Back in the day I did my fare share of partying. I graduated high school in the early 80s and we, as a generation, were notorious partiers. I’m not saying that’s a good thing (thinking Brett Kavanaugh here) that’s just the way it was.
At that time, there were two classes of partiers. There were kids like us–the stoners– who partied all the time–before school, after school, during lunch–and the kids who partied on special occasions.
We had no respect for the occasional partiers. They felt the same about us.
There were all kinds of occasional partiers: Preppies. Jocks. Christians.
There was just one kind of habitual partiers: Us. The heads.
I know what your thinking: Just like The Breakfast Club. No. Not really. More like Dazed and Confused and That 70s Show, but with an 80s, New Wave, Heavy Metal vibe. This was the era that you would hear The Human League and Ozzy Osborne on the same radio station.
My friends had 8-track tape players in their cars. They aspired to get cassette players with custom stereos, but they didn’t. Their parents weren’t about to pay for such nonsense and they–my friends– didn’t have jobs. Neither did I.
As for me, I only had an AM radio in my car. Other than that, I had a nice ride–a ’77 Cutlass. It was in immaculate shape when I got it. A muted yellow with a white interior and a white vinyl top. But because of the stereo situation we never cruised in my Cutlass. My Cutlass didn’t provide sufficient jams. No FM rock radio.
Plus, even though my car was a nice car, it wasn’t a hot car. It was too respectable. Too middle aged.
Anyway, we had our “albums” that we partied to. Tom Petty’s Damn the Torpedoes was a big one. Stevie Nicks’ Bella Donna (oh my gosh, the intro to Edge of Seventeen, we went crazy to that.)
There was The Rolling Stones’ Tattoo You. (I think it belongs in their canon of iconic albums, I don’t care what anyone else says.) Ozzy Osborne’s Diary of a Madman and Blizzard of Ozz (Randy Rhodes was a phenomenal guitarist. It’s not his fault that a lot of his acolytes were soulless speed freaks.)
There was Van Halen’s Van Halen and Van Halen II. Pat Benatar’s whole catalog, but especially Crimes of Passion. And everything and anything by The Cars.
And then, there was Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Gold and Platinum double album.
True, Lynyrd Skynyrd didn’t really fit our vibe. There were no flourishes of heavy metal or brush strokes of new wave. Skynyrd didn’t dabble in pumped up studio antics that were the rage in those days; in fact, the band had disbanded after the tragic plane crashed that killed three of their members, including their alpha dog lead singer, Ronnie Van Zant in 1977.
That was before our time. There had been a cultural shift in the time between the plane crash and our coming of age.
Lynyrd Skynyrd, was THEN and we were NOW. The members had really long, unkempt hair; we desired men with short, edgy haircuts like Sting, of The Police, had.
(There were exceptions to this rule. For example, we thought David Lee Roth was very sexy. I’m sufficiently ashamed of that–have been for a long time.)
But back to Lynyrd Skynyrd, they wore bell bottom jeans. Bell bottoms were anathema to us. Nothing, and I mean nothing, was worse.
Plus Skynyrd, as we affectionately called them, had a sexist vibe. The women of the band–back up singers–were regulated to the sideline of the stage, where they were barley seen and only sometimes heard. We really hated that.
But above all of that, they were rednecks. Unquestionably. Unapologetically. That alone was enough to incite our disdain, though we were rednecks too–oilfield rednecks–we just didn’t know it.
Nonetheless, in spite of it all, we loved them. We loved them because Skynyrd had soul. They embraced the nitty gritty, dirty South–the muscular R&B roots of rock.
Consequently there’s a lot of Otis Redding influence in Lynyrd Skynyrd. Redding was a very physical singer. He didn’t have to be that way; his vocal ability was off the charts, he could have been smooth as silk but he liked to rough it up.
Skynyrd was like that too. They worked hard on stage and in the studio. There was blood sweat and tears in their musicianship and they were masterful musicians.
There was tenderness too.
Believe it or not, that tenderness came, primarily, from lead singer Ronnie Van Zant. He wrote some gorgeous songs. Tuesday’s Gone is one of them.
Train roll on, on down the line,
Won’t you please take me far away?
Now I feel the wind blow outside my door,
Means I’m leaving my woman behind
Tuesday’s gone with the wind
My baby’s gone with the wind
Ronnie Van Zant sings, but he is not a great singer in terms of range, or tone. He is a baritone, not exactly the sexiest voice for a lead singer of rock.
There have been–there still are–many great baritone singers, but Van Zant doesn’t work his voice like Otis Redding did, nor does he take you on a sensual journey like Teddy Pendergrass would. Of course they were R&B singers and Van Zant doesn’t have an instrument like either of them.
Van Zant sings simply, with the twang of his southern ancestry. He sings sincerely. Here, with Tuesday’s Gone, he is singing of sorrow and of pain. There is a hole in his heart where is woman was and now the wind blows through that hole and it hurts.
You feel his pain. You hear his pain.
Yes, Van Zant is lyrically sexist, especially by today’s standards. It’s not okay to say “my woman” these days and I’m glad. But I’m OK with it here. I’m okay with it because he reveals his vulnerability by baring his soul.
Train roll on many miles from my home
See, I’m riding my blues away
Tuesday, you see, she had to be free
But somehow I’ve got to carry on
Then there’s the instrumentation of Tuesday’s Gone. It is perfect. It is serine. It is spatial, spiritual and comforting. There is a touch of Ben E. King’s Stand By Me in the arrangement. There is even orchestration in the guise of the Mellotron.
The Allman Brothers, another preeminent band of Southern Rock that leaned more on jazz than hard rock, had an album entitled Enlightened Rouges. I always loved that title, but I thought it was more befitting of Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Let’s face it, Skynyrd looked like a bunch of Hell’s Angeles. And Leon Wilkeson–the bassist–looked really stupid in that cop helmet. In fact, the whole band looked pretty dangerous and, at the same time, even a little silly.
But they were none of those things.
They were enlightened rouges. Especially Ronnie Van Zant. And with the exception of Gary Rossington they’re all gone. Just like Tuesday.
God’s speed.
Wonderful post. Tuesday’s gone is about one of the best instrumental rock tracks I’ve ever heard.
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Oh, thank you. That very nice of you to say. I agree, Tuesday’s Gone is a work of art. It’s a perfect song. Thanks again.
Pam
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I cut my musical teeth listening to 70s rock bands but didn’t get my inner sou until I was introduced to Prince and George Clinton in the early 80s……little did I know I would end up booking Clinton 16 years later…..this was a great post as always!!
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Yes, I’ve heard many music lovers talk about seeing George Clinton live. I’ve heard that it is spectacle, that it is extreme musicianship, that it is raucous…In fact, I knew some Deadheads that started following George Clinton’s live shows when Jerry Garcia died.
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What an insightful post Pam. I always looked at partying as a rite of passage. Yea I went overboard at times but it’s something I wouldn’t trade for anything. Now it’s taboo sometimes to even talk about.
Ronnie Van Zant used his voice well and knew his limitations… his songwriting was great…he wrote for everyday southern people…much like Ray Davies wrote for English people. With me…living here I was “Skynyrd’ ed” to death in my youth but I do like some of their more album songs.
I always thought the 70’s…or the Dazed and Confused era ended officially when MTV went on air in August of 1981. Between the plane crash and MTV, it was sort of a limbo where both worlds clashed.
This was a fun post.
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I like that concept, Max–partying as a right of passage. I wish I could have sprung that on my mom. Ha! She would have sprung her hand across my face! No child abuse…Just a good stinging slap…Ha!
Yeah, I think you’re right about that distinction in eras. There was overlap in those eras and I was right there in that overlap. I was very influenced by MTV, but on the other hand, our home didn’t have cable, so I didn’t gorge on it like my friends did.
Thanks for reading.
–Pam
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Yes it doesn’t work on parents! I did quite a bit but when I was done… I was done.
Do you think Lynyrd Skynyrd would have continued through the MTV era if the crash would not have happened? 38 Special thrived but… they were not the
Led Zeppelin was losing popularity when John Bonham passed as New Wave was coming in… and punk.
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Interesting question…I think they would have continued to thrive, yes, I do. FM Rock radio, at least where I’m from, was very diverse in those days. A Flock of Seagulls were being played on the same station as Judas Priest (Screaming for Vengeance and Turbo Lover). I loved that. I thrived on the diversity of sound and style, but, at the same time, I was soaking up Rock N Roll history, studying it like it was it was the cure to the Ebola virus. Lynyrd Skynyrd was one of those bands that had a diverse following. Lot’s of girls liked Skynyrd, girls that didn’t really get into AOR rock like my friends and I did. They were special.
I didn’t think Led Zeppelin were losing steam when Bonham died. They were huge in my neck of the woods. It was like a bomb going off when he died and they disbanded. Zeppelin to us was like what Skynyrd was to you guys here…Overplayed. I got so sick of them. I still haven’t completely gotten over it.
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I miss those diverse stations that were around then. You would hear Beatles, Def Leopard, and Duran Duran in one sitting. I didn’t like all the new stuff but I knew it and gave it a chance because it would come bundled with the stuff I liked.
In the late seventies and early eighties I was deep into reading book upon book about The Beatles and any sixties music history I could find.
With Led Zeppelin it was more toward the UK where punk had taken a stronger hold.
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Yeah…I find the regional differences in music, fascinating. To me, you had British Rock, that was everything, Pop, everything that came from the UK and then there was everything else.
