Lynyrd Skynyrd followers floored after discovering what band’s title means | Music | Entertainment | EUROtoday

For over six many years, the long-lasting tunes of American rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd have remained a staple in music collections worldwide.

Kicking off again in 1964, the preliminary lineup boasted Ronnie Van Zant on vocals, Gary Rossington and Allen Collins on guitar, bassist Larry Junstrom and Bob Burns on drums. For their first 4 years, they performed varied small-scale gigs beneath totally different aliases, enduring quite a few member reshuffles, till lastly selecting the moniker “Lynyrd Skynyrd” in 1968.

By the time their debut album hit the airwaves in 1973, bass participant Leon Wilkeson, keys maestro Billy Powell and Ed King had been a part of the ensemble. Bob Burns bowed out in 1974 making manner for Artimus Pyle, whereas Steve Gaines stepped into Ed King’s footwear in 1976.

Their heyday within the ’70s noticed chart-busters like “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Free Bird” propel them to stardom, buoyed by 5 studio albums and one stay recording. However, their success was brutally lower quick on October 20, 1977, when a tragic airplane crash claimed the lives of Van Zant, Steve Gaines and backup singer Cassie Gaines, leaving different bandmates with grave accidents.

A decade later, in 1987, survivors rallied to boost the band’s flag as soon as extra for a reunion tour, led by Ronnie’s sibling Johnny Van Zant. This revitalised Lynyrd Skynyrd continued to storm levels and studios with authentic founding member Rossington, alongside Johnny Van Zant and Rickey Medlocke, who labored with the group within the early ’70s earlier than his triumphant return in 1996.

Decades after their rise to fame, Lynyrd Skynyrd continues to astound rock followers as an eye-opening element concerning the legendary band’s title origins has emerged. The story of how they received their moniker has solely simply come to gentle for some followers.

From a revealing Reddit thread, which sparked huge curiosity, one person introduced the very fact to gentle by posting: “TIL that the name of the band ‘Lynyrd Skynyrd’ was based on a teacher named Leonard Skinner, who did not accept long hair at the high school where some members of Lynyrd Skynyrd studied and, as a way of paying homage, they opted for a tongue-in-cheek with your name.”

This ignited a mixture of reactions from social media customers, with one asserting: “According to the documentary Joe Dirt 2, it was Joe that gave them the idea to name the band after him.”

Others expressed their shock over the longevity of Mr. Skinner’s life: “I had no idea he lived until 2010. I had kind of assumed he was already an old guy when the band was in high school. Kind of sad to think how many band members he outlived, some by a wide margin.”

Conversation continued to unfold, with somebody amusingly confessing their childhood pronunciation blunder: “As a kid I always thought it was pronounced Lie Nerd Sky Nerd.”

However, historical past tells us that the long-lasting southern rock band certainly took its title from a PE instructor infamous for his distaste for college students with lengthy hair – an attribute that often led to confrontations with the longer term members of Lynyrd Skynyrd throughout their college days.

The story confirms that the instructor, who loathed lengthy locks to such an extent that he would ship offending college students on to the principal, undeniably impressed the group’s now-famous title, wrapping up one other piece of rock lineage.

It has emerged that iconic rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd may need been influenced by drummer Bob Burns’ suggestion, initially adopting the title “Leonard Skinnerd”. This selection appeared to be a comical homage to Allan Sherman’s 1963 novelty music “Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh”, drawing a personality reference to “Leonard Skinner”.

On prime of that, it cheekily referenced their fitness center instructor from their college days. Eventually, they adopted the well-known moniker “Lynyrd Skynyrd”, believed to pay tribute to the distinctive accent of the American deep south.

Reflecting on the previous, Gary Rossington commented in 2010, following Leonard Skinner’s dying: “Coach Skinner had such a profound impact on our youth that ultimately led us to naming the band, which you know as Lynyrd Skynyrd, after him. Looking back, I cannot imagine it any other way. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this time.”