Original subtitles

♪ Swamp Music ♪

♪ Going down to ♪

- [Voiceover] Despite these reservations upon it's release

in April 1974, Second Helping proved an enormous

commercial success.

Although like Pronounced it took it's time building

up momentum not aided by the failure of it's lead single

Ask Me No Questions to chart.

Yet, the input of Ed King as a composer the new

three pronged guitar line up

and Ronnie Van Zant's continued development

as a songwriter meant that over time the album

would make a significant impact.

- Lynyrd Skynyrd was very unique starting

with Second Helping and having three guitar players.

It's something that on paper can't work,

but each of the guitarists, Ed King,

Gary Rossington, and Allen Collins were

very different and had their own strengths

and understood that about each other.

I think Second Helping stands up as a great album.

It has Call me the Breeze.

It has The Ballad Of Curtis-Loew.

There was depth to the music

and to the singing,

and to everything about it,

that again made you feel things without

quite understanding them which is what

the best music should do.

♪ Well, I used to wake the morning ♪

♪ Before the rooster crow ♪

♪ Searching for soda bottles ♪

♪ To get myself some dough ♪

♪ Brought them down to the corner ♪

♪ Down to the country store ♪

♪ Cash them in and give my money ♪

♪ To a man named Curtis-Loew ♪

- Allen Collins and Ronnie brought Curtis-Loew,

The Ballad of Curtis-Loew to the band

and unlike any other song we'd written,

that was written outside of our rehearsal space.

That was written at home, so they already

brought it finished and I arranged it

and it was an inspiration.

Here's a song I didn't write that I really kind

of grabbed on to and said, "Wow, this is

"it's a very cool song."

It's still one of my favorite Skynyrd songs.

♪ Play me a song Curtis Loew, Curtis Loew ♪

♪ I got your drinkin' money ♪

♪ So tune up your dobro ♪

♪ People said he was useless ♪

♪ Them people all were fools ♪

♪ 'Cause Curtis Loew was the finest picker ♪

♪ To ever play the blues ♪

- I think the band was definitely still growing

when they did Second Helping.

They were getting stronger and more confident.`

Ballad of Curtis-Loew is a great song, really cool

and sort of very distinctive.

It give Skynyrd this whole other part

of their personality and Call Me The Breeze

is this boogie tune.

I can hear a connection to like Bob Dylan

Watching The River Flow or something like that

and just the blues, but the beat and the way they play

with the breaks and things sort of designed

to sort of show off the band, arrangement wise.

It was definitely a step in the next direction.

I think that this was creatively maybe the high point

of the band.

♪ Call me the breeze ♪

♪ I keep blowin' down the road ♪

♪ They call me the breeeze, baby ♪

♪ I keep blowing down the road ♪

♪ I ain't got me nobody ♪

♪ I don't carry me no load ♪

♪ Ain't no changin' the weather ♪

♪ Ain't no changes in me ♪

- Ronnie Van Zant was showing

an incredible ability to write songs

that move people and also to have great taste

when picking outside song writers which they didn't do

a lot of, but they did with great effect when they did.

Call Me The Breeze I think is the perfect example.

JJ Cale's a great songwriter who also provided great songs

for Eric Clapton, just by pulling from him

with the same sort of musical gusto and swagger

and upbeat swing.

It was again, music that made you feel good.

They took a very cool, laid-back, sort

of swampy JJ Cale song and turned it

into an out and out party, rock anthem

that gets everybody up

and dancing and feeling good.

- [Voiceover] Shortly after the album's release

the band played their biggest show to date

alongside The Allman Brothers Band

at the Georgia Jam in front of 61,000 fans

in Atlanta.

On the back of their country hit Ramblin' Man

at this time Greg Allman's ensemble were

at the peak of their popularity and other Capricorn acts

such as The Marshall Tucker Band

and Wet Willie had also begun to build a strong following.

Despite being uncomfortable about being identified

too closely with this wave of music now being dubbed

Southern Rock, Skynyrd were canny enough to know

they had the songs to distinguish them

from these contemporaries.

- They played with The Marshall Tucker Band

on a lot of dates.

They played with The Allman Brothers on a few dates.

They played with Charlie Daniels on some dates.

Skynyrd got a bigger picture actually that we are who we are

and we're going to knock them dead

and just give us that stage and give us our time

and we're gonna go prove it.

If somebody can follow us, God Bless them,

but it wasn't really competitive.

It was an amount of self-assurance.

- Lynyrd Skynyrd was the show stopper.

When I walked to the stage

with Lynyrd Skynyrd the hairs

on the back of my neck stood up.

It was like the Gladiators going into the arena.

We're fixing to kill.

We're gonna blow this roof off of this place,

and we did, over and over and over again.

- [Voiceover] Yet, from the beginning of 1974

controversy had surrounded Skynyrd's live shows.

While they were in part looking to distance themselves

from the Southern Rock boom, the new decision

to use the Confederate Flag as the band's onstage

backdrop in many ways identified them

as the quintessential Southern band.

The connotations of the flag itself raise serious

questions.

Not only did it represent the South's historical defense

of slavery it had also been subsequently appropriated

by the Ku Klux Klan and a number of other white

supremacist groups.

- They were not in favor of this at the beginning.

According to them it was all MCA's doing.

It was the marketing people, the promotions people.

Sat back in L.A. and New York and they would say,

"How we gonna present this band?

"You know they come on stage.

"They sing about growing up in the deep South

"and all that goes along with that.

"How we gonna present it?"

And they come up with, "Well, why don't we do

"the Confederate Flag behind them?"

One of the worse decisions ever made,

but also one of the best

because it really became identified with them,

but also forced them to have to explain.

They had some splainin' to do.

Mostly the critics who are based in New York

and L.A. you know, people like Lester Bangs,

and you know, Robert Christgau, and people

very araldite men, Robert Hilburn, people like that.

Were not so, quick to accept the Confederate Flag

as an innocent symbol of rock-n-roll.

That was a symbol of slavery.

That was a symbol of treason.

That was a symbol of 1/2 a million Americans dying

in a war.

- As to who's decision it was, I think if the band didn't

want to do it they wouldn't have done it.

As a natural thing to do because the band didn't see it

in the way it was often interpreted.

A piece of history, you know.

I think that they kind of wanted to do it

as rebels, as Southerners, not to relive the past

in stretch of the imagination.

I don't think it was any more than we grew up in the South

let's put the flag up there and go play for it.

Unfortunately it could be misunderstood.

- The idea of using a Confederate Flag as a back drop

on the stage came from the band.

MCA would never have suggested that

because you know, it's derisive

and racially.

But MCA didn't stop them from it either.

Nor I.

That's what they wanted to do.

That's what they felt in their hearts.

That's who they believed they were.

That's who they were, so that's what they did.

- I always thought it was a Rebel Flag.

Me personally, understand I'm from Southern

California, I'm about as anti-slavery as you can get.

The flag being part of their heritage,

I understand that, too.

Just because we draped a flag back there doesn't mean

that we believed in slavery or anything.

It's simply a Rebel Flag

and the band was surely Rebels.

- [Voiceover] This controversy was heightened

with the release of Skynyrd's next single,

Sweet Home Alabama which was in part

an anthem for the South.

