Skynyrd Time

I heard and somewhat enjoyed a bit of Lynyrd Skynyrd's music back in the late 70's and early 80's on rock radio stations. Southern-fried rock was slightly in vogue in the 70's, what with the likes of Alabama, Molly Hatchet, Allman Brothers, .38 Special, The Outlaws, Black Oak Arkansas, and Marshall Tucker Band sneaking onto the radio playlists. They were just rock enough to barely fit into the mix. Personally, I wasn't particularly sold on the stuff, but the odd song by the odd band caught my ear. I remember that Molly Hatchet and Skynyrd hovered within my musical tolerances. But that was about it. Well, I don't know if ZZ Top falls into that same sub-genre or not - they always sounded more bluesy than country to me, but I've always loved them regardless.

Then in the early 1990's I went through a brief phase where my interest in Skynyrd was revived. I bought myself a double-CD collection of their hits (Gold and Platinum, it was called). Judging by how little of the compilation I liked, I figured these guys didn't really warrant a 2-disc set to show off their best music. One CD would have done the job: just slide a couple of songs off the weaker disc 2 onto disc 1 and you'd have a really solid batch of songs. Then I probably would have listened to it more and might have even kept the darned thing. But I ditched the CD after a few years of ignoring it on my shelf. It was a big clunky case and if I decided if I wasn't going to play the music even semi-regularly , I might as well pass it on to someone who'd really appreciate it. And to this day, I don't miss that "Best Of Skynyrd" collection. 

But in '92, while I was mixing it up with bluesy and country-ish albums in rotation with my Metallica and Rush, it was announced that Skynyrd was coming to town. None of my friends or I were super keen on the band, but this was at a time in our lives when partying was of prime importance. And music always played a key role in that all-important directive. So why miss the Skynyrd show when we'd hit all of the other borderline concerts that year? 

It was a warm August night at the stadium and we were all properly tuned up for the show. I now have no recollection at all of that concert. And that's just fine. That seems to say that it was forgettable. I guess we had a decent time but it was nothing special. I certainly don't remember hating it. Suffice it to say: I saw Skynyrd. Long hair, twangy, rowdy, loud, and a lot of guys on stage. I've always thought they had too many members in the band. What did they all do? I don't remember that either. Fine.

Here's the ticket stub: