same here, the 70s would have been cast into disco hell, if not for bands like Skynyrd, rock on dude, an old head banger from class of '77

I'm 68, and grew up around the world, cuz my father was in the Air Force. I lived In Louisiana from 64 - 69, and saw a lot of racist crap there, but also saw a lot of great people too. We then moved to the panhandle of Florida, which is where Lynard Skynard, and saw the same there as in Louisiana. There's good and bad people everywhere in this country regardless of race, color, creed or religion. Just take the time to talk to them before you judge them.

I think the flag is just a southern thing

I live in Roanoke, Alabama, and the flag to us is just having pride in the South. No matter what your color is , I'm color blind .

Growing up we knew it was the Confederate flag, but that isn't what we called it. It was always called the rebel flag. It symbolized rebellion. The VAST majority of people who fly that flag do it as a symbol of being a rebel.

@@telynns8490 that’s what we called it too. Rebelling against authority, teachers etc. I wouldn’t hurt anyone’s feelings or offend them on purpose for anything in this world.

Yeup. ,,

@@telynns8490, yes, yes and yes. Every time the subject of the flag comes on these Skynryd reactions, I want to scream! It was the REBEL flag to us and we were teenage rebels!!!! Hello??? We weren't running around, "Yea, slavery!!!" I was a Pennsylvania rebel!!! Great comment. Thank you.

@@Tuesdays_Gone, agreed. Rebels is what it meant to us at the time, and nothing more.

Ronnie seemed to be a very open minded welcoming soul.

@@laurakali6522, he really did. After Ed King (one of the three guitarists) left the band, there was a black guitarist who they wanted to join the band. I wish I could think of his name. I think he was put off about the use of the flag. Ronnie tried to convince him that it was just a record label marketing a southern band. They stayed with two guitarists for a while before Steve joined. I’m actually going to meet Gene Odom next month, and he’s going to take us on a 4 hour Skynyrd tour, and for some reason I’m hearing the theme to Gilligan’s Island in my head. LOL. Any way, if I can remember, I’m going to ask him if he remembers who it was.

@@Tuesdays_Gone In the documentary “If I Leave Here Tomorrow,” Artemis Pyle said the label went all-in on the southern “rebel” imagery, which of course means that flag being their backdrop on stage. And I’m from the south, and I wish all those flags were GONE FOREVER. 😀

The flag was just a part of growing up in the South during that era. Don't forget Ronnie and the core members of the band attended Robert E Lee High School, but they were not racists!

Amen to that brother!!

Unless they're a band!

Wise words, good sir! My parents taught me that over 60 years ago, and it's one of the most important things they ever taught me.

"Cocaine",

Thank you for making that point, Greg. My kids have Oklahoma roots and J is the closest thing to Red Dirt Royalty, so he’s legendary in my family. I interviewed him in the late 90’s at Cain’s Ballroom in his hometown of Tulsa and ended up hanging out with him all night. I remember telling him that I read a few years earlier that in the 80’s he had lived in a POS trailer in L.A. and all he did during those years is mow lawns and listen to Rap and Van Halen songs. He smiled and said in a barely audible voice, “Those may have been the best days of my life. I never charged anybody for mowing their yard. I was still living off of the ‘After Midnight’ money and the trailer wasn’t too bad, man.”

Some J.J. would be nice to react to. Here's a good one. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Y916d8eQ2tuVen0.html

J.J Wrote the lyrics But Skynyrd Made A Better Beat To It And One Hell Of a piano solo to it

Actually.... Billy Powell on piano was with them from the start... It was Steve Gains... Backup singer Cassie Gains Brother.... Who she got a job as Roadie for....Who was invited to join the band after a few weeks of 'Jamming' after the shows.... He was the slide player on the 'Survivors' album...Best known for his guitar/slide work on 'T for Texas'... And the only band member other than Ronnie Van Zant killed in the plane crash....

@@BlsPlayer OG Comment speaks the truth- Kevin Ellison and Billy Powell were roadies for the band. Kevin ran sound and Billy was just the roadie, until he shocked them with his own interpretation of "Free Bird". They knew he played but they weren't interested... until Billy showed 'em what was good. Source: Gary Rossington, and Billy Powell LMAO

FACTS brother!!!!

True. Also, in the context of Rock and Roll in the 1970's, the Confederate Battle Flag had no racist connotation. During that period, it had been co-opted by the counterculture as a symbol of rebellion against the Establishment.

It might not be racist to YOU as a white person but it does represent that for black people. Jeez how freaking selfish can you be since it wasn’t white people that took the brunt of that so-called “heritage”.

@@lindalawson7600 Says the white girl!

@@sparky6086 exactly

You are absolutely right. One of the greatest American rock bands of all time. I feel blessed to have the original band in concert.

Was I right or wrong is such an amazing song and I feel like NOBODY knows about it!

Was I right or wrong one of my all-time favorites

@@gibsonrocks13579 I know all about it one of my favorite songs of all time so eerie and haunting but relatable to the whole I'm going to go away from here and show you all I am worth something I will be someone someday and then you get back and everyone's dead..

Play it BP

JJ Cale wrote this song.

Actually he said if it wasn't worth remembering it wasn't worth singing. "There is no such thing as southern rock. That's like saying rock rock. It's all rock and it was born in the south." Dwayne Almon said that in an interview.

