40 Years Ago Today – IOTW Report

40 Years Ago Today

Friday, 20 October 2017, 21:30 BFH Uncategorized 17

Ultimate Classic Rock-

Lynyrd Skynyrd had established themselves as one of the most successful rock bands of the ’70s by the time they released Street Survivors in October 1977. The group’s career would come to a tragic halt just three days later, on Oct. 20, 1977, when their twin engine plane went down in a swamp in Gillsburg, Miss., killing three of the band members, a tour manager and both pilots on impact.

The group had put together a string of iconic hits including “Free Bird,” “Gimme Three Steps,” “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Gimme Back My Bullets” prior to the release of Street Survivors. Anticipation for the new album was so high that it went gold within days, and Lynyrd Skynyrd embarked on the most ambitious headlining tour of their career, traveling between concert dates in their own Convair CV-300.

Rock legend has it that Aerosmith had looked into renting the same plane earlier in the year, but passed on it due to concerns over both the safety of the plane, and the readiness of its crew.

Lynyrd Skynyrd were traveling from Greenville, S.C., to Baton Rouge, La., when their plane apparently ran out of fuel toward the end of the flight. The pilots attempted to land on a small air strip, but the bottom of the plane clipped some trees, and the aircraft went down in a remote stand of forest. Skynyrd singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, vocalist Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray were killed instantly, while the other band members and road crew suffered terrible injuries. Drummer Artimus Pyle and two crew members crawled from the wreckage and hiked through swampy woods until they finally flagged down a local farmer, who sent for help.

Following the crash and the press attention that came along with it, Street Survivors became Lynyrd Skynyrd’s second platinum album. Out of respect for the band and their family members, MCA recalled the album’s original cover, which depicted the band members engulfed in flames.

Devastated by the loss of their singer and the injuries sustained by the survivors, Lynyrd Skynyrd disbanded after the accident, leaving the survivors to try to make their own way with varying degrees of success and failure.

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17 Comments on 40 Years Ago Today

  7. This is news to me how they died. So many decades later and I find out in 2017. I always thought it was just the vocalist or lead guitarist who died, like Gregg Allman. What a fucked up situation.

  9. @Corona ~ you mean Duane Allman?

    btw, Gary Rossington, lead guitar (Les Paul, SG), broke both arms, both legs, both ankles, both wrists & his pelvis in the accident … came back in 1980 w/ the ‘Rossington-Collins Band … Allan Collins was another surviving member from the crash (played a Flying V) w/ Artimus Pyle (Skynyrd drummer) & Billy Powell (Skynyrd keyboard man) … had a big hit w/ “Don’t Misunderstand Me”

  15. Still crank up “Travellin’ Man…..RIP to all….and to lead Honkette JoJo Billingsley who passed in 2010 from breast cancer….”https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=edwIdIr2ry4

  16. I saw them a couple times in the St. Augustine armory back in 1972 before they launched their first album. They played the local area and were a popular draw. Then they shot through the roof in popularty nationally. You know the rest.

  17. jdady: I do believe ‘Sweet Melissa’ was done by the Allman Brothers. Did LS cover it?

    ‘That Smell’ has a special place in my memory bank relating to my 1st night in San Diego when I moved here in 1979. Good times.

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