1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:20,000 Speaker 1: Disgraceland as a production of Double Elvis. The stories about 2 00:00:20,079 --> 00:00:26,000 Speaker 1: Lynyrd Skinnert are insane. Their singer, Ronnie van Zandt, was 3 00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:29,480 Speaker 1: a violent bully from the mean streets of Jacksonville, Florida. 4 00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:32,560 Speaker 1: He tried to maim one of his guitar players hands 5 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:35,600 Speaker 1: with a broken bottle. He knocked out his piano players 6 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:39,720 Speaker 1: front teeth not once, but twice. He held a gun 7 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:43,560 Speaker 1: to his drummer's head during rehearsal. And when his bandmates 8 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:47,000 Speaker 1: followed suit with their own debauched antics, Ronnie turned their 9 00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:52,080 Speaker 1: drug and alcohol flirtations with death to hit songs, great songs, 10 00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:55,080 Speaker 1: some of the best and most enduring American rock and 11 00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:58,800 Speaker 1: roll songs of all time. Unlike that music I played 12 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:01,720 Speaker 1: for you at the top of the show. That wasn't 13 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:05,280 Speaker 1: great music. That was a preset loop for my melotron 14 00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:10,560 Speaker 1: called you Can Call Me Betty MK one. I played 15 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:13,200 Speaker 1: you that loop because I can't afford the rights to 16 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:16,480 Speaker 1: you let Up My Life by Debbie Boone. And why 17 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:19,600 Speaker 1: would I play you that specific slice of pining by 18 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:24,039 Speaker 1: the window Cheese? Could I afford it? Because that was 19 00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:27,640 Speaker 1: the number one song in America On October twentieth, nineteen 20 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:31,160 Speaker 1: seventy seven, and that was the day that Leonard Skynerd's 21 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:34,840 Speaker 1: plane dropped from the sky and crashed into a Mississippi swamp, 22 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:41,080 Speaker 1: killing six passengers, including Ronnie van Zand on this episode 23 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:45,679 Speaker 1: busted teeth, broken bottles, pining by the window, cheese and 24 00:01:45,840 --> 00:02:08,800 Speaker 1: Lenyard skinnerd. I'm Jake Brennan and this is Disgraceland. Leonard 25 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:13,800 Speaker 1: Skynyrd's drummer, Artemis Pyle, was covered in blood. He dragged 26 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:17,120 Speaker 1: his battered body through the swamp. His ribs felt like 27 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:21,400 Speaker 1: they were shattered, just like that conveyor CV two was 28 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:24,240 Speaker 1: shattered into god knows how many pieces when it dropped 29 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:28,040 Speaker 1: out of the sky and crash landed here wherever. Here 30 00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:33,000 Speaker 1: was South Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana. The plane wasn't in the 31 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:35,959 Speaker 1: air too long before it all went to shit. Now 32 00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:39,040 Speaker 1: that two bit death trap was smoldering on the swamp floor. 33 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:42,720 Speaker 1: The members of Lyonard Skynyrd and their entourage were dying 34 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:46,799 Speaker 1: or already dead. When Pyle managed to pull himself out 35 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:49,520 Speaker 1: of the destruction, he saw the pilot and the co 36 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:53,799 Speaker 1: pilot still strapped into the cockpit seats hanging upside down. 37 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:56,280 Speaker 1: From a tree. You didn't have to look twice to 38 00:02:56,320 --> 00:02:58,920 Speaker 1: know they were no longer of this earth. But what 39 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:06,560 Speaker 1: about everybody else? Pyle had no idea. Ronnie van Zan, 40 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:11,000 Speaker 1: Leonard Skynyrd's lead singer and resident ass kicker, hated flying. 41 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:15,280 Speaker 1: How's that for a bad woman? There were others too. 42 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:18,760 Speaker 1: The conveyor was thirty years old. It looked like something 43 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:22,320 Speaker 1: the fucking Clampets would tool around in Aerosmith straight up 44 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:25,240 Speaker 1: refused when they were offered to fly in it. And 45 00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:29,320 Speaker 1: just yesterday, flying from Miami to Greenville, South Carolina, a 46 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:31,720 Speaker 1: ten foot fireball shot out of the engine at twelve 47 00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:34,640 Speaker 1: thousand feet in the air. Burned for a minute easy. 48 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:37,960 Speaker 1: They all saw it. And that was textbook fucking biblical guidance. 49 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:40,640 Speaker 1: You get through this flight, you touch down, you kiss 50 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:42,280 Speaker 1: the ground, you think the Lord, and you do not 51 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:46,160 Speaker 1: get back on that plane. And why was Leonard Skynyrd 52 00:03:46,200 --> 00:03:49,600 Speaker 1: in this position in the first place? They were huge, 53 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:53,200 Speaker 1: like blow the rolling stones off the stage at Nebworth huge, 54 00:03:53,680 --> 00:03:57,200 Speaker 1: about to headline Madison Square Garden. Huge, and as such 55 00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:00,600 Speaker 1: they should enjoy the luxuries that a huge band can afford. 56 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:04,040 Speaker 1: Like their manager. That fucker was sitting in first class 57 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:07,600 Speaker 1: right now on some commercial flight while his boys sweated 58 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:10,960 Speaker 1: it out in this hunker chunk. What's their name? Everybody 59 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:14,280 Speaker 1: knew their name. This wasn't the early seventies anymore. It 60 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:18,200 Speaker 1: was October twentieth, nineteen seventy seven. Just three days earlier, 61 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:22,040 Speaker 1: Lynyrd Skynard released their fourth studio album, Street Survivors, and 62 00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:24,440 Speaker 1: the critics even liked him, and the fans liked it too. 63 00:04:24,839 --> 00:04:27,440 Speaker 1: They were a big deal. The pilots, on the other hand, 64 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:30,719 Speaker 1: had acted like yesterday's ten foot fireball wasn't a big deal. 65 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:34,880 