Sadly, though, the other bookend to the “That Smell” story is one of the greatest tragedies in rock history. Far from lecturing or soap-boxing, there’s an element of understanding to the narrator’s story, as the post-chorus shows: See, this is where a bit of Van Zant’s philosophy starts to come into play-while the song certainly asserts a warning about the dangers of substance abuse, it does so from the vantage point of someone who’s experienced the struggle themselves. “So, I thought I’d blow lines, slam some H and write a morbid song.” “I had a creepy feeling things were going against us,” Van Zant said later on in an interview. Sitting down to hash it out, Van Zant came up with the lyrics we know today.Ĭan’t speak a word when you’re full of ‘ludes Rossington, thankfully, recovered from the crash (today, he’s one of the few surviving members of the original band), but it delayed the tour… and the band even made him pay $5,000 to make up for the lost income.īeyond that, there were deep reverberations from the incident throughout the Skynyrd camp… and before too long, guitarist Allen Collins suggested to Van Zant that they should write a song about it. Still, for Rossington, the combination of drinking and taking his ‘lude a little too early proved to be a bad move: driving home along Mandarin Road in Jacksonville, Florida, he crashed his Ford Torino into an oak tree. He developed a habit of drinking nightly, then popping a tranquilizing Quaalude pill to fall asleep (which, on their own, weren’t actually too outrageous or scandalous at the time-I mean, even The Brady Bunch was using them). With all of that success, though, came almost unimaginable access to drugs, alcohol, and other material excesses… and the pressures of those new variables on the band’s lives began to stack up.Įventually, the folks in the Lynyrd Skynyrd camp began to settle into a lifestyle of substance abuse-and Rossington was no exception. The car accident came in 1976-the band was already known around the world thanks to their songs like “Free Bird,” “Simple Man” and, of course, “Sweet Home Alabama,” all of which charted during the first half of the decade. To that end, the story of the song itself is bookmarked by two unfortunate events: a car accident involving guitarist Gary Rossington and, ultimately, the infamous plane crash that would bring about the end of the original Lynyrd Skynyrd. Not only does its lyrics acutely speak to the dangerous (and often-fatal) risks of substance abuse and addiction, but they capture a bit of the essence of the man who wrote them, vocalist Ronnie Van Zant. It also appeared in the twenty-first episode of the second season of Miami Vice (1984), and the Universal Studios Florida attraction Disaster!.Since it first came out in October 1977, “That Smell” by Lynyrd Skynyrd has remained one of those special songs that holds a coveted spot in the hearts of millions… and for good reason. The song appeared in the first season of Entourage. The song is featured in the films Blow (2001), Joe Dirt (2001) and Wild Hogs (2007), at the end of the fourth episode of the HBO television drama series True Blood (2008). "That Smell" was the second single released from Street Survivors and failed to chart. The crash killed several members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, including Van Zant. Three days after the album was released, the band was devastated by a plane crash. Later when asked, Van Zant said, "I had a creepy feeling things were going against us, so I thought I'd blow lines, slam some H and write a morbid song." The lyrics cautioned that "tomorrow might not be here for you", and that "the smell of death surrounds you". The song earned Rossington the moniker "Prince Charming" from Van Zant. Van Zant was thus inspired to write the song as a warning about the consequences of careless overuse of drugs and alcohol. Van Zant's inspiration for the song was the increasing reckless indulgences of the band members culminating in the evening when guitarist Gary Rossington crashed his Ford Torino into an oak tree along Mandarin Road in Jacksonville, Florida, after excessive consumption of alcohol and other drugs. Van Zant said that he started using heroin and cocaine to relieve the pressure of performing in front of large audiences. At the time the song was written, the band had been using alcohol, cocaine, and heroin. Written by Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Allen Collins, it was released in 1977 on the album Street Survivors. " That Smell" is a song by the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. JSTOR ( September 2021) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message). Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This article needs additional citations for verification.
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