Lynyrd Skynyrd&apos;s History With the Confederate Flag and Guns

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00:00We go in there and look, but we still, uh, Johnny has the flag around, the Dixie flag

00:06around his microphone for Alabama, and we have a whole flag over the piano."

00:11Skynard, the Southern rock legends currently riding off into the sunset on their farewell tour,

00:16is a far cry from the gritty, rebellious band that Ronnie Van Zandt helmed in the

00:20Mercies. Once the epitome of Southern defiance and swagger, today's Skynard

00:25feels like a band that traded in its edge for a comfortable seat on the nostalgia train.

00:29Back in their heyday, Skynard wasn't just a band, they were an idea, an unapologetic voice

00:34of the New South, daring to rock their way through an era trying to reconcile its past.

00:40But, oh, how the mighty have mellowed. What began as a fiery blend of country, blues,

00:45and hard rock became, over time, a saga filled with reinvention, controversy,

00:51and more Confederate flag debates than a Civil War reenactment group.

00:56Let's rewind to that fateful October 20, 1977. When a plane crash tragically claimed the lives

01:03of Van Zandt, guitarist Steve Gaines, vocalist Cassie Gaines, and others, it seemed like the

01:09ultimate mic drop for a band so tied to the tumultuous spirit of the South. The crash wasn't

01:14just a tragedy, it was the punctuation mark on a story of a band that had somehow bottled the

01:19essence of the 70s South, a land caught between old habits and new horizons. But,

01:25Lynyrd Skynyrd, as we all know, didn't stay gone. Oh no, they came back, and boy, did they bring

01:30baggage. Contrary to what sweet home Alabama might have you believe, Lynyrd Skynyrd hailed

01:35from Jacksonville, Florida, a detail that somehow is overlooked as the fact that the song itself was

01:40more complicated than a simple Southern pride anthem. Sure, they sang about loving the governor

01:45of Alabama, but they also threw in some sarcastic boo-boo-boos for flavor. Context matters, folks.

01:51The same can't be said for the band's infamous flirtation with the Confederate flag, though.

01:56While they blame their record label for pushing the stars and bars imagery in the 70s,

02:01let's not pretend the band didn't lean into it. T-shirts, mugs, belt buckles,

02:06Skynyrd was practically the unofficial merchandiser of Southern rebellion.

02:10That is, until 20, when they decided to retire the flag, mostly. Cue the fan outrage and a

02:17backpedaling Facebook post where guitarist Gary Rossington clarified they'd still use it occasionally,

02:23you know, alongside the American flag. Because we're all Americans now. Subtle, right?

02:29The original Skynyrd had layers. Ronnie Van Zant, the band's iconic—and contradictory—front man,

02:36was a guy who wrote anti-gun anthems like Saturday Night Special while keeping a .22 pistol

02:41for hunting. He was progressive yet stubborn, a musical genius who may or may not have been a fan

02:46of George Wallace, Alabama's segregationist governor. Yeah, that George Wallace. It's messy,

02:52like much of the South's history, but that's what made the original Skynyrd so compelling.

02:57They didn't fit neatly into any narrative. They embodied the chaos of their time.

03:01Fast forward to the 21st century, and Skynyrd 2.0—or maybe 3.0, who's counting?—is a different

03:09beast. Their 2009 song, God and Guns, is practically a love letter to conservative America,

03:16a far cry from the Ronnie era's more nuanced takes. This shift wasn't just a change in politics,

03:21it was a full-blown rebranding. Out went the rebellious New South, in came the traditionalist

03:27South, wrapped in a flag and humming Sweet Home Alabama like it's a second national anthem.

03:33Love them or hate them, Lynyrd Skynyrd's legacy is as much about cultural shifts as it is about

03:38killer guitar riffs. The band of the 1970s soundtracked a South that was trying—however

03:44imperfectly—to move forward. The Skynyrd of today? They're more of a monument to what was—a

03:51band that leans on its history, even as it complicates it. Sure, they'll never recapture

03:56the raw magic of pronounced Lynyrd Skynyrd or Second Helping, but maybe that's the point.

04:02They're a living time capsule, contradictions and all, showing us how much—or how little—has

04:08changed in the last 50 years. So as they bid farewell, performing in front of U.S. flags

04:13instead of Confederate ones, we're left with a complicated legacy. Lynyrd Skynyrd isn't just a

04:19band, they're a mirror for the South itself—messy, proud, contradictory, and utterly unforgettable.

Lynyrd Skynyrd's History With the Confederate Flag and Guns

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Lynyrd Skynyrd's History With the Confederate Flag and Guns