@@jasonsellers9595 thanks. I love Duane Allman. My favorite guitarist to this day.

​@@paulprendergast3184 FACT!!! and Cocaine for Eric Clapton.

One of the best driving songs ever recorded! They have dropped the Confederate flag from their identity! Peace and love to all children of God! Greetings from New Orleans!

Thankd fam

Which also included Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin Muscle Soals didn't have color

Several Skynyrd songs were recorded at Muscle Shoals and with the Swampers playing. The late Jimmy Johnson, Stampers guitarist has talked about it. Of course EVERYBODY recorded there at one time or another it seems like. Seger, Paul Simon, Aretha, Sledge, Stones, Leon Russell and on and on.

@@rockinredneck57 Excellent commentary.👍🏻

That’s a good one.

EXCELLENT SUGGESTION‼🔥

Give me a T for Texas,t for Tennessee,is another classic. 😷🇨🇦

👍👍👍😎

Indeed! My favorite ABB's song (today anyway) Both LS and ABB were influenced by the Southern culture in which they were raised. White man's country, black man's blues and both gospels.

He’s the best.

Correct!!

Absolutely a very powerful song. I would suggest you check out Gregg Allman singing it live if you haven't already.

I saw them twice 76, 77 in Pittsburgh

Aside from it being a regional and cultural symbol, in the context of Rock and Roll in the 1970's, the Confederate Battle Flag had no racist connotation. During that period, it had been co-opted by the counterculture as a symbol of rebellion against the Establishment. Sometime in mid '80's to mid '90's, any racist connotation it had, began to be dredged back up by politicians and the media to divide people.

@@sparky6086....Well I guess people are talking about the flag anyway...... I call total bullshit on your comment. I'm from the south, it's not a cultural or regional symbol unless you're from Northern Virginia and have an ancestor that fought under that flag and General Lee, and if that's the case I'd say why would you celebrate a regiments that fought for treasonous traitors that attacked this country and then lost? I'll give you that it became a symbol of being a rebel in the rock-n-roll scene and in Nascar, and I have no animosity towards Ronnie and the boys or anyone back then that didn't know any better, and I don't think Ronnie or the band had a racist bone in their body. Fast forward to 2016-ish when statues really started coming down, and people being outspoken about the flag, at that time the computer and internet were a household item, and this issue had been debated online, on tv, on radio for years at that point, there is no reason for people in the mid 2000s and especially now not to educate themselves about the flag. It was never co-opted by the counter culture, I grew up playing in bands and listening to all kinds of counter culture punk rock, non radio shit, and I never saw people using that flag as anti establishment symbol. I mean I saw regular folks using it as F-U to government but more like from a place of the Duke Boys, and running moonshine and saying F those taxes, that type of rebel. I don't know what your referring to in the 80s and 90s and someone "dredging up" it's racist connotations, it's racist connotations never went anywhere, they were firmly applied to that flag, around the turn of century, when the south wasn't to happy about the black folk getting rights, and the Jim Crow laws were being put into place. Any of them get to fancy for their britches, they'd find themselves hanging from a tree by their neck, and just about every single lynching in that time period, the bars n stars was draped over the body as a warning to other black folk to stay in their place. Again in the 60's leading up to the civil rights movement, the rebel flag was the most recognized symbol used for intimidation of black folks. I'm not even saying someone can't fly it, if they want to ignore the racist connotations that were unfortunately placed on it, that is your right to do so, as a free American, but that freedom doesn't grant you freedom of criticism or consequences of your actions. So to all my brothers n sisters of the south, If you want to throw in with the likes of people that betrayed our country, and lost the war, and a flag that was a tiny part of it, and claim it as heritage, have at it hoss, but I know for a fact we got way more history and heritage to proud of down here in the south, way more than some dumb battle flag. I love my south, it's got a few issues like my old Chevy, but I wouldn't trade her for nothin.

@@sunshynff The media dredged it up to divide us for political purposes. I lived through that period & witnessed it. They should have let sleeping dogs lie.

@@sunshynff you're full of it. Person you are responding to is right on.

Exactly, and not for reasons of anything racial. It was just to identify them to the public as being from the south. By the way, this is a cover of JJ Cale.

The misunderstanding is the lies history books, media, and schools tell us. The flag has nothing to do with racism. Don't trust anyone. Do your own research. While the truth can still be found.

Did you see them at The Fox Theatre?

@@Tuesdays_Gone Hi Tuesday, No, I seen them at the Paramount Theater in Portland, Oregon.

@@Tuesdays_Gone Did you see them at the Fox?

@@lefty5757, no. I was only 7 or 8 when they played there. Developers were going to tear down that beautiful theater, and Skynyrd put on three shows to help save it. They were successful. The live album, ONE MORE FROM THE ROAD was recorded there, and went gold and then platinum. They gave Atlanta’s mayor a gold album.

@@Tuesdays_Gone Did you ever see them after they regrouped and had a 30+ year run? If so where was it.

That was the last great Skynyrd lineup. With Rickey, Gary and Hughie on guitars. Three experienced southern rockers, Rickey from Blackfoot and Hughie from the Outlaws along with Rossington. They rocked hard!

🙌🏿🙌🏿🙌🏿🙌🏿