It also a highly ambiguous statement

from Ronnie Van Zant.

Not only did he address Neil Young in the lyrics

taking him to task for the songs, Southern Man

and Alabama in which Young had condemned

white Southerners for their racism.

He also made reference to Alabama's segregationist

Governor, George Wallace.

- I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet

before the feet of tyranny I say segregation now,

segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever.

- [Voiceover] These lyrics would forever cause doubt

over Van Zant's own position on segregation.

Yet, the controversy in no way damaged the impact

of the single itself which not only provided the band

with their first top 10 hit on the Billboard Chart,

but also broke them internationally.

- Ronnie was proud to be from the South.

It's a rallying cry for the South.

That's really what Sweet Home Alabama is.

If they hadn't written this great song,

really strong song we wouldn't be talking

about it today, nobody would care.

- Sweet Home Alabama represents the growing

confidence of young southern men.

- It represents the growing confidence of the band.

It represents some sort of swagger awash in America.

It gave people a sort of wistful feeling

of wanting something that was gone and again

for some people that represented wanting something

that most of the world was happy it was gone,

but for many other people it didn't represent

that specifically at all.

It just represented something good in some indefinable way.

It was a song that made you happy, made you stomp your feet,

made you jump up out of your seat and they just nailed it.

Everything came together into a perfect song

for that band at that time.

♪ Well, I heard Mr. Young sing about her ♪

♪ Well, I hear old Neil put her down ♪

♪ Well, I hope Neil Young will remember ♪

♪ A Southern Man don't need him around anyhow ♪

♪ Sweet Home Alabama ♪

♪ Where the skis are so blue, whoo ♪

- What I always thought was it was a completley

legitimate song.

I never had any problem with that song.

I'm not suggesting that the political logic

of Sweet Home Alabama is anything special,

but simply as an expression of feeling

it seem completely legitimate.

Basically, he's saying to Neil Young

who's after all a Canadian,

don't you moralize at us.

And I don't think that's a bad thing

fort somebody to say.

He was moralizing.

And I love Neil Young.

Neil Young is one of my favorite artists

in the whole history of his music.

♪ Southern man better keep your head ♪

♪ Don't forget what your good book said ♪

♪ Southern change gonna come at last ♪

♪ Now your crosses are burning fast. ♪

♪ Southern man ♪

- The Neil Young thing of course

it was a repost to Neil Young

for dumping on Southern men, you know,

didn't do what the good book says

and yeah, he had every right to, Neil Young

had every right to do a song like that.

It was perfectly timed.

And Ronnie had every perfect right to dispute it

and stand up for Southern manhood.

That part of it was fine,

but when you get into the Governor in Birmingham

Birmingham, why did he choose Birmingham?

It's not the capital of the state.

Birmingham is a place where the worse,

bloodiest race riots happened in Alabama.

Why did is he choosing, in Birmingham

they love the governor,.

Yeah, we know that.

They love him because they're a bunch of racists.

So is he was he sending them up?

Or was he endorsing them?

We never knew.

- I put the background vocals on that

without discussing it with them.

It was a very tough session

because I used black women

and they don't think Sweet Home Alabama

they think George Wallace.

♪ In Birmingham they love the governor ♪

♪ Boo, hoo, hoo ♪

♪ Now we all did what we could do ♪

- What's he doing there?

He's playing both ends against the middle.

That's what he's doing.

That boo, boo, boo thing.

Who was booing?:

He leaves that completely open.

I really tried to pin him down on it.

He said, with a fair amount of clarity

that he did not agree with George Wallace's view of race.

He said that with a fair amount of clarity.

Did he therefore think that the appeal that George Wallace

had to working-class Southerners was all together

illegitimate when no other candidate was

in any way trying to meet

any of their interests and George Wallace was smart enough

to do class stuff and in fact did some liberal stuff

for working people in Alabama.

He understands that there's something about George Wallace

that he want to celebrate.

And there's something about George Wallace

that he wants to critcize.

There's a certain type of chip on shoulder,

double-dare you thing going on where he wants

to rile up and get his core audience,

the people he grew up with

and wants to say to the rest of the rock audience

who he really would love to have on board,

who he wants to have buying his record.

No, this is who I am.

Take it or leave it.

I'm gonna do this now

because I'm not simply going to be kissing ass here.

It's a very, very complicated gesture

that he brought off with more subtly than I can

in the end penetrate and that speaks well of him.

- [Voiceover] With a bonafide hit to propel them

Skynyrd continued to tour the US into the Summer.

Yet, despite their growing fame, their devotion

to the chaotic routine, of the rock-n-roll lifestyle

was beginning to take it's toll on the band

and strained their relationship with manager,

Alan Walden.

- By the time the band got out there

they had been playing the bars so long

that almost everybody in the band was an alcoholic,

myself included, you know.

I needed to grasp real control of the band

before they started fucking up the whole thing.

I began to have to talk to hotel managers

more and more and more about them tearing up hotels.

Spend a good bit of time trying

to convince the law officials not to arrest them all, okay?

Finally in Saint Louis one night, they were checking

in to a hotel and on the way in, checking in,

they busted out the exit signs in the hallway.

Well, the bellman calls down to the desk

and the desk comes up and says, "Hey, you guys gotta leave."

"Well, that ain't no problem, we'll get our manager to get

"another hotel."

There was a convention in town.

That was the last hotel that had any rooms, okay.

So now they're mad with me because I can't get them

a room in the middle of the night.

I said, "Let me tell you something,

"this just goes to show you why you shouldn't be doing

"this dumb shit."

- [Voiceover] In August the band members returned

to Jacksonville and back in the relatively tranquil

environment of their home turf were able to recover

from their excesses.

Work soon began at Hell House and new material however,

with a creative partnership of Ed King and Ronnie Van Zant

continued to thrive.

- I came to rehearsal with this groove

that Ronnie really liked.

Actually Ronnie contributed to the groove.

It was the first time he ever did.

He says, "Look, I like that and the verses

"want you to do this and then go back

"to what you have."

Saturday Night Special

So I'm there rehearsing with the band trying

to teach them the groove and Ronnie's over there

in the corner and after about 20 minutes Ronnie comes

up to me, not on the mic which he usually did,

sing for everybody, this is really, this tore me up.

He cupped my ear with his hand

and he sung to me.

"Two feets they come a creepin

"like a black cat do."

You know, and he sang the whole verse to me.

♪ Two thiefs they come a creepin' ♪

♪ Like a black cat do ♪

♪ Two bodies laying necked ♪

♪ Creeper think he got nothing to lose ♪

♪ So he creeps into the house, Lord ♪

♪ Unlocks the door ♪

♪ And as a man's reaching for his trousers ♪

♪ Shoots him full of bullet holes ♪

♪ Mister Saturday night special ♪

- I mean I feel inspired now just thinking about it.

I went right to the chorus and then he wrote the chorus.

So he had a verse and a chorus,

went to go fishing.

He went fishing, you know.

- [Voiceover] Although Saturday Night Special

developed quickly the rehearsals also highlighted

the limitations of drummer Bob Burns who was struggling

to recover from the heavy touring during the first half

of the year.

Although Ronnie Van Zant started looking for a temporary

replacement, Burns himself sensed that his time with Skynyrd

was coming to an end.