Speaker 1: Ronnie followed suit. That was probably just his confrontational machismo, 66 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:38,880 Speaker 1: trumping as aviation phobia. The dude was born fists first, 67 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:42,279 Speaker 1: That's what they said. At least he fought anyone in anything, 68 00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:45,680 Speaker 1: even his bandmates. Ronnie van Zant wasn't gonna let some 69 00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:48,680 Speaker 1: puddle jumpers scare the but Jesus out of them. Besides, 70 00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:51,200 Speaker 1: the plan was to have the plane serviced when they 71 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:55,640 Speaker 1: reached their next destination, Baton Rouge, but they never made 72 00:04:55,640 --> 00:04:58,520 Speaker 1: it to Baton Rouge. Up in the air, the right 73 00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:03,600 Speaker 1: engine sputtered and then it just died. The pilots were 74 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:06,440 Speaker 1: surprised to notice that they were dangerously low on gas. 75 00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:09,560 Speaker 1: Since they had just fueled up in Greenville, they decided 76 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:12,560 Speaker 1: to find the closest airport for an emergency landing. They 77 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:16,839 Speaker 1: began a slow descent landing with one working engine probably 78 00:05:16,839 --> 00:05:19,400 Speaker 1: would have worked if that is, the left engine didn't 79 00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:22,680 Speaker 1: give out two, which it did. The pilot walked back 80 00:05:22,680 --> 00:05:25,200 Speaker 1: to the cabin and made the announcement, we're out of gas. 81 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:27,240 Speaker 1: Put your heads between your legs and buckle up tight. 82 00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:30,279 Speaker 1: Artemis Pile replayed that moment through his head as he 83 00:05:30,320 --> 00:05:33,599 Speaker 1: continued to drag his ass through the swamp. The sun 84 00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:36,279 Speaker 1: had gone down, the sound of cicadas had gone down 85 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:38,920 Speaker 1: with it, and in their place, saw Pile could hear 86 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:43,520 Speaker 1: so Russian wind. After the conveyor's second engine failed. Then 87 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:45,640 Speaker 1: the sound of the wind was replaced by the violent 88 00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:48,359 Speaker 1: sound of trees hitting the undercarriage as the plane sank 89 00:05:48,400 --> 00:05:52,080 Speaker 1: lower to the ground, first one tree, then another, and another, 90 00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:55,839 Speaker 1: and suddenly ten, fifteen, twenty tree tops all smacking the 91 00:05:55,880 --> 00:05:58,680 Speaker 1: plane at once and then ripping it apart like beasts 92 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:05,160 Speaker 1: dimboweling their prey. Pile shook the sounds from his head 93 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:08,200 Speaker 1: and moved through the swamp. He hadn't always been a drummer. 94 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:11,240 Speaker 1: He was ex marine. Once a leather neck, always a 95 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:14,240 Speaker 1: leather neck. Marines didn't give up, and they didn't leave 96 00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:18,440 Speaker 1: anyone behind. The swamp, on the other hand, had different ideas. 97 00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:22,200 Speaker 1: The swamp was a sunken tableau of mud and vines 98 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:24,839 Speaker 1: and grass and twigs. The dead limbs of mighty oak 99 00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:28,479 Speaker 1: trees abandoned and forgotten. The low croak of bullfrogs sang 100 00:06:28,520 --> 00:06:34,320 Speaker 1: their ancient forest ballad. Pyle looked up helicopters. That was 101 00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:36,160 Speaker 1: nice and all, but he didn't have time to wait 102 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:39,239 Speaker 1: for the search party to land. He crossed over a creek, 103 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:42,640 Speaker 1: snakes hissed in the muck. At long last, he saw 104 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:45,120 Speaker 1: a barbed barre fence up in the distance, and just 105 00:06:45,160 --> 00:06:50,240 Speaker 1: beyond it a herd of cattle. Civilization. Pyle hoped to 106 00:06:50,279 --> 00:06:52,800 Speaker 1: God that someone was home. He slid under the fence 107 00:06:52,839 --> 00:06:55,799 Speaker 1: and approached the farmhouse. The cows standing in the field 108 00:06:55,800 --> 00:06:58,560 Speaker 1: gave him blank stairs, not so much for the farmer 109 00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:00,840 Speaker 1: who had emerged from his homestead with a shotgun in 110 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:03,240 Speaker 1: his hand. He looked at Pile like he was a 111 00:07:03,279 --> 00:07:06,240 Speaker 1: blood soaked, long haired hippie swamp thing he saw the 112 00:07:06,279 --> 00:07:09,359 Speaker 1: copters circling above. He knew there was a prison camp nearby. 113 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:12,560 Speaker 1: He put two and two together. He cocked his firearm, 114 00:07:12,840 --> 00:07:19,239 Speaker 1: raised it, and then he pulled the trigger. Was supposed 115 00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:22,040 Speaker 1: to be a warning shot, but Artemis Pyle felt the 116 00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:26,200 Speaker 1: buckshot tear into his shoulder. That sealed it. Pile knew 117 00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:29,880 Speaker 1: he wasn't in South Carolina, or Mississippi or Louisiana. He 118 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:32,760 Speaker 1: didn't need no bullfrog croaking its primordial folk tale to 119 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:35,720 Speaker 1: tell him where he was. He caught a whiff, first 120 00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:38,760 Speaker 1: of gunpowder and then of hot metal, charing his flesh. 121 00:07:39,320 --> 00:08:08,880 Speaker 1: Can you smell that? Smell? Destruction? Death? Hell? In nineteen 122 00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:12,920 Speaker 1: seventy two, five years before their blossoming superstardom was cut 123 00:08:12,960 --> 00:08:16,240 Speaker 1: short by a fatal plane crash, Leonyrd Skynyrd were big 124 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:20,680 Speaker 1: fish in a little pond. The pond was Jacksonville, Florida, 125 00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:23,480 Speaker 1: a town that wasn't big enough for two shit hot 126 00:08:23,520 --> 00:08:27,360 Speaker 1: local bands. Lucky for Skinner, Dwayne and Greg had taken 127 00:08:27,400 --> 00:08:31,240 Speaker 1: the almonds over to make it Skinnyard stuck around. They 128 00:08:31,280 --> 00:08:34,880 Speaker 1: made an impression. Whether they were calling themselves conqueror Worm 129 00:08:34,960 --> 00:08:38,000 Speaker 1: or the Noble five, the one percent or Sons of Satan, 130 00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:40,720 Speaker 1: the name they eventually settled on anddeared them to a 131 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:45,439 Speaker 1: particular subset of Jacksonville denizens, those long haired hippie types 132 00:08:45,480 --> 00:08:49,800 Speaker 1: whose very appearance made the old school rednecks nervous. Leonard 133 00:08:49,840 --> 00:08:53,199 Speaker 1: Skinner was a real person, a high school gym teacher 134 00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:56,800 Speaker 1: at Yes Robert E. Lee High School. He got soon 135 00:08:56,840 --> 00:09:00,880 Speaker 1: to be skinnered guitarist Gary Rossington, suspended because Gary's hair 136 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:03,480 Speaker 1: touched his shirt collar and fell within two fingers of 137 00:09:03,520 --> 00:09:07,240 Speaker 1: his eyebrows, thus violating the high and tight dress code. 138 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:09,840 Speaker 1: But it wasn't just their long hair and fucked the 139 00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:12,960 Speaker 1: man's sense of humor that got skinnered. Notice they could 140 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:16,920 Speaker 1: fucking play. They played so damn well that Alan Walden, 141 00:09:17,040 --> 00:09:20,559 Speaker 1: formerly of Capricorn Records, picked them over the one hundred 142 00:09:20,559 --> 00:09:22,800 Speaker 1: and eighty six other bands he auditioned in the course 143 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:25,400 Speaker 1: of one year and signed them to a management contract. 