When Lynyrd Skynyrd released their classic album Street Survivors in 1977, it was supposed to signal the start of a new era for the band: They’d just hired 28-year-old Oklahoman guitarist and songwriter Steve Gaines, and the rest of the band was making an effort to curb their reckless behavior, at singer Ronnie Van Zant‘s behest.
Instead, three days after the album came out, Lynyrd Skynyrd was involved in a devastating plane crash that killed six people, including three band members…and one song on the album seemed to predict the tragic accident.
When Van Zant wrote “That Smell,” he’d recently become a father and was trying to cut back on drinking. He was also concerned about the futures of his bandmates: Gary Rossington had passed out drunk while driving and crashed into an oak tree and a telegraph pole; fellow guitarist Allen Collins and keyboard player Billy Powell were also in accidents.
“I had a creepy feeling things were going against us, so I thought I’d write a morbid song,” said Van Zant in the summer of 1977, per Classic Rock Stories by Tim Morse.
The lyrics are Van Zant’s warning:
Whiskey bottles, and brand new carsOak tree you’re in my wayThere’s too much coke and too much smokeLook what’s going on inside youOoooh that smellCan’t you smell that smellOoooh that smellThe smell of death surrounds you
Van Zant’s words turned out to be eerily prophetic in the worst possible way.
Three days after Street Survivors debuted, on October 20th, 1977, the members of Lynyrd Skynyrd boarded a leased plane at Greenville, South Carolina’s Downtown Airport. The band members were all pretty skeptical about flying on the Convair 240, which was close to 30 years old, according to Rolling Stone.
“We were flying in a plane that looked like it belonged to the Clampett family,” drummer Artimus Pyle later said.
In a 1997 episode of VH1’s Behind the Music, keyboardist Billy Powell noted that “our wives, everyone were afraid for us to get on this thing, but we didn’t know any better.”
As Rossington told the Orlando Sentinel in 1988, Collins was in no rush to get on the plane, either: “He said, ‘I’m not gonna get on it because it’s not right.’”
Van Zant, however, seemed strangely calm.
“Ronnie said, ‘Hey, if the Lord wants you to die on this plane, when it’s your time, it’s your time. Let’s go, man. We’ve got a gig to do,’” Rossington said.
Related: Legendary ’70s Rock Band Is Reportedly Getting a Biopic and Fans Will Go Wild
The plane never made it to Baton Rouge, where it was meant to land. Instead, it crashed in a wooded area near Gillsburg, Mississippi. Gaines, his sister Cassie Gaines (a backing vocalist), assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, Captain Walter McCreary, and First Officer William John Gray all died; Van Zant was killed instantly due to blunt force trauma. The twenty other passengers survived, though they were badly injured. While the exact cause of the crash was never officially established, the probable cause was ruled to be “fuel exhaustion and total loss of power from both engines due to crew inattention to fuel supply.”
“There’s a million ‘maybes’ and ‘ifs’ and ‘should haves,’” Rossington told the Sentinel, explaining his reluctance to point fingers regarding the cause. “But what happened has already happened. It didn’t matter what caused it.”
“There were a lot of people on the plane that knew something was wrong, but we all kind of followed each other, and that’s where we made our mistake,” Pyle agreed.
Understandably, the remaining members of Lynyrd Skynyrd stepped away from music for a time but finally reunited a decade later. “That Smell” was one of the last songs Van Zant ever wrote.
Related: 1973 Southern Rock Classic, From One of the ‘Greatest Albums of All Time,’ Became a Timeless Heartbreak Anthem
Hence then, the article about 1977 southern rock hit inspired by a creepy feeling eerily predicted fatal plane crash three days after it was released was published today ( ) and is available on Parade ( Saudi Arabia ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( 1977 Southern Rock Hit, Inspired by a ‘Creepy Feeling,’ Eerily Predicted Fatal Plane Crash Three Days After It Was Released )
Also on site :
- Melania Trump’s Advisor Shades Tom Cruise’s ‘Digger’ After Box Office Bomb — Even Though ‘Melania’ Doc Also Flopped in Theaters
- Disney Cruise Line Offers First Look Inside Disney Believe with New Frozen Dining, Encanto Show, and Themed Lounges
- Tom DeLonge Was in the Crowd When 43,000 Fans Serenaded Him With His Own Song: ‘He Was Definitely in His Feels’