- I just got so burned out.

What they were asking for I just

had had so much of it

and for so long

I just told them to get another drummer.

You see the way I'm playing

and I developed some pretty serious illnesses

to keep me where I couldn't play correctly.

- We tried to rehearse Saturday Night Special with him,

but it just wasn't right.

Leon and I went to Atlanta and auditioned Artimus Pyle

who was a good friend of the Marshall Tucker boys.

Al Kooper dropped by and said, "You know that song

"you guys worked up, Saturday Night Special,

"why don't you work that up with Artimus

"because it's gonna be in this movie, The Longest Yard."

So we started working up with Artimus

and Al liked what he heard and he said,

"Go over to Studio one and record it."

So we did.

- [Voiceover] Artimus Pyle who had previously worked

with Charlie Daniels proved a perfect replacement for Burns.

♪ For 20 dollars you can buy yourself one too ♪

- Well, he was very good.

I thought he was better than Bob.

It was a good thing for the band,

musically it was really a good thing for the band.

- Ronnie called me after talking to Charlie

and after talking to the Caldwell brothers

Toy and Tommy, I think Charlie said something

to the effect of, "I know a guy that's crazy enough

"to be in your band, Ronnie.

"He's as crazy or crazier than all of you."

To be the drummer of Skynyrd you have to be a little crazy.

Ed knew that Bob had to take a break

and they needed somebody, so I was

Mister Somebody and I was thrilled.

- [Voiceover] During this break in their touring schedule

Van Zant also actively sought to severe the band's ties

with Alan Walden and another option was interested

and available.

British manager Peter Rutch who had been overseeing

The Who's affairs since 1971 was over awed

by Skynyrd shows opening the Quadrophenia tour

and had let Van Zant know that if the nature of the band's

relationship changed with Walden he'd

happily take his place.

- It was heart-breaking to me, but at the same time

it was like a big old concrete block falling off

of my shoulders.

- I don't think Ronnie trusted Alan.

Didn't think for where the band was headed

that Alan was the right guy.

Needed somebody bigger.

I and I think Peter Rutch, you know not many people

could get to Ronnie as far as making an impression

on him because Ronnie could suss you out pretty quick.

I mean real, real fast.

He was very, very bright, but Peter Rutch I think

put one over on him.

Not that Peter Rutch was deceptive or anything

except Ronnie was overwhelmed by Peter's accent

his demeanor, just Peter was the guy.

Of course, Peter managed The Who, and Tanya Tucker,

and The Stones, so why wouldn't he be, you know.

- [Voiceover] Rutch took over shortly before Skynyrd

was due to head to Europe for their first non-domestic

tour to capitalize on their surging popularity overseas.

The issue of a drummer now became pressing

as they still hadn't formerly invited Artimus Pyle

to take on the roll full time.

And a flagging Bob Burns was reluctantly taken along

for the show.

It would prove to be the end of his journey with the band.

- They were kind of phasing Bob out, but they had to go do

a European tour and there wasn't time to teach me the

entire set, so for a little short time,

just maybe two weeks we were on the road

and Bob and I played together, one little tour.

And then they went to Paris and Bob had a nervous

breakdown.

- I don't think it was drugs.

I don't think it was drugs.

I think Bob was under a lot of pressure.

There was times on stage where he would lose his place

in songs and none of us got on Bob that much,

but Ronnie sure did.

I mean if you messed up, Ronnie would get on you real bad.

In Europe one night, one morning, early morning

we had a bus ride and Ronnie got on Bob's case

about the night before, just really, really, bad

and Bob lost it.

♪ Oh, 9000 dollars, that's all we could win ♪

♪ But we smiled at the Yankee Slicker ♪

♪ With a big ol' Southern grin ♪

♪ They're gonna take me out to California gonna ♪

♪ Make me a superstar ♪

♪ Just pay me all of my money ♪

♪ And mister maybe you won't get a scar ♪

♪ Should have signed the contract ♪

♪ Should have signed today ♪

♪ Gonna give you lots of money ♪

♪ Workin' for MCA ♪

- It was a good tour.

We played some damn good music.

I kept a diary of it.

I got road fatigue, you know.

I wasn't eating right.

I wasn't sleeping right.

I was down to skin and bones.

I wasn't eating.

All the perverted sex, you know,

I didn't think it was perverted back then,

later on in my older life I can see, wow, man.

My mind just blew a 50 amp fuse.

I pushed so hard.

I pushed harder than a man should ever push himself.

I snapped a 50 amp fuse.

Had to go in the hospital.

- It was sad.

It was really sad.

I think it just because the band was just overworked.

We were under Peter's direction at the time

and we hadn't really had much of a break that whole year.

What happened with Bob in England, I could go into detail,

but I'd really rather not.

He just had a breakdown of all breakdowns.

it was quite visible to everyone.

It was so bad the hotel guy kicked us out.

Wouldn't let us come back.

Actually he threw the house cat out the window

and killed him from five stories above

and it got worse after that.

Yeah, it was sad.

It didn't have to happen.

Bob had grown up with these guys.

I think if we just handled our tours better.

Nobody who managed the band really saw

any longevity, of course how could you back then?

It was just good, go for all the money you can right now.

- [Voiceover] The relentless nature of the Skynyrd schedule

continued directly for all the tour.

Returning to the US in late December 1975

by January 6th the were booked into WEBB IV studios

in Atlanta to record a new album.

Artimus Pyle had now been drafted in

as a replacement for Bob Burns and Al Kooper

was once again present as a producer

despite MCA having recently bought out his

Sounds Of The South deal with the band.

Yet, his circumstances were totally foreign

to all involved.

With no time to compose new material during the

previous year Skynyrd had 21 days to both write

and record the album.

- We were putting out a new album, new material

every nine months.

Bands don't do that today.

It might take two or three years, you know?

But they wanted new product every nine months

which I thought was just way too much.

Nuthin' Fancy was written and recorded in the studio.

Up until this time everything was written at Hell House,

thoroughly rehearsed, maybe played once or twice

in front of people, then taken in the studio.

- We had a month.

We were in Atlanta.

I said, "I'm gonna go to New York

"for two weeks,

"and I'm gonna party my brains out.

"This is your time to do what you normally do,

"but you only have two weeks to do it."

I came back and it was what I thought it would be

which is it was almost done.

This was a very tense making of a record.

There was no fun involved for me what-so-ever.

- Things changed with our relationship with Al.

It was really out of control.

There was times at the studio when other band

members would bring all their friends by.

All these people coming and going

and lots of drugs, beer which we never had

at Hell House.

At Hell House it was all business.

Nuthin' Fancy was just difficult

and Al was totally fed up and understandably so.

It was really hard for him because they were really

everybody was really putting it in his face.

He was a Yankee and it really got tough for Al.

- [Voiceover] With no one satisfied with the situation

the music itself suffered.

Yet, the hectic schedule that had been

imposed on the band was apparently inflexible.

It not only proved detrimental to the album itself

but also spelled the end of Skynyrd's creative

partnership with Kooper.

- The last song on the record Ronnie has a head cold

that's so bad, you can just tell.

There are sections on it that needed to be redone

maybe expanded.

It was just unfinished record.

But yet the minute it was over, the rest of the band

was on a bus going to Detroit to start a tour

the second it was over.

Ronnie and I stayed back to finish the vocal

on Whisky Rock and Roller, then we both took

a plane to Detroit to meet the band

and then the tour just started.

- I remember vividly the last day.

The tour bus was parked outside.

It wasn't like they were gonna go home

and get ready to tour.

The tour bus was there and they were going right out

and they were gonna start touring.

I thought to myself while all this was going on,

"I can't do this again.

"This is torture."

So I said to them, "I would rather be your friend

"than be your producer from now on."

And I think you know, they had had enough of me.

- [Voiceover] Issued in late March in 1975 the album

Nuthin Fancy peaked at number nine on the

Billboard Charts.

The band's first Top-10 album.

Yet, Van Zant himself expressed his dissatisfaction

with the end result.

♪ Cheating woman make you crazy ♪

♪ Cheating woman make you a fool ♪

♪ She'll leave your house or home ♪

♪ Brother, there's nothing that you can do ♪

♪ Well, I can't stand the pain no more ♪

♪ She don't want my love for sure ♪

♪ She don't want poor me ♪

♪ Oh knocking on her front door ♪

- I think it was a more laid back record

than the other two because they felt

comfortable in a way

and they were trying to be even more

of themselves on that record

and also they'd changed as human beings

over the course of the three albums.

♪ I pick cotton down on the Dixie line ♪

♪ I work all day tryin' to make a dime ♪

♪ But that's all right, that's OK by me ♪

♪ 'Cause that's the way that it was meant to be ♪

♪ Big city, hard times never bother me ♪

♪ I'm a country boy, I'm as happy as I can be ♪

- Do we sound like a tired band?

Well, the songs aren't as strong.

Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd and Second Helping

were really strong records, you know they're like,

you know, like bang out of the gate, like big time.

No sophomore jinx with them at all,

so their sophomore jinx kind of came with their next

record although their musicianship as players hadn't

dropped and their ability to play like a great band

hadn't changed, but you know, compositionally

those songs didn't stand the test of time.

- Nuthin' Fancy is a disappointing record

because it didn't have any of the classic songs

that had defined Lynyrd Skynyrd's first two albums.

it still sonically sounds pretty good.

They're introducing some new elements

with mandolin and other stringed instruments

and it has a couple of really solid songs,

Saturday Night Special, Whiskey Rock and Roller

and maybe most poignantly Am I losing

which really seems to be Ronnie reflecting

on the band's state and his own state as they struggle

with success and all the problems that come

with success.

♪ I recall when I used to come home ♪

♪ Never had a dime ♪

♪ Lord, I always had a good time ♪

♪ I recall drinking wine ♪

♪ With one of my friends ♪

♪ Lord, can't go back again ♪

♪ Am I losing ♪

♪ My own way back home ♪

♪ Am I losing ♪

- That's an honest reflection of what happens now.

Where am I now?

Am I losing what made me great,

what made me strong, what made me

who I am?

And I think that in itself is a powerful statement.

- [Voiceover] During the recording of the album

new comer Artimus Pyle was introduced into Skynyrd's

inner sanctum and the following few months

would prove a baptism of fire for the drummer.

If life on the road for the band had proven excessive

from previous tours, under the management

of Pete Rutch their parting increased

and as they moved directly from the studio

to the tour bus following the Nuthin' Fancy

sessions the drink, drugs and punch outs became

a daily phenomenon once more.

- Yes, there were fights,

but I've never been afraid of a fight.

I can take a punch.

I just immediately integrated into what I was doing

in their world, you know.

Which was a tour bus, an airplane, a stage,

a tour bus, an airplane, a stage, you know,

just a hotel room, hotel room, tour bus, airplane,

stage, studio, studio, you know, just those five

things in a row all the time for three years.

Back in those days I enjoyed smoking weed,

but the guys they were hard on themselves.

You can't burn the candle at both ends,

and expect to have your energy up all the time.

I don't see how they functioned.

Backstage at our concert it looked like an ABC store.

There were cases of scotch, and cases of vodka,

and Jack Daniels, and cases of beer.

The promoter you know, the promoter always trying

to make the band feel really good

and I never understood that.

They brought all this you know cartons and cartons

of cigarettes and the guys would my boys thought

that at every show we played these big arenas,

stadiums ,all that stuff that was backstage they were

supposed to smoke and drink all of it then.

- [Voiceover] Ronnie Van Zant in particular was struggling

to control his intake which had a disturbing effect

on his temperament.

Never one to back down from conflict alcohol

not only fueled an inner rage, but let him intimidate

and often physically abused his own band mates.

- Ronnie was a maniac that whole tour, just a maniac,

night after night something traumatic would happen.

One time in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Ronnie had vowed

well, he had vowed two weeks before that

to stop drinking and he did,

It was really he was a lot better.

I think he was miserable but towards the second week

he got better, but something snapped in Lake Charles

two weeks later where he just went crazy,

and he gathered everybody in the room.

He ripped off his shirt.

He grabbed a lamp on the nightstand and broke it

against the night stand all this jagged glass hanging

and he slammed me up against the wall held it right

to my neck and he said, "I don't want you to say

"a fucking word."

"Okay, no problem."

I can't remember really what his gripe was.

"Y'all are stealing from me."

That was one thing .

I can't it was just unjustified it was stupid.

- [Voiceover] As this run of 61 shows aptly named

the torture tour continued across America

the camaraderie between the band members quickly

began to break down exacerbated by Van Zant's routinely

drunken and abusive behavior.

Struggling with both of volatile atmosphere and his own

substance abuse issues Ed King decided midway through the

tour that it was time to take his exit from the world

of Skynyrd.

- Things started to fall apart around the middle of May.

There were decisions just being made that everybody

disagreed with and I didn't think it would hurt to take a

month off and go rest and maybe write some more

and get back in our little groove that we had

and I know people will disagree and say this is a lie,

but it's the absolute truth because I have no reason

to lie, but Ronnie said to me in front of everybody,

"Look man I've had it with all this bickering back

"and forth management and all this and I just want

"to focus on what I do.

" I'll let you you make the decisions.

"Just check it with me, but you deal with them, you know."

So I did.

I told Peter Rutch I said, " I wanna cut this tour

"and go home and rest take at least maybe two weeks off,

"and maybe 2 weeks writing and then resume it."

Well that was around the middle of May

and by the 26th of May I was out of the band.

The only thing I can surmise is that sometime

between then and the 26th of May somebody got

together with Ronnie and said, "You know, you can't

"do this, you can't just stop a tour"

Then the pressure started coming down on me

to move me out and rather than move me out I

just decided, "Well, this isn't worth it.

"I'm just going to leave."

- One night during the making of Nuthin' Fancy I was

living in a hotel separate from wherever they were living.

Ed came over one night and he was complaining to me

about how much money he had spent the last year

on serious drugs

and that he didn't know how much

longer he could stay in the band,

so I wasn't totally surprised

by that and if that's why he left

I was glad he left.

- I had my share of drugs, oh yeah,

and I'd had enough, too, yeah.

I'm not saying I was perfect by no means you know,

but I know when I left the band I knew the band wasn't going

to end well.

I had no idea it would end like it did,

but it wasn't going to end well and I really didn't want

to be a part of it after that because my creativity

at that point was shot, really there's just so much friction

and everybody needed some rest.

People don't come to your hotel room crying and saying

they need a break if they are just kidding, you know.

I mean it was some mental stuff going on.

- [Voiceover] Now a man down

in July they rode back to Florida,

to close the tour at the Jacksonville Coliseum.

Despite the tensions within the group,

the hotels damaged and the various run-ins

with the police for their audiences had for most part

seen no knock on effect for the show themselves.

Yet, back in their own stomping grounds

things finally fell apart.

End of the '75 torture tour, the hometown boys came home.

Big deal, right?

We get into town and a guy named Sidney Drashin

he's the promoter, he brings a big fat bag

of pure cocaine.

Well everybody gets into it.

Charlie Daniels open the show then we came out

and played like four songs

and Ronnie collapsed.

Charlie Daniels came out and jammed with us,

tried to kind of save the day,

but it just wasn't enough for the crowd

because we didn't do the whole set.

The crowd was like carnivores you know,

(growls)

They wanted that music

and we couldn't deliver that night.

Even doing Free Bird when we went to the fast part

I will never forget leaving the stage and looking back

and seeing glass bottles bouncing off my drums.

- The amazing thing is how little Peter Rutch cared.

He's doing tons of cocaine himself.

This is no secret.

And he's encouraging all this coke use.

Looking back I can't even fathom it.

Alan Walden would have never done that.

He never would have met them at an airport

with coke for them to do or take on a plane.

They were kicked off planes.

They were refused flights because when they would

get drunk and stoned on a plane it would be a physical

threat to the plane going down, ironically.

Ronnie, so the story goes tried to throw a groupie

out of a plane at 35,000 feet,

Tried to open the back, the door and throw

a guy out.

These are guys in big, big trouble.

Making great music, but in big trouble

and nobody cared.

- [Voiceover] Following a much needed Summer break

the band returned for further shows in August '75

including a number of dates supporting Peter Frampton.

At the same time with only nine months past since

they had completed Nuthin' Fancy plans were already

under way for Skynyrd to return to the studio

to begin work on a fourth album.

Without Al Kooper to oversee the recordings Peter Rutch

arranged for Van Zant and his bandmates to meet with

legendary producer Tom Dowd who had begun his career

in jazz before moving into soul and then rock.

Operating out of Criteria Studios in Miami, Dowd

seemed an obvious choice having been the producer

behind The Allman Brothers Band's break-through albums.

In September 300 miles South of their home town,

SKynyrd began recording Gimme Back My Bullets.

- They liked Dowd.

How do you not like a guy with that kind of record?

He's tremendous, pivotal figure in the music industry.

The whole thing with Tom Dowd was sort of a master plan

to get Skynyrd to go to Atlantic Records.

It was a whole thing.

We're gonna move off MCA, you know.

We're sick and tired of these guys.

We're not getting paid enough.

It was sort of a plan where it was going to be

an incremental thing.

The skins would be greased by having Tom Dowd

do their album and they they would just make a break

completely.

- They respected Tom as like a Father figure.

Al Kooper was like one of the bros, you know?

Al should have been put out on a little bit

of a pedestal.

Al should have be given a little bit more respect.

Tom Dowd, they called him Father Dowd.

Tom liked to rehearse parts and go over things.

He was meticulous and had good ideas.

And yes, Ed was missed.

I missed Ed.

And Ronnie missed that guy that he wrote songs with,

but the sessions were better on Gimme Back My Bullets

because we were a little more prepared.

Some songs had been written on the road

and on break.

There was some material that had been looked at.

- [Voiceover] Completed in November 1975

Gimme Back My Bullets was rushed released

and out in stores the following February.

Yet, there were signs that Skynyrd were losing

their wider appeal.

Although it was the first of their albums to chart

in the UK, where they were steadily amassing

a significant fan base.

In the US it sold disappointingly.

It's lead single Double Trouble peaking at number 80

on the Billboard Chart.

Without Ed King's input as a song writer

or Al Kooper's slick production, for many

it was a sign that the band were in a creative rut.

- The thing that I really contributed to those records

was capturing the sound of the band

and using the studio

to enhance it even further

than it was and the best way to judge that

is I did the first three albums

and is to listen to the fourth album

because it's devoid of anything that I did

which surprised me.

It just made them sound like an average band

which they weren't and I was disappointed.

I remember getting the actual LP

and I didn't know how I was going to feel

about it.

I took it out and put it on the turntable

and as I was putting the needle down I said,

"Knock me on my ass, please."

So then I knew.

I wanted it to be good.

I was very disappointed

and I felt bad for them.

♪ Life is so strange when it's changing, yes in deed ♪

♪ Well, I've seen the hard times ♪

♪ And the pressure's been on me ♪

♪ But I keep on workin' ♪

♪ Like a workin' man do ♪

♪ And I got my act together ♪

♪ I'm gonna walk all over you ♪

♪ Gimme back my bullets ♪

♪ Put em back where they belong ♪

♪ Ain't foolin' around cause I done had my fun ♪

♪ Ain't gonna see no more damage done. ♪

♪ Gimme back my bullets ♪

- Al Kooper had a certain style

and the early recordings of the band

he had full control of that freshness.

When Tom came along we were looking

for some help and I don't think Tom was able

to capture that sound.

It was nobody's fault,

but the facts were that the band

was very popular,

expected to come out with some more material.

Tom Dowd was the magic man, Aretha Franklin,

Live Cream, Derrick and the Dominos,

The Allman Brothers, he had a track record,

so Ronnie liked that.

But capturing the magic from Pronounced,

that boat had left, you know had sailed,

that Pronounced boat.

You can't get that magic,

but Tom in his own way emphasized

the words and Ronnie Van Zant and made sure

that those vocals were out there.

And that's what the band was about.

♪ Those misters dressed in blue ♪

♪ Never done so right by me ♪

♪ Some of the times I was innocent ♪

♪ but the judge said guilty ♪

♪ I'm not one to complain ♪

♪ Now son I tell you true ♪

♪ When the black cat cross your trail ♪

♪ Lord they come in pairs of two ♪

♪ Double Trouble ♪

♪ That's what my friends all call me ♪

♪ Double, double ♪

♪ T-R-O-U-B-L-E ♪

- I think that Tom Dowd was probably a logical person

to work with because he was clearly a great producer.

He had the history with The Allman Brothers

as well as with Cream who are very profound

influence on Lynyrd Skynyrd,

so I'm sure it all made sense.

I'm sure that Tom worked his very hardest

to get something out of them.

I think the biggest issue with that album

was that the material just wasn't there.

They really didn't have the songs.

The loss of Ed King almost certainly had

a volatarious impact on Lynyrd Skynyrd song writing.

Their song writing suffered.

Their creativity suffered and at that point

it seemed like a fairly reasonable bet

to think that Lynyrd Skynyrd was petering out

and was not going to be a creative or commercial

force for much longer.

- [Voiceover] Yet, Gimme Back My Bullets would be divisive

with some critics and fans viewing it as an overlooked gem

in Skynyrd's cannon.

- I think Gimmie Back My Bullets was one of their best

albums, that's just my opinion, always.