144 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:28,679 Speaker 1: They played so well that Al Cooper, Bob Dylan's rock 145 00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:31,160 Speaker 1: and roll Zelig signed them to his brand new MCA 146 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:34,240 Speaker 1: Records in Prick called Sounds of the South, after witnessing 147 00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:37,199 Speaker 1: them kill at a small club. But if they ever 148 00:09:37,240 --> 00:09:40,319 Speaker 1: wanted to make it outside the greater Jacksonville area. They 149 00:09:40,360 --> 00:09:43,880 Speaker 1: needed more original songs, so they rented a one room 150 00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:47,000 Speaker 1: shack some thirty miles outside of town to write and rehearse. 151 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:50,480 Speaker 1: No ac and the heat didn't kill you, then maybe 152 00:09:50,520 --> 00:09:54,240 Speaker 1: the gators and cotton moths would. They called it hell House. 153 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:57,360 Speaker 1: It wasn't just a heat that made the cabin feel 154 00:09:57,400 --> 00:10:00,480 Speaker 1: like purgatory. Ronnie van Zandt was a take no shit 155 00:10:00,559 --> 00:10:04,480 Speaker 1: task master. Practice was nine am to dusk every day, 156 00:10:04,760 --> 00:10:07,760 Speaker 1: no entourage, no girls. You played the song and then 157 00:10:07,760 --> 00:10:10,480 Speaker 1: he played it again. He fucked up the intro. Stop 158 00:10:10,679 --> 00:10:13,240 Speaker 1: do it again. He played the solo different than last time. 159 00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:16,960 Speaker 1: Stop do it Again. Leon Wilkerson's bass had to be 160 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:19,920 Speaker 1: married to Bob Burns's kickdrum, and the guitar onslought of 161 00:10:19,920 --> 00:10:22,760 Speaker 1: Gary Rossington, Alan Collins and Ed King the triple Threat. 162 00:10:22,760 --> 00:10:25,559 Speaker 1: They dubbed the guitar Army. That had to be assassin 163 00:10:25,640 --> 00:10:29,480 Speaker 1: level precise, leave the shroom shit to the Almonds. Jamming 164 00:10:29,760 --> 00:10:34,560 Speaker 1: wasn't Skynyrd's Across to Bear Skinnyerd was tight. SKINNERD Live 165 00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:37,720 Speaker 1: sounded just like SKINNERD on record. Even their show stopping 166 00:10:37,760 --> 00:10:40,880 Speaker 1: ballad turned Barnburn or Freebird the Stairway to Heaven of 167 00:10:40,920 --> 00:10:44,400 Speaker 1: the South. That song was mathematically precise. Every time they 168 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:47,880 Speaker 1: played it could cut glass with that tune. And that 169 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:50,400 Speaker 1: was all because Ronnie van Zandt held Skinnerd's feet to 170 00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:55,160 Speaker 1: the hell house fire. Now after hours, After hours was 171 00:10:55,200 --> 00:10:58,000 Speaker 1: when Ronnie switched gears and lived with he called the 172 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:02,000 Speaker 1: rock gut life. The rock cut life was bottomless bottles 173 00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:05,280 Speaker 1: of scotch, broken noses and busted fists. It was when 174 00:11:05,320 --> 00:11:08,280 Speaker 1: the booze did the talking for you. It did the 175 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:14,080 Speaker 1: fighting too. Ronnie van Zandt wasn't just a street survivor 176 00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:18,240 Speaker 1: from a poor neighborhood. He was a street fighter. There 177 00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:20,600 Speaker 1: didn't have to be a reason why he fought. Maybe 178 00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:22,360 Speaker 1: a guy looked at him the wrong way on the sidewalk, 179 00:11:22,600 --> 00:11:25,319 Speaker 1: maybe a guy didn't look at him at all. Didn't matter. 180 00:11:25,440 --> 00:11:27,319 Speaker 1: You wanted to exit the room with all your teeth right. 181 00:11:27,360 --> 00:11:28,680 Speaker 1: So first you had to figure out how you were 182 00:11:28,679 --> 00:11:32,080 Speaker 1: going to get past Ronnie van zand Ronnie's own mother 183 00:11:32,120 --> 00:11:34,120 Speaker 1: thought he was the meanest son bitch in town. But 184 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:37,079 Speaker 1: you know, moms are biased like that. And though Ronnie 185 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:39,920 Speaker 1: van Zant may have been as his heroes of rolling Stones, 186 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:42,760 Speaker 1: saying about a street fighting man. He was not, to 187 00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:47,520 Speaker 1: paraphrase a Skinnert song, a simple kind of man. Ronnie 188 00:11:47,640 --> 00:11:51,240 Speaker 1: was complicated. Ronnie could write a song like The Needle 189 00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:54,760 Speaker 1: and the Spoon, a cautionary tale about heroin, while still 190 00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:57,720 Speaker 1: dabbling in stuff that was way harder than Shitas regal. 191 00:11:58,840 --> 00:12:02,000 Speaker 1: Ronnie could write a song Sweet Home Alabama, a Southern 192 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:05,880 Speaker 1: man's proud battle cry, shit talking Canadian liberals be damned 193 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:08,600 Speaker 1: and do it while not only claiming that the deviceive 194 00:12:08,640 --> 00:12:11,800 Speaker 1: Confederate flag hoisted at Skinner shows in the mid seventies 195 00:12:12,160 --> 00:12:14,480 Speaker 1: was not his idea but merely a marketing gimmick by 196 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:17,719 Speaker 1: MCA Records, but also by loving the hell out of 197 00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:20,520 Speaker 1: a certain Canadian liberal, mister Mealyng, the one who had 198 00:12:20,520 --> 00:12:23,480 Speaker 1: dissed Southern man not once but twice in his own songs, 199 00:12:24,320 --> 00:12:26,760 Speaker 1: Ronnie did, as it turns out, means mister young around. 200 00:12:26,760 --> 00:12:29,400 Speaker 1: But I digress and more on that age old beef later. 201 00:12:30,559 --> 00:12:33,160 Speaker 1: Ronnie van ZANDT could even champion gun control in a 202 00:12:33,200 --> 00:12:37,120 Speaker 1: song like Saturday Night Special, while simultaneously putting the fear 203 00:12:37,120 --> 00:12:44,439 Speaker 1: of God into his bandmates with a loaded pistol. Bob Burns, 204 00:12:44,679 --> 00:12:48,280 Speaker 1: Leonard Skynyrd's original drummer was burning up inside hell house. 