longest of the band that recorded ‘That Smell’ was the one it was about.

RIP.

Reverend

There is a documentary about the old grey whistle test and at one point they talk about how bad 70s music could be in and they show a clip of Skynyrd to prove their point. This encapsulated everything that is wrong with British music journalism. LS were absolute monster players and wrote incredible songs. Gary circa mid seventies was te epitome of cool. RIP.

guitars4you

axisus said:

I still remember the first time I heard Freebird, it was one of those magical moments in life where you hear something so amazing that it blows your mind. A real 'hairs on the back of your neck' moment when the solo kicks in.

Agree and the first version I heard was the live at Knebworth via OGWT - New Years Eve - As I'm older, I now sometimes think the whole big solo and ending is overkill - But it works - It certainly did back then - Will give it another play tonight 

bertie

daveyh said:

Philly_Q said:

The only remaining member of the original Lynyrd Skynyrd has died, aged 71.  RIP.

Not quite true, Ricky Medlocke was there in the Hell House at the start, just on drums before he left to start Blackfoot.
 

and came back recently -  I tend to refer to them after RM as "the classic line ups"  (cos you have to include Ed King, Gainsy and Leon W)  

Philly_Q

daveyh said:

Philly_Q said:

The only remaining member of the original Lynyrd Skynyrd has died, aged 71.  RIP.

Not quite true, Ricky Medlocke was there in the Hell House at the start, just on drums before he left to start Blackfoot.

I know he was on Skynyrd's First and... Last (a bit of a misnomer as it turned out), but hadn't they been functioning as a band for a number of years before he first joined, replacing Bob Burns, who later came back for the first album?  

But let's not split hairs, Rickey certainly has 50+ years of history with the band.  He's the nearest they've got now to an original member.

Reverend said:

There is a documentary about the old grey whistle test and at one point they talk about how bad 70s music could be in and they show a clip of Skynyrd to prove their point. This encapsulated everything that is wrong with British music journalism. LS were absolute monster players and wrote incredible songs. Gary circa mid seventies was te epitome of cool. RIP.

Wasn't there a whole episode of OGWT where they went on location and featured Skynyrd and other Southern bands?  So they were trashing part of their own programme's history.  I never liked OGWT after David Hepworth and Mark Ellen became the presenters, they were always sniffy about the prog/hippy bands the programme had featured in the past.

usedtobe

I love that skynyrd stuff, and still get off on those old videos. RIP

Schnozz

My dad's favourite band of all time - He told me as soon as I got home.

Fishboy7

shit 

Kittyfrisk

Skynyrd were an integral part of the background soundtrack to my youthful pub going.
Time isn't always kind to music, but to me Freebird in particular, withstands the test well. The guitars gave it a sound all of it's own.
RIP