At my age, was it unpatriotic to have never seen Lynyrd Skynyrd live? I would have seen them if I had had the opportunity and the money. I probably just didn't have the money. I saw ZZ Top. I've seen the Allman Bros. 4-5 times. Does that count?

I was a little too young to see them in concert, but their albums were the music I grew up on. It's easy to forget, whether you liked their music or not, that they were outstanding musicians that few bands have matched since. Listen to the live album "One More from the Road", especially Free Bird, and remember that this is a live performance. It's truly amazing.

Freebird is on Guitar Hero II and used in at least two unusual movie scenes. It's not going anywhere.

Listening to Freebird and other southern rock anthems in the mid to late 70's while under the influence of various narcotic substances was essentially "de rigueur" for me and the crowd I hung around. And, I won't deny that on certain occasions, I wouldn't mind hearing it again. But, I've been poisoned by hearing it blaring from the speakers of gigantic 4-wheel drive pickups with rebel flags hanging off them, and from the unfortunate occasions when I've made the bad decision to select 103.5 FM on the radio dial. I don't know how often they play it on there, but it seems to be exhibiting a fairly active shelf life to this point.

Let the song die? Hmmm.....I know that I have said that about many similar tunes from that period. I think that sometimes I'd like to fool myself into believing that I have progressed, or possibly, become "too enlightened" to allow myself to become re-immersed in what I now refer to as the "redneck culture" of the southern "red" states.

I saw Lynyrd Skynyrd in concert after the plane crash - they were good, but not the same. I saw KISS, Rare Earth, and a host of other bands of the time. I have a fairly decent collection of Allman Bros. music, and still enjoy listening to the occasional Rare Earth tune. Today's country music, which I absolutely detest, sounds to me like it has a lot of what I would call "southern rock" influence. And, I guess that may be the root of the problem for me.

I guess I've turned into a sort of music snob, but I cannot stand to be around a speaker playing the radio station WIVK. The music is absolute drivel, and I literally fume at the idea that Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw or Brad Paisley are serious musicians. (I'll admit that I did enjoy Tim McGraw's role in the movie "Friday Night Lights".)

So, when I hear Free Bird, the WIVK connotation strikes an unpleasant chord deep in my soul, and negative vibes begin emanating from within.

I guess this bird may have gone too far to bring back.

When I hear the first notes..I think oh man..NOT Freebird..
but by the end I'm always rocking!

Saw the boys @ the Civic Coliseum in '75.

Never saw Lynyrd Skynyrd live. Never much listening to their music. But about 10 years ago, I was at an solo acoustic concert by Jackson Browne and some fool kept shouting out "Freebird!" Finally, Browne threw out a verse for him. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. It did shut the heckler up though.

Pam Strickland

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." ~Kurt Vonnegut

"I never saw Lynyrd Skynyrd but I sure saw AC/DC
With Bon Scott singing, 'Let There Be Rock'"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love the song...
Some others who like it are dubious people sadly...but it's not the song's fault that some people of questionable character also like it as well as I...

I recently bought Lynyrd Skynyrd's "One More From The Road." I bought it in vinyl when it first came out, but had never bought the CD. I stayed away from LS after the plane crash, as radio burned them out for me. I bought the live CD this year and fell in love with it again. I then bought "Street Survivors" (and I still have the original LP) and fell in love with that again. The worst part of the plane crash was how good they were going to be with Steve Gaines. He added a whole new dimension, and Ronnie had publicly commented that Steve had more talent than anybody else in the band.

That was a good article. I like how it mentioned Aimee Mann used to play "Sweet Home Alabama" instead of "Freebird." I usually yell "Play Misty for me!"