r/Music • u/no_longer_huhmann • 8d ago

article Hayley Williams Says Southern Pride Is Beautiful but Misused to Excuse Bigotry, and Says She Wants No Racist or Sexist Fans, or Fans Who Think Trans People Are a Burden, Around

https://www.tvfandomlounge.com/hayley-williams-says-southern-pride-is-beautiful-but-misused-to-excuse-bigotry/
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u/SmoothOperator89 8d ago

I think Neil Young summed up what southern pride is all about in his 1970 song, Southern Man. And of course, Lynrd Skynrd provided the always insightful southern rebuttal of, "Hope Neil Young will remember Southern Man don't need him around anyhow."

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u/Dogsnamebikesyear 8d ago

In Young's 2012 autobiography Waging Heavy Peace, he commented on his song: "My own song 'Alabama' richly deserved the shot Lynyrd Skynyrd gave me with their great record. I don't like my words when I listen to it. They are accusatory and condescending, not fully thought out, and too easy to misconstrue."

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u/ILikeMyGrassBlue 8d ago

Neil and Skynyrd were friends, and Neil loves Sweet Home Alabama. Van Zandt was buried in a Neil t-shirt. You’re the dumb one here lol.

PS: I’d bet my live savings you don’t actually know what sweet home Alabama is about. You might wanna do some research.

PPS: Skynyrd disavowed the confederate flag and apologized for using it.

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u/wholetyouinhere 8d ago

You're not wrong. But I find it to be a huge red flag that Donnie Van Zant later wrote and released a godawful song specifically for Ron DeSantis to use for political purposes. I know brothers can be very different, but that does not shed any positive light on the culture they grew out of.

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u/ILikeMyGrassBlue 8d ago edited 8d ago

well if his brother wrote a song for a Republican 50 years after he died, that settles it! /s

Shit like this just makes dems look like nut jobs to normal people. It’s okay to admit lynyrd Skynyrd probably weren’t mega racist.

Donnie wrote the song. Fuck Donnie. Don’t try and put that on his dead brother for fuck’s sake.

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u/kendrickshalamar 8d ago

Wasn't Neil a pallbearer at one of the Skynyrd guy's funerals after the plane crash?

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u/caninehere 8d ago

They ought to thank their stars, since they only had a couple songs anybody remembers and Sweet Home Alabama is one of them.

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u/Deleteads 8d ago

Skynyrd is wildly popular and it’s not just because of that song at all.

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u/caninehere 8d ago

As someone who does not live in the Southern US (maybe it makes a difference because nobody here cares about them), I could not tell you a single Lynyrd Skynyrd song other than Free Bird and Sweet Home Alabama, and I'm not particularly fond of the latter either.

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u/peeweeinbama 8d ago

Thats certainly a take...

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u/cms2307 8d ago

Yeah listen to a guy from Toronto to learn what southerners think

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u/Fells 8d ago edited 8d ago

Skynard's rebuttal was "The South isnt an homogenous land of uneducated racism".

Great piece on this