The Album Came Out October 17, 1977. Three Days Later, the Plane Went Down.
Street Survivors was released on October 17, 1977. The original cover showed Lynyrd Skynyrd surrounded by flames — a promotional image that, within 72 hours, became something no one could look at the same way again. On October 20, a chartered Convair CV-300 ran out of fuel over a Mississippi swamp and went down. Ronnie Van Zant was killed. Steve Gaines was killed. Cassie Gaines, backing vocalist and Steve's sister, was killed. MCA pulled the original flame cover within days out of respect for the dead and replaced it with a plain photograph.
Artimus Pyle, the drummer, survived. He crawled out of the wreckage and walked through the woods until he found a farmhouse. He knocked on the door to get help. The farmer, not knowing who he was or what had happened, shot at him. Pyle was wounded but survived. Help eventually came. The crash site was in a swamp outside Gillsburg, Mississippi.
On the cover of that album, in the photograph taken three days before all of this, Artimus Pyle is wearing a shirt that says "Vegetarian." It is a joke. A very Lynyrd Skynyrd joke — a band defined by Southern identity, BBQ culture, and straight-faced irreverence wearing a shirt that says the opposite of what they stood for. It is funny. It is also now one of the most haunted artifacts in rock photography.
The shirt exists. The photograph exists. The irony is real and it is permanent.
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Premium Quality
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Bella + Canvas 3001 — Premium unisex tee, true to size
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Airlume combed and ring-spun cotton — Exceptionally soft from the first wear
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Classic unisex fit — Relaxed, versatile, works for everyone
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Tear-away label — Clean comfort, all day
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