Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd took their name from their school gym teacher, one
Leonard Skinner, a man legendary among the band and their peers
for his hostility towards long-haired students.
On 20 October 1977 - just three days after they released their
fifth studio album (Street Survivors), the band's
chartered twin-prop aircraft ran out of fuel and plunged into a
forest near Gillsburg, Mississippi, killing singer Ronnie Van Zant,
guitarist Steve Gaines and four other members of their entourage.
In the aftermath, Street Survivors seemed loaded
with portents; its cover pictured the band engulfed by flames, and
That Smell - which was actually an anti-drug song - had
Van Zant warning, "The smell of death's around you".
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