Yeah, yeah, I know it's been a month since I an article on here, sorry, you'll forgive me.
This one, as if you couldn't tell by the title, is about the best music genre ever. I'm sure some of you are saying "Polka", or "Death Metal", but you would of course be totally wrong. The best music to ever come out of any time period is that genre known as "Southern Rock".
How can I say this? Well without Southern Rock you'd have had just about nothing in the Rock genre ever since. Just like without Country, Soul, and Jazz, we wouldn't have had Southern Rock, without Southern Rock we wouldn't have had good old fashioned Rock'n'Roll, Alternative, Grunge, and a host of other genres. It's just a fact, you can try and dispute it all you want, but it's just true. Elvis Presley wasn't Rock'n'Roll first, he was Southern Rock which became Rock'n'Roll, all you have to do is listen to his early stuff and you can see this. Before he was "The King" he helped create the genre that is now known as Southern Rock.
The greatest thing about Southern Rock is that it spans so many different great musicians who fall under the genre. From the more country side of the genre with the Charlie Daniel's Band, to the more traditional rock sound of Creedence Clearwater Revival, and from the vocal stylings of the Atlanta Rhythm Section to the more "bluesy" sounds of the Allman Brothers Band. Yes, they are ALL Southern Rock, and I haven't even scratched the surface.
Being a Southerner, and a natural born Floridian, my personal favorite is of course Lynyrd Skynyrd. Skynyrd was part of a group of southern rock bands that brought in hard rock with their traditional country sound. Songs like "Freebird", "Tuesday's Gone" and "Simple Man" showcase the typical southern man's loves, aspirations, and excesses, both back in the time that they were written and today. The guitar rifts in most of their songs, along with the drum solos, just make you think that everything is going to be alright. Even their "sad" songs, aren't sad, they make you smirk and nod your head and want to hold a lighter in the air.
Unlike music of today, like pop-shock crap by Lady GaGa, or just pop in general, the music said something without being a prick about it. Like it says in "Sweet Home Alabama", "Well, I hope Neil Young will remember a southern man don't need him around anyhow" gets to the point, doesn't require some stupid outfit, and it's just right (and a little known fact it seems: Ronnie Van Zant wasn't putting down Neil Young, he was actually backing his attack on racism and segregation up and saying "Thanks Neil, we get what you say and we agree, but we can take care of it ourselves."). I know a lot of people out there are just sheep and listen to whatever is "hot" currently and don't care about history of music, or the ability to actually sit down and write music instead of having someone else write the words for them and let a computer put out the actual sounds.
I'll say this in conclusion; I may be biased a wee bit. Skynrd's "Freebird" was my high school class song back in '99. Even all those years after it was originally written it still meant something to that class of Booker T. Washington High School. It meant freedom, it meant growing up, it meant leaving those we loved behind so that we could take on the world.