Me and Alan always agreed on that.

I loved that album.

Of course none of the rest of them,

it didn't sell well.

Nobody else was really satisfied with it.

I thought it was a great album.

- I feel like this record really did get it's

short's ripped.

Maybe because there isn't a big hit song

on the record.

I think that they are actually getting stronger

as a band when I listen to this record

now, today.

It's very, it's a very self assured record.

The playing is great.

It's a great record.

Probably a better record than even fans

might give it credit for, just because it doesn't have

Free Bird or Sweet Home Alabama or Simple Man

or like one of these tunes,

these block buster tunes.

I think the record actually hasn't gotten it's due.

I think it's a better record than people think.

If a Skynyrd fan was sitting here he go, "I know.

"You don't have to tell me."

- [Voiceover] If Gimme Back my Bullets was commercially

a disappointment, as a live act, Skynyrd was losing none

of it's appeal.

Just before the album's release the band

headed across the Atlantic for another European tour.

Returning to the US in March to embark on a three month

run of shows.

Now a headlining act playing large venues,

Ronnie Van Zant was keen to expand Skynyrd's live sound

and brought female backing singers Leslie Hawkins,

Deborah, Jo Jo Billingsly and Cassie Gains into the fold

who would collectively be know as The Honkettes.

It was a welcome addition to the stage show

and although the widest Southern Rock movement

had by 1976 begun to wain, Lynyrd Skynyrd remained

one of the top live draws in the world.

- We had three beautiful women that sang back-up with us,

The Honkettes, hand-picked by Ronnie Van Zant.

Cassie was like a broadway singer.

She had a broadway voice.

Ooo, you know, really strong.

Leslie Hawkins was our soprano.

She was our song bird.

Jo Jo was the honkey-tonk queen.

She had that rough, baby, baby

and Ronnie liked that.

He liked the fact that the girls were all different.

Their blend was perfect.

He hand-picked them.

♪ Let's cry for the bad man ♪

♪ ooo, ooo, ooo, hoo ♪

♪ I wrote a song for the bad man ♪

♪ Bad man ♪

♪ ooo, ooo, ooo, hoo ♪

♪ Let's cry for the bad man ♪

- Everybody thinks we're a Southern band

well, we are and the crowds in the South

are crazy, but man, when we play in New York City

and up North they love the music.

They were just as big of fans as the people in the South

as well as in UK, just as big of fans

When we went to Japan they treated us like

we were the Beatles, man.

Anywhere we played the reception was always the same,

very exuberant.

- [Voiceover] Lynyrd Skynyrd was strengthened even further

by the introduction of a new guitarist in May1976.

A position that Van Zant had beer considering filling

ever since Ed King's departure.

Upon her arrival in the band, backing vocalist Cassie Gains

had been recommending her younger brother, Steve.

Yet, this suggestion was initially dismissed by the band

because they were looking for a higher profile player.

In May, however, at a show in Kansas City, Van Zant

invited Steve Gains to audition with Skynyrd

at a live concert and following further jams with the band

he proved that he was more than qualified to take

on the roll as third guitarist.

- He got out and played with us in front

of about 80,000 people.

Ronnie asked him that day, you know, to be a part

of the band.

At the time Ed left the band there was everybody

in the band had tremendous drug and alcohol problems

and so I'm not blaming anybody.

It wasn't Ed's fault.

It wasn't Ronnie's fault.

It was just the times.

Steve came at a great time.

Steve's very mellow, laid back intellect came in.

That in itself helped us right the ship.

We were a happy family.

Everybody wanted to be cool for Steve

because he was such a nice guy.

The band didn't want Steve to know

that they were out of their mind drunken maniacs.

That was later.

That came later.

- [Voiceover] Reinvigorated by the introduction

of this young virtuoso in July the band recorded

a live album across three dates at Atlanta's Fox Theater.

After the rushed Nuthin' Fancy and the commercial

disappointment of Gimme Back My Bullets

Skynyrd needed to reestablish their energy on record.

With One More From the Road release September 1976

they succeeded.

Peaking in the Top-10 in the US and going platinum

before the year was out it restored their reputation.

- I remember when it came out.

It sounded phenomenal.

Skynyrd was a live band.

They lived to play live,

and you could tell, that's their thing.

They're musicians.

They're going to thrive on an audience

and ratcheting things up to another level.

Free Bird live is just phenomenal.

It's just everything it should be.

- Lynyrd Skynyrd recorded One More From The Road

in July 1976.

Steve Gains had only been a member of the band

for two months.

As strong as the album is,

as much as it was a great live album

that really reestablished them

and stands the test of time

I believe if it had been recorded two or three

months later it would have been quite a bit better.

Steve Gains was a fantastic guitar player

who had unique ideas, jump started the band

and surely gave a kick in the behind

to Gary Rossington and Allen Collins.

As a musician if you add another person

of that caliber into the mix it has to do that.

It just has to.

It has to change the dynamics and I think what you hear

on this live album is the very beginnings of that happening.

- [Voiceover] This confirmation of the band's status

as one of the greatest live acts in the world

continued in 1976 with a show in front of their biggest

crowd to date.

August 21st almost two months after The Fox Theater concerts

were recorded, Skynyrd travelled to the UK to perform

at the Knebworth festival.

On a bill headlined by a band who had initially inspired

Ronnie Van Zant to persue music in the first place,

The Rolling Stones.

Not only did Skynyrd deliver a momentous set they were

considered the high-lite of the event.

- Everybody that was there said the same thing,

"The Stones were horrible.

"They were barely coherent.

"They could barely stand up."

Skynyrd's set is what turned on the entire crowd

probably 1/2 a million people or whatever,

200,000, 300,000.

- It was 100% cool.

The Mirror said that we possessed the energy of the day

because of the energy of our set.

The Stone came out two hours late and drunk.

I actually made a statement that we blew

The Stones off the stage.

Nobody blows The Stones off the stage, of course.

I felt like we gave it a nice try

as far as going out

and doing our show and our set and just standing

on the music alone.

I think standing on the music alone, we held our own.

- We're on stage in front of 1/2 a million people

and Steve Gains is taking a solo

and you can see Ronnie back up to him

on this humongous stage and you can see his smile.

You can see that he's thinking to himself,

"Man, am I a smart guy, man for bringing this Steve Gains

"dude into the band."

Because Steve's just shredding on this solo

and Ronnie's got this beautiful smile on his face.

(guitar music solo)

And Ronnie, you can just see that moment

that he just looks at Steve and to me

that just says it all.

Steve Gains made a huge difference in the band.

- [Voiceover] Although they were apparently riding high

again reenergized by Gains and back in the charts

with One More From The Road the band members

drink and drug problems were too far advanced

for each of them to properly control.

In September '76 both Allen Collins and Gary Rossington

were involved in road accidents caused by their substance

abuse issues.

Rossington's injuries in particular causing six concerts

to be cancelled.

At this point Van Zant acknowledged that they needed

to change their ways.

Pening the song That Smell and turning to his

old friend Gene Odom to step in and curb their

excesses.

- He says, "I want you to stay with me and be my bodyguard.

"Take care of us.

"Get us off of the booze and alcohol, do that first

"and then the drugs will be next."

He said, "I want you to straighten this band up.