So for us, in West Texas, we were into ZZ Top, Aerosmith, Heart, 38 Special, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Joe Ely and Point Blank. They were kind of the meat and potatoes of the stew that every *#@ kicker from Odessa/Midland, Texas was into at the time.
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I can’t imagine how big ZZ Top was in Texas at that time. My cousin had Fandango and I liked them right away with Heard It On The X…they had that blue’s boogie thing going on.
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This is funny…ZZ Top was “deputized” in Ector County, that’s where Odessa, my home town, is. Ha!
Funny AND crazy. Could you imagine ZZ Top with the power of arrest? Ha! Thanks for commenting Max.
Oh by the way…Titans lost…Bummer.
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Good to hear more about your youth, Pam. At the time you were doing all that I was already married. I had been a ‘soul boy’ for most of my life, and wore suits and ties. I didn’t even own a pair of denim jeans, let alone bell-bottoms, and my hair never even touched my ears.
Ten years or so can make such a difference to our memories.
Best wishes, Pete. 🙂
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I love Soul music, Pete. Your description reminds me of the great Robert Palmer. Oh, how I loved him. He was so handsome, with his perfectly styled hair and his Armani suits. To me, he was a “Rock Star”. I loved his style. Bryan Ferry too.
Thanks for reading, Pete. I’m off to your site now. I’m a little behind on “The River” and I’m intrigued.
–Pam
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https://beetleypete.com/2015/10/02/significant-songs-90/
🙂
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You and I are from the same generation. I LOVED your nostalgic look at our teenage years. HOw many times do you suppose over the course of our lives have we heard “Freebird”?
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For me? Too many times, I’m afraid. Though, I love the live performance from…Candlestick Park, I think?…I’m not sure, but that performance of Freebird is great.
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Great post 🙂 I was born in late 1984, but I know a lot of these bands because I have listened to all sorts of music growing up 🙂 I loved a lot of the heavy metal and punk stuff. I also loved a lot of the New Wave stuff courtesy of The Talking Heads, but then again, you probably knew that already 🙂 Anyway, keep up the great work as always 🙂
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Thank you John. I’m a big fan of New Wave. I like punk and some Hair Metal too. In fact, there’s not too many musical genres I don’t like. I’m a music lover.
The Talking Heads are boss. My youngest daughter and I don’t agree on a lot of music–she likes neo punk–but we agree on The Talking Heads. We listened to Life During Wartime 3 times back to back in her car the other day. Ha!
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Pam, an interesting dive back into your early years. Cannot say I was a fan of Lynyrd Skynyrd. They obviously were on the radio, but I never got into too much Southern Rock. Ironic since I now live in Florida. I grew up on Elvis (a Memphis boy), Dion, The Beatles, Stones, The Who, Dylan, The Doors, Springsteen, and The Cars among many others. What I liked best about my time was radio which played a wide variety of pop, rock, soul, etc. unlike today where the stations are limited to one genre. You were exposed to so much more.
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There is a natural regional alliance with Lynyrd Skynyrd. Still, they are a critically acclaimed band.
Yes, your radio days were similar to my own. The diversity influenced me to be very open minded to music, while at the same time, I belonged to a peer-group that pushed me to be very exclusive–AC/DC, Pink Floyd, The Stones, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, etc,…I briefly bought into the exclusivity, but I quickly determined that bigotry about music is anti-music. It is the anthiesits of music.
I remember listening to the radio with my mother as a child, this was late sixties. I remember a lot of The Supremes. That’s probably because my mom liked them a lot and sang some of their songs.
Merry Christmas, John.
Pam
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Merry Christmas to you and your family!
https://johngrecoauthor.com/2019/12/18/a-merry-little-christmas-gift-a-short-story/
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I’m not sure what kind of occasional partier title I would come under, but it wasn’t Christian or preppy or Jock. Maybe loner. And you guys would have hated my bell bottoms, which I loved. Still do, lol !! (They make my legs look longer than they actually are).
What a huge loss that plane crash was with so much talented just gone in the blink of an eye….I wasn’t a LS fan but obviously remember them very well.
And don’t feel too bad about liking David Lee Roth. He had a GREAT voice AND he wasn’t just a ditzy airhead. He wanted to do some “heavier” songs while Eddie wanted to just stick with sex, drugs, and rock n roll.
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I was just looking at some OLD David Lee Roth pictures the other day…He was very fit, and he had chest hair, not too much but it looked good…At the same time he looked exactly like what a teenage girl stoner would find sexy in the 80s. Ha! Now he looks like a shriveled prune. Ha!
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Hey Pam, speaking of music, what do you think of New Order. Here is a youtube link to one of their songs 🙂
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Thank you for the link, John. I love New Order.
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[…] In Defense of Lynyrd Skynyrd and, to some extent, Unkempt Hair and Bell Bottom Jeans […]
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