205 00:12:49,120 --> 00:12:52,040 Speaker 1: Ronnie was cracking the whip again. Bob just wanted to 206 00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:55,360 Speaker 1: be done. Ronny didn't care what Bob did or didn't want. 207 00:12:55,880 --> 00:12:58,040 Speaker 1: Leonard Skynyrd weren't going to grab that big brass ring 208 00:12:58,080 --> 00:13:01,760 Speaker 1: by quitting when they were tired as basis. Leon Wilkerson 209 00:13:01,800 --> 00:13:05,880 Speaker 1: once said, Ronnie ran Skinnerd like Stalin ran Russia. The 210 00:13:05,920 --> 00:13:09,520 Speaker 1: Saturday Night Special came out fast, barrel blue, and cold. 211 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:12,960 Speaker 1: Ronnie stuck it against Bob's temple, played the motherfucking song 212 00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:14,880 Speaker 1: Ronnie said, were I'm going to blow your brains all 213 00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:19,280 Speaker 1: over this room. Bob and the rest of the band 214 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:21,560 Speaker 1: feared Ronnie even more than they loved and respected him. 215 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:24,880 Speaker 1: They did what Ronnie said. That was the only pass. 216 00:13:25,679 --> 00:13:29,520 Speaker 1: It was a path of destruction At first. Skinnyard destroyed 217 00:13:29,520 --> 00:13:31,840 Speaker 1: the bands they opened up for. They could fuck off 218 00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:34,720 Speaker 1: the competition just by showing up, asked the band that 219 00:13:34,760 --> 00:13:38,040 Speaker 1: was playing at Greenfield Stables. When Skynyrd's van arrived on site, 220 00:13:38,440 --> 00:13:41,280 Speaker 1: fans screamed and cheered so loudly for Skinner that they 221 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:44,440 Speaker 1: drowned up the music being played on stage. Do you 222 00:13:44,440 --> 00:13:47,600 Speaker 1: know who that band was. Neither do I. No one 223 00:13:47,640 --> 00:13:51,319 Speaker 1: remembers them, but everyone remembered Lynyrd skinnerd For Better or 224 00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:59,480 Speaker 1: for Worse, nineteen seventy three, Daily City, California. Keith Moon 225 00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:03,120 Speaker 1: was drunk. Or maybe it was the pills the ones 226 00:14:03,160 --> 00:14:05,080 Speaker 1: meant to knock out a horse or put an elephant 227 00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:09,199 Speaker 1: on its ass. Either way, Keith was sprout out backstage 228 00:14:09,200 --> 00:14:11,800 Speaker 1: at the Cow Palace. He could barely sit up straight, 229 00:14:11,880 --> 00:14:14,200 Speaker 1: let alone play, and the other members of The Who 230 00:14:14,280 --> 00:14:16,760 Speaker 1: quickly came to a solution. The drummer for the opening 231 00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:20,240 Speaker 1: band could fill in. That was easier said than done. 232 00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:24,200 Speaker 1: Playing or partying. Leonard Skiddard went toe to toe. There 233 00:14:24,200 --> 00:14:27,160 Speaker 1: are also quick studies. Touring with The Who would prove 234 00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:30,120 Speaker 1: to be their big break, a serious promotion from playing 235 00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:32,280 Speaker 1: to audience of a thousand on a good night to 236 00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:36,000 Speaker 1: nineteen thousand every night. But it also proved to be 237 00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:38,800 Speaker 1: the moment where Ronnie Van's Aunt's rock got life led 238 00:14:38,840 --> 00:14:43,160 Speaker 1: over into band life. Replaying or fighting. It was hard 239 00:14:43,200 --> 00:14:45,040 Speaker 1: to tell the difference while you were busy setting a 240 00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:48,920 Speaker 1: new pace. The Who plays loud, you play louder. Keith 241 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:53,320 Speaker 1: Moon gets drunk, you get drunker. Which explains why Skinnerd's 242 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:56,960 Speaker 1: drummer Bob Burns, did not fill in for Moody that evening, because, 243 00:14:57,360 --> 00:15:01,720 Speaker 1: just like his British counterpart, Bob Burns was plastered. Instead, 244 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:03,960 Speaker 1: some nineteen year old got the dream gig of a 245 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:05,920 Speaker 1: lifetime when he was hauled from the crowd to sit 246 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:08,000 Speaker 1: in with one of the biggest bands on the planet. 247 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:10,680 Speaker 1: Skinner could relate to the luck of the nineteen year 248 00:15:10,720 --> 00:15:13,680 Speaker 1: old kid. Thanks to the connections of their producer Al Cooper, 249 00:15:13,880 --> 00:15:16,560 Speaker 1: they were opening for The Who, and thanks to The Who, 250 00:15:16,680 --> 00:15:20,440 Speaker 1: they now had the attention of audiences beyond Jacksonville. This 251 00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:23,119 Speaker 1: coming on the heels of a hit debut album pronounced 252 00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:26,680 Speaker 1: Leonard Skinnerd, which peaked at number twenty seven on the 253 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:29,600 Speaker 1: Billboard Album Chart, it felt like the beginning of a 254 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:33,680 Speaker 1: new chapter for Bob Burns. However, it was the beginning 255 00:15:33,760 --> 00:15:41,080 Speaker 1: of the end. The next year, nineteen seventy four, on 256 00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:45,160 Speaker 1: tour in England, Bob Burns saw the devil. It stared 257 00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:47,560 Speaker 1: at him from behind the eyes of a hotel owner's cat. 258 00:15:47,800 --> 00:15:50,680 Speaker 1: The thing was possessed and it had to die. Bob 259 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:52,840 Speaker 1: grabbed the cat, made his way to the top floor 260 00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:56,400 Speaker 1: of the hotel, tossed it out a window. They say 261 00:15:56,440 --> 00:15:59,960 Speaker 1: a cat always lands on his feet. This is not true. 262 00:16:00,560 --> 00:16:04,680 Speaker 1: This cat died on impact. The devil, on the other hand, 263 00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:08,080 Speaker 1: wouldn't be killed off so easily. Pretty soon he was back, 264 00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:11,800 Speaker 1: this time in the eyes of Skynyrd's road manager. Bob 265 00:16:11,920 --> 00:16:15,320 Speaker 1: knew it. He looked into those eyes and trembled once again. 266 00:16:15,360 --> 00:16:17,080 Speaker 1: He knew what he had to do. He had a 267 00:16:17,160 --> 00:16:20,320 Speaker 1: cast out satan with extreme prejudice and Ronnie van Zant 268 00:16:20,360 --> 00:16:23,920 Speaker 1: caliber of violence. But although Bob Burns tanked up on 269 00:16:24,040 --> 00:16:26,640 Speaker 1: codine laced whiskey and chased the guy down the street 270 00:16:26,640 --> 00:16:29,680 Speaker 1: with a pickaxe, he never caught up with him. Life 271 00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:32,320 Speaker 1: on the road, on the other hand, life with Ronnie 272 00:16:32,600 --> 00:16:35,600 Speaker 1: the rock cut life that caught up with Bob real 273 00:16:35,680 --> 00:16:39,520 Speaker 1: fucking quick, and so Bob Burns spiraled out of control 274 00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:44,320 Speaker 1: and right out of Lynyrd. Skynyrd fast, not Ronnie van 275 00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:47,720 Speaker 1: Zand Ronnie was going to take time, go down slow 276 00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:50,280 Speaker 1: at first, and then pick up speed. The CA conve 277 00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:53,680 Speaker 1: CV two forty with two busted engines dropping from the sky, 278 00:16:54,320 --> 00:16:56,720 Speaker 1: and he was going to take the whole band down 279 00:16:56,880 --> 00:17:01,600 Speaker 1: with him. 280 00:17:01,920 --> 00:17:12,159 Speaker 2: We'll be right back after this We're We're, We're, years 281 00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:17,000 Speaker 2: before became drunken shorthand for Heckler's At concerts, free Bird 282 00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:20,240 Speaker 2: was a cathartic finale at Lynard Skynyrd's live shows. 