"I want you to get us off of all this crap.

"And you're the only person that can do it because

"you're the only person that'll never do drugs

"or never smoke, or never drink."

And he was determined to get them off of it.

And you can do a sociable drink or you can be an alcoholic.

He said, "We want to get away from this.

"And you're the only person that can do that for us.

"Management can't, nobody can do this,

"but somebody like you that's never going

"to hand us something and say, hey."

I would have got them off of it.

I would have got them off of it to the point

that they didn't have to live with it.

They might do it for a sociable thing,

but they didn't have to bury their head in it.

And he wanted that.

- [Voiceover] 1977 started well.

Skynyrd heading off the successful tours first in Japan

and then in the UK before returning to Jacksonville

in February to work up fresh material.

Having recorded demos of these new compositions

at a local studio, in April the band transferred

to Criteria Studios in Miami to work once again

with producer Tom Dowd.

Yet, after cutting the majority of the album there

they were alerted by their live sound engineer

Kevin Elson to the poor quality of the recording.

Skynyrd abandoned both Tom Dowd and the studio.

- The stuff was sounding like crap.

It was thin and weak.

We needed to go home back to Studio One

where Sweet Home Alabama was recorded,

Saturday Night Special.

Go back where we could get that good sound,

so we trashed about $70,000 worth of material

that we had recorded at Criteria in Florida.

We just threw it in the garbage can.

- [Voiceover] Skynyrd would have to wait until July 1977

to re-record the album.

Their schedule once again demanding that they return

to the road for two months of US shows.

When they finally did reconvene first at Studio One

in Doraville and later at Muscle Shoals working once again

with Jimmy Johnson.

Ronnie Van Zant himself oversaw the album's completion.

The band's radical decision to abandon the original

recordings and start again from scratch paid dividends

however.

Released in October 1977 Street Survivor sproved

a phenomenal return to form.

Steve Gains not only injecting the proceedings

with new vitality but also contributing

as both a songwriter and lead singer on one track.

It would however sadly be the only studio album

of Skynyrd's to which he was able to contribute.

- Street Survivors is an extremely strong album.

I think it's clearly their best album since Second Helping.

The band sounds completely revitalized

by Steve Gains whose playing is all over the album,

but in addition, Ronnie Van Zant has written his

best batch of songs since the beginning

perhaps inspired by Steve's presence.

The fact that there was a torture history to the

recording of the album, that it was recorded once

and put aside is a fascinating foot note

because it doesn't sound anything like that.

It sounds easy and natural and hard driving

and heart swinging.

They had those songs under their thumbs.

They don't sound like new songs.

They don't sound tentative in the least

and it's an extremely strong album.

It's probably the Lynyrd Skynyrd album that I listen

to the most.

♪ Whiskey bottles and brand new cars ♪

♪ Oak tree you're in my way ♪

♪ There's too much coke ♪

♪ And too much smoke ♪

♪ Look what's going on inside you ♪

♪ Ooo ooo that smell ♪

♪ Can't you smell that smell ♪

♪ Ooo ooo that smell ♪

♪ The smell of death surrounds you ♪

- That smell is an eery song listened to

with the knowledge of what was soon to come.

And it shows that Ronnie Van Zant, similar to Am I losing

was aware of the dangerous terrain that the band was

walking on and he understood that they were surrounded

by a certain amount of doom and gloom and foreboding

and that things had to change or they wouldn't last long.

♪ Now they call you prince charming ♪

♪ Can't speak a work when you're full of ludes ♪

♪ Say, you'll be all right come tomorrow ♪

♪ But tomorrow might not be here for you ♪

♪ Yeah, you ♪

- He has a statement to make about Rossington

because you know, he had to go see Rossington

in the hospital a few times.

Rossington almost died from a car accident,

one of his 8 million car accidents.

He was afraid it was going to ruin the band.

This was Ronnie's statement that this is not

going to continue.

I know I'm a hypocrite for saying this.

I'm including myself here in these lyrics.

I'm singing to myself in a way here

but I'm telling you prince charming

that you are not going to be able to continue

to do this.

♪ It's 8 o'clock in Boise, Idaho ♪

♪ I find my limo driver ♪

♪ Mister take me to the show ♪

♪ I done made plans for later on tonight ♪

♪ I found a little queenie ♪

♪ I know I can treat her right ♪

♪ What's your name little girl ♪

♪ What's your name ♪

♪ Shouldn't stay little girl ♪

♪ Cause there ain't no shame ♪

- I was really proud of that album.

From Nuthin' Fancy,

it was yeah, I don't like it.

Gimme Back My Bullets, you know,

Street Survivors, to me was an indication

of what we were going to do.

Street Survivors with Steve and Ronnie

and the band with the new spirit

and Steve is just a great guitar player, incredible.

Ronnie got our feet back on the ground

with Street Survivors and the success of the live

album and everything.

We had two winners and I think the next album

would have been amazing and I think that

Ed King would have been asked to come back

and write a song or play with us, perform with us.

And Bob, on double drums.

That's the vision that I had.

That I thought things would just would come around.

And then we had the plane crash

and Ronnie was killed and that's pretty definitive,

you know?

That's it.

- [Voiceover] Days before the release of Street Survivors

Skynyrd had embarked on a major headline tour

and for this ambitious run of shows, manager Peter Rutch

leased a private plane to transport the band and their crew.

Eager to save on costs, however, the model he picked out

for the crew had seen better days.

And although it had safely delivered them to their first

four dates the journey to the bands final ever show

together in Greenville, South Carolina, had revealed

just how unsafe their method of transport was.

Yet, just before 4 a.m. on the morning after the show

they reluctantly boarded the plane one final time

heading to Baton Rouge.

They would never make that destination.

- We'd shot a flame out of one of the engines

coming in to Greenville and that's why we called

our mechanic out of Dallas, Texas, and they were

gonna meet us in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and fix the plane.

But we shouldn't have tried to make it

from Greenville to Baton Rouge.

That was the mistake.

The plane had problems, obviously

and we took off.

And the rest is history.

We flew into the history books.

(chokes up) Excuse me.

(grinding metal)

- After we got on the plane and we got airborne

Ronnie gets up down to me because

they were hollering for me to come back

and play poker and I had run up to the cockpit

and I was hearing that in the engine and I was

communicating with the pilot about that damn engine.

Ronnie gets up and says, "Man, I took two sleeping pills

"because I was up all night long Gene."

And I said, "Yeah, I heard."

And he says, "I gotta get some sleep."

- We started running out of fuel.

I went to the cockpit.

I played stewardess.

I told everybody to put out their cigarettes.

Conserve power, turn off lights, everything

and get pillows and prepare for impact.

I'm a pilot, so I played stewardess

and I went back to the cockpit

and the pilot and co-pilot, Walter McCreary and John Gray

they said, "You better go back and strap yourself in."

And they looked at me and I could see they had fear

in their eyes.

- Artimus went back to his seat and I grabbed Ronnie

up off of the floor.

I snatched him up and shoved him between Allen and Gary,

but I said, "Man, the plane's crashing."

He said, "Don't be messing, Gene, I got

"to get some sleep, man.

"Don't be messing with me, man I gotta get some sleep."

I said, "The plane's crashing."