283 00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:23,760 Speaker 1: It had everything. It's the sensitive part that you swayed 284 00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:26,199 Speaker 1: to while holding your lighter in the air, from the 285 00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:29,439 Speaker 1: double time guitar, army climax that left your face melted, 286 00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:33,320 Speaker 1: and though it ran nine minutes long, Free Bird was 287 00:17:33,359 --> 00:17:37,359 Speaker 1: a staple of nineteen seventies rock radio thanks to the 288 00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:41,399 Speaker 1: aar or album oriented rock radio format, where DJs on 289 00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:43,840 Speaker 1: the FM dial were key to play any and all 290 00:17:43,880 --> 00:17:49,160 Speaker 1: album tracks they deemed worthy. MCA, however, wouldn't release free 291 00:17:49,160 --> 00:17:52,400 Speaker 1: Bird as a single, and why would they. The song 292 00:17:52,520 --> 00:17:56,480 Speaker 1: single handedly made Skynyrd's debut album a massive commercial success. 293 00:17:57,400 --> 00:18:00,560 Speaker 1: It wasn't until November of nineteen seventy four, more than 294 00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:03,240 Speaker 1: a year after the album was released, the free Bird 295 00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:07,040 Speaker 1: was finally released as a single. By that time, Skynyrd's 296 00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:10,440 Speaker 1: sophomore album, Second Helping was already on shelves, and one 297 00:18:10,480 --> 00:18:14,520 Speaker 1: of that album's singles was making ways For entirely different reasons. 298 00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:18,359 Speaker 1: Ronnie van Zant and Skynyered guitarist Ed King and Gary 299 00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:21,880 Speaker 1: Rossington wrote Sweet Home Alabama in response to the song 300 00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:26,320 Speaker 1: Southern Man in Alabama, both by Neil Young, both unflinching 301 00:18:26,359 --> 00:18:30,160 Speaker 1: portraits of deep seated racism in the Deep South. Ronnie 302 00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:32,920 Speaker 1: was proud of his Southern heritage. He wasn't a dumb redneck. 303 00:18:33,119 --> 00:18:35,080 Speaker 1: He didn't think it was fair for Neil to lump 304 00:18:35,119 --> 00:18:38,360 Speaker 1: all Southerners together as bigots, so he called out Neil 305 00:18:38,400 --> 00:18:41,439 Speaker 1: Young by name and what would become Skynyrd's highest charting single. 306 00:18:42,440 --> 00:18:44,720 Speaker 1: But it was the song's other call out that attracted 307 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:49,439 Speaker 1: more controversy. George Wallace, the Alabama governor who championed at 308 00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:52,040 Speaker 1: Jim Crow South in the middle of the Civil rights movement, 309 00:18:52,280 --> 00:18:55,919 Speaker 1: the guy known for lines like segregation Now, segregation, Tomorrow's 310 00:18:55,960 --> 00:18:59,800 Speaker 1: segregation Forever. He got his own moment in Sweet Home, Alabama. 311 00:19:00,359 --> 00:19:04,480 Speaker 1: But was it Skynyrd's saluting or lampooning the infamous politician. 312 00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:07,840 Speaker 1: Ronnie gave an interview in the mid seventies where we 313 00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:10,280 Speaker 1: called the song a joke, but then went on to 314 00:19:10,320 --> 00:19:13,600 Speaker 1: call Wallace a gentleman with a lot of nerve and balls. 315 00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:16,639 Speaker 1: Ed King was less coy when it came to the 316 00:19:16,680 --> 00:19:19,720 Speaker 1: band's politics. Ronnie was a big fan of George Wallace. 317 00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:22,600 Speaker 1: He later said he totally supported him. We all did. 318 00:19:23,280 --> 00:19:25,439 Speaker 1: We respected the way Wallace stood up for the South. 319 00:19:25,840 --> 00:19:30,560 Speaker 1: Anybody who tells you differently is lying. Ronnie's supposed to 320 00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:33,600 Speaker 1: beef with Neil Young wasn't a lie exactly. It was 321 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:37,679 Speaker 1: an opportunity to rally Skynard's base. It was good for business, 322 00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:41,400 Speaker 1: but off the record. Even after the Sweet Home Alabama dustup, 323 00:19:41,800 --> 00:19:44,800 Speaker 1: Ronnie regularly wore Neil Young t shirts and concert He 324 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:47,480 Speaker 1: even wore one on the cover of The Street Survivor's album. 325 00:19:47,880 --> 00:19:50,639 Speaker 1: And Neil passed on his home demos to Skinner. He 326 00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:52,840 Speaker 1: wanted them to record his song powder Finger on an 327 00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:55,920 Speaker 1: upcoming record. They never got around to it, which meant 328 00:19:56,000 --> 00:19:58,280 Speaker 1: the existing narrative, the one that lived and breathed on 329 00:19:58,320 --> 00:20:01,440 Speaker 1: the airwaves, carried on their f the last rift for decades, 330 00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:05,720 Speaker 1: still does today. But this is the real story. Neil 331 00:20:05,760 --> 00:20:08,720 Speaker 1: Young loved Ronnie van Zant, and Ronnie van Zant loved 332 00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:12,200 Speaker 1: Neil Young. Ed King, on the other hand, didn't feel 333 00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:15,920 Speaker 1: Ronnie van Zant's love. All ed King felt was Ronnie 334 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:21,399 Speaker 1: van Zant's Rath. Ronnie bitched and moaned about Ed's playing 335 00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:25,359 Speaker 1: over and over. Ed was garage rock royalty, former member 336 00:20:25,359 --> 00:20:27,920 Speaker 1: of the Strawberry Alarm Clock, co writer of the number 337 00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:30,959 Speaker 1: one hit Incense and Peppermints. That was a nugget if 338 00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:34,080 Speaker 1: he dug it, but Ed never got that respect. There 339 00:20:34,119 --> 00:20:36,720 Speaker 1: was a pecking order in skinnerd Ronnie van Zant was 340 00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:40,199 Speaker 1: on top. Everyone else was down below. The abuse was verbal, 341 00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:43,800 Speaker 1: the abuse was physical. Ed King couldn't take it. He 342 00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:46,159 Speaker 1: didn't see the devil like Bob Burns did, but he 343 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:49,919 Speaker 1: saw the writing on the wall the same. In nineteen 344 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:52,639 Speaker 1: seventy five, a year in which Ronnie was arrested no 345 00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:56,120 Speaker 1: less than five times for being shiit faced, Skinnered embarked 346 00:20:56,119 --> 00:20:58,679 Speaker 1: on a ninety day sixty one show tour to support 347 00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:03,200 Speaker 1: their third album, Nothing Fancy. They called it the Torture Tour. 348 00:21:05,119 --> 00:21:09,560 Speaker 1: The tour was aptly named Ronnie berated Ed backstage after 349 00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:13,000 Speaker 1: a show in Pittsburgh, Ed bounced back to his hotel room, 350 00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:14,680 Speaker 1: where he packed his shit and left in the middle 351 00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:17,560 Speaker 1: of the night. He never came back. He didn't know 352 00:21:17,600 --> 00:21:19,960 Speaker 1: it then, but Ed King got out while the getting 353 00:21:20,080 --> 00:21:23,840 Speaker 1: was good, not so much for Billy Powell, the band's 354 00:21:23,880 --> 00:21:27,240 Speaker 1: piano player. Billy made the unfortunate decision of arguing with 355 00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:30,760 Speaker 1: Skinner's road manager in a hallway directly outside Ronnie's hotel room. 356 00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:33,160 Speaker 1: Ronnie opened the door and told him to cut the shit. 357 00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:36,160 Speaker 1: Billy told Ronnie to mind his own fucking business. Ronnie 358 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:39,359 Speaker 1: punched Billy square in the mouth. Billy stumbled back. He 359 00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:41,720 Speaker 1: tasted blood as it rushed from his lip, and then 360 00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:44,399 Speaker 1: he felt his two front teeth bouncing around in his mouth. 361 00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:48,000 Speaker 1: Just a week later, at the tour's closing date in Jacksonville, 362 00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:51,400 Speaker 1: it was Ronnie's turn to taste blood. He started coughing 363 00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:54,119 Speaker 1: just a few songs into the set and tasted warm 364 00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:57,240 Speaker 1: iron in his mouth. All that singing from the throat 365 00:21:57,280 --> 00:21:59,680 Speaker 1: and not from the gut. They cut the show short. 366 00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:03,880 Speaker 1: The audience rioted, They tossed bottles, They fucked up Skinner's gear. 367 00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:06,800 Speaker 1: Police drew their revolvers. Kids get their arms chewed up 368 00:22:06,840 --> 00:22:11,000 Speaker 1: by can nines. Sixteen people were arrested. Ronnie's street fighting 369 00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:17,120 Speaker 1: rock gut Life manifested itself by osmosis. Backstage, Ronnie eating 370 00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:19,560 Speaker 1: something for the riot in his throat, something to make 371 00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:25,680 Speaker 1: the pain go away. Pills, coat, booze, something stronger, something anything. 372 00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:33,600 Speaker 1: The peppermin schnapps tasted good on ice. It wasn't like 373 00:22:33,640 --> 00:22:36,800 Speaker 1: bourbon or scotch. It went down real easy. The boys 374 00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:40,639 Speaker 1: and Leonard Skinnyard ordered another round and then another conversation 375 00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:44,159 Speaker 1: turned the hell even was schnapps? And how did you 376 00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:50,480 Speaker 1: say that word? Schnaps? Schnaps, schnopes, schnaps schnops, right, schnops. 377 00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:53,719 Speaker 1: Ronnie van Zant wasn't amused. The more he drank, the 378 00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:55,080 Speaker 1: more he wasn't the lead singer of one of the 379 00:22:55,119 --> 00:22:57,760 Speaker 1: biggest bands in the world anymore. He was the neighborhood 380 00:22:57,840 --> 00:23:00,879 Speaker 1: bully you pronounced schnaps. He dun't fuck like shut up 381 00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:04,000 Speaker 1: and stopped smooched together fucking idiots saying words all wrong 382 00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:06,760 Speaker 1: and shit, that's Ronnie, by the way, not me. So 383 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:08,960 Speaker 1: the band got back to their hotel room and they 384 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:11,600 Speaker 1: were pissed off, and Ronnie was still pissed too, So 385 00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:13,439 Speaker 1: he did what he always did when he was pissed. 386 00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:16,919 Speaker 1: He started swinging his fists around. The guy's told him 387 00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:19,600 Speaker 1: to cool it, and that just made him angrier. Ronnie 388 00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:21,920 Speaker 1: grabbed a bottle and smashed it. Then he waved around 389 00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:24,800 Speaker 1: a jagged piece of glass clutched in his fist. Someone 390 00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:27,960 Speaker 1: was gonna get fucked up tonight, Gary Rossington would do. 391 00:23:28,640 --> 00:23:30,840 Speaker 1: I'm gonna cut your hands. Ronnie said to Gary, you're 392 00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:34,560 Speaker 1: not gonna play guitar again. Ronnie slashed mcglass, cut open 393 00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:38,680 Speaker 1: Gary's hand. Ronnie slashed again, slice Gary's other hand, again 394 00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:42,800 Speaker 1: and again and again slash, slice, slash, slice, until Gary's 395 00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:45,880 Speaker 1: hands were chopped. To help, and the blood was everywhere. 396 00:23:46,359 --> 00:23:48,600 Speaker 1: Skared's road manager took carre the whole thing. Like he 397 00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:51,320 Speaker 1: always said, he had a briefcase stocked with two hundred 398 00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:53,760 Speaker 1: and fifty thousand dollars in cash just for shit like this, 399 00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:56,960 Speaker 1: bail money, hush money, blood and glass on hotel room, 400 00:23:57,000 --> 00:24:00,320 Speaker 1: carpet floor money. But although money meant to Gary's hands, 401 00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:03,800 Speaker 1: throwing money at a problem didn't always fix it, and 402 00:24:03,920 --> 00:24:09,160 Speaker 1: the problems kept coming. Not just Ronnie's problems, the crew 403 00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:11,200 Speaker 1: got into it with some assho who wouldn't stop running 404 00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:13,440 Speaker 1: his mouth at the bar one night. Words turned to 405 00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:15,920 Speaker 1: elbows in the face, which then turned into Skinnerard getting 406 00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:19,240 Speaker 1: tossed out on the street. That incident was immortalized in 407 00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:22,120 Speaker 1: the Lenyard skinnerd song What's Your Name, the leadoff track 408 00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:25,399 Speaker 1: to the album Street Survivors, released in October of nineteen 409 00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:29,760 Speaker 1: seventy seven. That album also featured the song that Smell, 410 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:33,760 Speaker 1: partly inspired by Gary fucked up on Kayludes and Booze 411 00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:36,040 Speaker 1: when he drove his brand new four Torino at high 412 00:24:36,119 --> 00:24:38,960 