And I strapped him in.

He said, "Man, don't be messing with me."

I think he might have unsnapped it before,

I know he did, actually.

And I said, "Man, the plane's crashing.

"I'm not messing with you.

"Put your head down."

And I actually slapped him.

I said, "Man, put your head down.

"It's mostly trees."

- Suddenly we came out of the clouds the low ceiling.

We were right on the tree tops

and I heard one guy go, "Trees."

Clayton Johnson, he worked for Bill Graham

and he goes, "Trees."

And then I could feel the trees brush against

the belly of the plane, the fuselage.

And the pilot and co-pilot the last mistake

they made was to put the landing gear down.

And we almost cleared the trees.

There was a field in front of us.

We'd almost cleared those trees,

but they put their landing gear down.

Landing gear caught the tops of the trees,

tripped us into a 45 degree angle.

We cut through the woods.

I watched the right wing come off.

Just unbelievable crunch, impact, collision

with the earth.

And then it stopped and it was quiet.

- I was in Los Angeles.

I saw it on the TV and I stayed up all night

watching it.

They didn't say who perrished

until the morning,

until the sun was up

and that's why I kept watching.

I wanted to know.

I wanted to know that

like as soon as possible.

- There sitting against a tree is a piece

of an airplane wing torn away

from the rest of the airplane.

Lying down there at the base of the tree

is the engine and that back there,

that twisted metal back there

is the fuselage of the plane.

- I was at my Mother's and Father's house

They almost knocked the door down.

People crying.

They told me what happened and I lost it.

I said "Oh, God who have we lost?"

It killed me, man.

It killed me.

Killed me.

- [Voiceover] As the surviving band members

and their crew were taken to various hospitals

in the vicinity it soon emerged that Skynyrd's latest

recruit, Steve Gains, his sister Cassie and the band's

assistant Dean Kilpatrick who had been working

with them since 1969 had all been killed on impact.

So too had Ronnie Van Zant.

Although the public would become aware

of these details within days of the crash

for the survivors it took longer for them

to discover the tragic fate of their comrades.

- We went to five different hospitals,

so the doctor came in to my room

and he said, "Artimus, I hear you've been asking

"who made it."

And I said, "Yeah."

And he said, "Are you ready?"

I said, "Yeah."

And he said, "Ronnie, Ronnie Van Zant was killed."

And I said, "I know, I knew that."

And then when he said Steve and Cassie

you know, that really hit me.

That hit hard.

- I didn't hear anything until I got out of the hospital

a month later.

They didn't tell me Ronnie died or anything.

I was going, when I got out, I said, ""Kept me,

"let's go see Ronnie, go visit Ronnie, come on."

So he started driving me to Orange Park

and he pulled into the cemetery and I said,

"What the hell are y'all doing?"

And they said, "Taking you to visit Ronnie,

"he didn't make it."

And that was horrible.

That's when I realized he didn't make it

because they didn't tell me.

I guess they didn't want me to know

because my health was so banged up,

you know.

But it was a month later that I knew that he had died.

And whoever else, I didn't know.

I though everybody was fine.

- [Voiceover] The surviving members of Lynyrd Skynyrd

jointly decided to dissolve the band in the wake

of the tragedy.

And for a decade pursued various musical projects,

together and apart.

In 1987 however, they reunited to perform

a one off tribute tour 10 years after the fateful

accident bringing together former members

Gary Rossington, Billy Powell, Leon Wilkeson,

Artimus Pyle and Ed King alongside Ronnie VanZant's

younger brother Johnny on vocals and musical

director Allen Collins who was unable to play

with the band on stage having been left

permanently paralyzed by a car accident

the previous year.

So successful was this tour that the reconstituted

Skynyrd decided to remain together.

Although this has proven controversial

they have endured to the present day.

Albeit not with only one original member

guitarist Gary Rossington.

Yet despite releasing new material

and drawing large crowds to their shows

they have been dismissed by many as simply

a tribute band.

Ronnie Van Zant proving irreplaceable

even by his own brother.

- They suck.

Ithink they're awful.

I take a great interest in how bad they are.

I take a great interest in their Yahoo, right wing,

Fox News bullshit.

Lynyrd Skynyrd died with Ronnie Van Zant period

Is it possible for a reunion band with somebody

doing a Ronnie Van Zant imitation singing his songs

do a decent concert?

I suppose.

I'd rather listen to the records.

- They could never regroup that success without him.

He was the key factor to that band.

He wrote all the songs.

It'd take the authorship away

and it's something else entirely.

But you can make a lot of money.

And that's what they do.

♪ I like a little bit of homegrown ♪

♪ She gets me stoned ♪

♪ Oh in her short dress - yeah I'm a mess ♪

♪ I like to get her all alone ♪

♪ She really turns me on ♪

♪ Yeah in her barefeet - sippin' sweet tea ♪

♪ A little Homegrown ♪

♪ A little Homegrown ♪

- They are acutely aware of what kind

of dedicated fans they have.

They're very thankful for it

and don't from what I can see

they don't take it for granted one bit.

And when I've seen them in recent times

they go out there and want to give people

the best possible show.

We are gonna come out here and we are gonna rock

the crap out of this place.

And they do.

They do the whole thing.

They do the steps,

They all get together and they do the guitar moves

and they do the whole show and they are more than happy

to deliver that to the fans.

They want to put on a great show every night.

It's really important to them.

- [Voiceover] Despite the polarized opinion regarding

the second incarnation of the band and the various

private and public disputes that have since occured

among the survivors of the '77 crash.

The legacy of the first era of Lynyrd Skynyrd has remained

untarnished and although a wholly accurate account

of their years together for the mid '60s until the late '70s

will now never emerge due to the conflicting testimonies

of those who lived through it.

The music the band produced continues to find new listeners

and inspire a new generation of musicians and their departed

driving force, Ronnie Van Zant remains a remarkably singular

talent in the history of rock music.

His rugged no nonsense appeal still influential nearly

40 years after his tragic death.

- Ronnie Van Zant was a very unique front man.

He was incredibly dynamic without doing too much.

He basically walked around usually without shoes on.

Held his microphone in the air.

He was a commanding presence.

That element of being a lead singer and front man

is hard for anyone to copy and emulate

because it had to come from within.

I think as a singer Ronnie Van Zant has been

very influential especially on country artists

Country music has become more and more rocked up

and what we would have thought of in the mid '70s

as country-tinged rock has become rock-tinged

country and I think Ronnie Van Zant's influence

on Eric Church, Jason Alldeen and a whole generation

really of country singers is profound both vocally,

musically and in terms of stage presence and swagger.

- When music is new and it's fresh and you capture that

on record it's always gonna sound new and fresh.

Forever it will and it will probably be like the cliche

about fine wine, it gets better over time.

If it wasn't great music we wouldn't be talking about it.

They found a way to be a distinctive band

that has great music that people are gonna remember

those great songs forever.

- I don't think they'll ever be another

like Ronnie Van Zant in my opinion.

Man, everything that comes out of his mouth is meaningful.

You could tell he was telling about his life.

Everybody asks me what was Ronnie, what was he like?

I say, "You just take any six songs that Ronnie's written

"any six, you pick them, any six, that's him.

"That's his story."

(slow guitar music)