Speaker 1: speed through a telephone pole, then a parked car, an 413 00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:41,879 Speaker 1: oak tree, and finally into a house. No way, it 414 00:24:41,960 --> 00:24:44,640 Speaker 1: wasn't garyo hit the park car. That was another Skinner guitarist, 415 00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:46,480 Speaker 1: Alan Collins when he got into it in his own 416 00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:51,199 Speaker 1: automobile wreck. Ronnie used Gary and Allen's car accidents as 417 00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:55,159 Speaker 1: inspiration for the cautionary tale. It was that smell. You know, 418 00:24:55,520 --> 00:24:59,000 Speaker 1: do as a skinnered boy? Say not as we do? Still, 419 00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:01,040 Speaker 1: can you imagine? And the guy who gets so fucked 420 00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:03,240 Speaker 1: up that he carves up your hands with a broken bottle, 421 00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:05,600 Speaker 1: hands that used to make your living in his band, 422 00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:07,760 Speaker 1: or he knocks out your teeth in a hotel hallway, 423 00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:10,119 Speaker 1: which for the record, was not the last time Ronnie 424 00:25:10,119 --> 00:25:12,720 Speaker 1: punched out the piano player's teeth. That's the same guy 425 00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:14,359 Speaker 1: who comes to your hospital where it gives you a 426 00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:16,800 Speaker 1: guilt trip for crashing your car and then writes a 427 00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:19,200 Speaker 1: fucking song about it. I get a word for a 428 00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:24,159 Speaker 1: guy like that, asshole. Lard Skinner did a song for everything, 429 00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:28,240 Speaker 1: though it seemed, bar fights, car crashes, guns, drugs. They 430 00:25:28,359 --> 00:25:32,080 Speaker 1: even wrote their own eulogy. They just didn't know it yet. 431 00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:03,000 Speaker 1: Artemis Pile's shoulder burned from where the buckshot had hit him. 432 00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:05,200 Speaker 1: He held up his hands in the air as the 433 00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:09,280 Speaker 1: farmer reloaded. Don't shoot, he yelled, and then he desperately 434 00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:11,359 Speaker 1: told the farmer who he was and what had happened. 435 00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:15,840 Speaker 1: By the time rescue crews arrived on the evening of 436 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:18,480 Speaker 1: October twentieth, nineteen seventy seven, at the sight of the 437 00:26:18,600 --> 00:26:21,960 Speaker 1: Nerd skinner It's plane crash near Gilsburg, Mississippi, a stretch 438 00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:25,840 Speaker 1: of tree lined swamp called Slaughterhouse Road. The bone pickers 439 00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:28,840 Speaker 1: were already picking up on that smell, not just the 440 00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:35,000 Speaker 1: smell of death, but of morbid opportunity. They picked up wallets, purses, cash, jewelry, 441 00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:38,399 Speaker 1: all of it stolen, while twenty survivors lay there bleeding, 442 00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:42,680 Speaker 1: like Gary Rossington, one leg in both arms broken, his 443 00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:47,720 Speaker 1: stomach and liver punctured, and Billy Powell, whose facial lacerations 444 00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:51,040 Speaker 1: were so severe his nose was hanging off his face, 445 00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:55,360 Speaker 1: and the band's security chief, gene Otum, blind one eye 446 00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:58,200 Speaker 1: with a broken neck, whose final words to the pilots 447 00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:00,679 Speaker 1: before the crash were, I hope you too, sons of bitches, 448 00:27:00,720 --> 00:27:03,879 Speaker 1: lived through this, so I can kill you both. Gene 449 00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:06,680 Speaker 1: Otum didn't get to carry out his threat. The pilot 450 00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:09,800 Speaker 1: and co pilot were both dead, hanging from their cockpit 451 00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:14,320 Speaker 1: seat upside down in a tree. Steve Gains, the guitarist 452 00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:16,680 Speaker 1: who had replaced ed King just the year before, and 453 00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:20,280 Speaker 1: assisted Casey, one of Skinnerd's new backup singers, were also 454 00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:26,080 Speaker 1: among the dead, as was Skinnard's tour manager and Ronnie Vanzan, 455 00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:28,399 Speaker 1: who was not in his seat at the time of 456 00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:31,119 Speaker 1: the crash, but was passed out on the cabin floor, 457 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:34,920 Speaker 1: either from a stiff drink, a sedative, or both. He 458 00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:38,480 Speaker 1: died from blunt force trauma to his forehead, most likely 459 00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:40,720 Speaker 1: from a tree limb that thrust through a window during 460 00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:46,360 Speaker 1: that harrowing descent into the Mississippi tree line. Other details 461 00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:49,800 Speaker 1: of the crash were as ambiguous as Ronnie's lyrics. The 462 00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:53,240 Speaker 1: National Travel Safety Bureau's official report ruled the crash was 463 00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:56,720 Speaker 1: caused by quote fuel exhaustion and total loss of power 464 00:27:56,800 --> 00:28:00,000 Speaker 1: from both engines due to crew and attention to fuel support. 465 00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:04,239 Speaker 1: In other words, the plane burned through gas at an 466 00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:06,520 Speaker 1: abnormally high rate and the pilots failed to notice it 467 00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:10,320 Speaker 1: until it was too late still to sup It sure 468 00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:14,080 Speaker 1: was convenient that Peter Rudge, Skinnyrd's manager since Alan Walden 469 00:28:14,160 --> 00:28:17,280 Speaker 1: left in nineteen seventy four, chose to ride first class 470 00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:19,720 Speaker 1: on a commercial plane instead of an the least Corvair 471 00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:22,919 Speaker 1: with the rest of the boys. Others grasped for clues 472 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:26,200 Speaker 1: on the cover of Street Survivors, Skynyrd's final album with 473 00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:29,920 Speaker 1: Ronnie van Zen in their original lineup, released just days 474 00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:33,480 Speaker 1: before the crash, The cover showed the band standing on 475 00:28:33,560 --> 00:28:36,240 Speaker 1: a street surrounded by flames, as if they were making 476 00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:39,800 Speaker 1: a defiant stand in hell itself. The photograph was said 477 00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:42,400 Speaker 1: to be prophetic that the members touched by flames in 478 00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:44,520 Speaker 1: the photo were the ones to perish in the crash. 479 00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:48,560 Speaker 1: Closer inspection of the cover showed that actually all members 480 00:28:48,560 --> 00:28:50,320 Speaker 1: of the band were touched by the flames in one 481 00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:55,080 Speaker 1: way or another. Nevertheless, MCA pulled the original cover and 482 00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:57,520 Speaker 1: replaced it with a similar shot of the band standing 483 00:28:57,560 --> 00:29:02,040 Speaker 1: in utter darkness, illuminated only by a spotlight, and in 484 00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:07,080 Speaker 1: that darkness they remained. Lynyrd Skynard disbanded, but the crash 485 00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:10,240 Speaker 1: wasn't the end of their suffering. The swamp, the darkness, 486 00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:13,160 Speaker 1: the devil hell, none of that was through with him. Yet. 487 00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:16,480 Speaker 1: In the aftermath of the tragedy, one Roadi took his 488 00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:21,640 Speaker 1: own life, another was institutionalized. Guitarist Alan Collins lost his 489 00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:25,120 Speaker 1: wife and childbirth, and then years later lost his girlfriend 490 00:29:25,160 --> 00:29:28,280 Speaker 1: when he crashed his Ford Thunderbird into a ditch. The 491 00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:32,720 Speaker 1: accident left Alan paralyzed from the chests down. Surviving band 492 00:29:32,760 --> 00:29:36,640 Speaker 1: members argued and sued each other, largely over Leonard Skynerd's legacy. 493 00:29:37,160 --> 00:29:39,760 Speaker 1: Many of them had it out for their manager, Peter Rudge, 494 00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:42,080 Speaker 1: the one who leased the plane but refused to ride 495 00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:45,360 Speaker 1: in it. As a result, Rudge nearly killed himself with 496 00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:49,560 Speaker 1: cocaine and alcohol, and after a ten year hiatus, Lyonard 497 00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:54,720 Speaker 1: Skynyard returned, but they were never the same. Leonard Skinnerd 498 00:29:54,760 --> 00:29:57,360 Speaker 1: two point zero has been around for decades now, far 499 00:29:57,520 --> 00:30:00,800 Speaker 1: longer than the original lineup. Ever, was Ronnie's younger brother, 500 00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:03,760 Speaker 1: Johnny is the band's lead vocalist, not to be confused 501 00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:06,880 Speaker 1: with the third Van Sant brother, Donnie former lead singer 502 00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:10,720 Speaker 1: for thirty eight Special Gary Rossington remains the band's only 503 00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:14,600 Speaker 1: original member. If you're seeing Leonard Skinner these days, you're 504 00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:18,240 Speaker 1: watching a glorified tribute band. All the things that made 505 00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:21,440 Speaker 1: Leonard skinnerd for better or worse, the mystery, the danger, 506 00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:24,040 Speaker 1: the violence, all that either got left at the bottom 507 00:30:24,080 --> 00:30:26,920 Speaker 1: of a Mississippi swamp or was put six feet in 508 00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:35,280 Speaker 1: a hole. June twenty ninth, two thousand, Jacksonville Memory Gardens 509 00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:39,840 Speaker 1: Cemetery three am Clay County Sheriff's deputies responding to a 510 00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:43,240 Speaker 1: disturbance were shocked at what they found. Someone had robbed 511 00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:47,840 Speaker 1: the graves of Steve Gaines and Ronnie Van Sand near 512 00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:51,320 Speaker 1: the smashed marble maus of Liams. A plastic bag containing 513 00:30:51,360 --> 00:30:54,880 Speaker 1: Steve Gaines's ashes was on the ground. Next to it 514 00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:58,160 Speaker 1: was Ronnie's casket, which had been wrestled from its tomb. 515 00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:01,320 Speaker 1: The vandals either one able to pry open the casket 516 00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:03,560 Speaker 1: or they got spooked and ran off before they could 517 00:31:03,560 --> 00:31:07,800 Speaker 1: do further damage. The cops didn't have any leads for 518 00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:10,360 Speaker 1: more than twenty two years. The final resting place of 519 00:31:10,400 --> 00:31:12,920 Speaker 1: Steve Gaines and Ronnie van Zant had been a mecca 520 00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:15,800 Speaker 1: for skinnered fans to pay their respects, not just to 521 00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:17,800 Speaker 1: the memory of those two men, but to the memory 522 00:31:17,840 --> 00:31:21,080 Speaker 1: of Leonard skinnerd which, for all intents and purposes, died 523 00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:24,560 Speaker 1: in that Mississippi swamp back in nineteen seventy seven, and 524 00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:27,440 Speaker 1: for more than twenty two years visitors treated the grounds 525 00:31:27,560 --> 00:31:32,440 Speaker 1: with respect, but not on this night. The families were horrified. 526 00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:35,440 Speaker 1: They moved the remains of Steve Gaines and Ronnie van 527 00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:38,560 Speaker 1: Zandt to an undisclosed private location where they could carry 528 00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:42,400 Speaker 1: out eternity in peace. And why would someone do such 529 00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:45,360 Speaker 1: a thing, dig up a grave? Could they do it 530 00:31:45,480 --> 00:31:48,200 Speaker 1: for no other reason than to just do it, just 531 00:31:48,320 --> 00:31:50,440 Speaker 1: like Ronnie van Zant didn't need a reason to fight? 532 00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:54,120 Speaker 1: Or was it something else? Were the vandals hoping to 533 00:31:54,160 --> 00:31:58,479 Speaker 1: confirm one final long standing rumor it was Ronnie van 534 00:31:58,640 --> 00:32:04,520 Speaker 1: Zandt really wearing is Neil young t shirt? Can't you 535 00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:13,720 Speaker 1: smell that? Smell destruction, death, disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan, and 536 00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:31,880 Speaker 1: this this disgraceland. Disgraceland was created by yours truly and 537 00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:35,080 Speaker 1: is produced in partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this 538 00:32:35,240 --> 00:32:37,480 Speaker 1: episode can be found on the show notes page at 539 00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:41,479 Speaker 1: disgracelampod dot com. If you're listening as a Disgraceland All 540 00:32:41,600 --> 00:32:44,360 Speaker 1: Access member, thank you for supporting the show. We really 541 00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:47,040 Speaker 1: appreciate it, and if not, you can become a member 542 00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:51,200 Speaker 1: right now by going to disgracelamppod dot com. 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