Did Lynyrd Skynyrd rip off the Eagles?

[travlnman2]

In a recent interview Artimus Pyle former drummer for Lynyrd Skynyrd claimed to have taken the drum beat from the song One Of These Nights and use it in Skynyrd's That Smell. Lynyrd Skynyrd was one of the top bands of the 1970s until a fateful plane crash on October 20th 1977 killed lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, Guitarist Steve Gaines his sister backup singer Cassie Gaines and assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick. Artimus Pyle the only member who was ambulatory climbed out of the wreckage and ran to a farmhouse for help to the surviving members. In 1987 Pyle along with remaining members Billy Powell, Leon Wilkenson and Gary Rossington Along with guitarist Ed King who left the band two years before and Randall who replaced Allen Collins who was paralyzed in a 1986 car crash. With Johnny Van Zant Ronnie's younger brother on vocals. Rossington is the only remaining original member active with the band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjpuBF54Xi0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1&v=hib4n9RmFrQ

The interview[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l1-NDZN05w"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l1-NDZN05w[/ame]]

[WalshFan88]

He would know because he was the drummer that played on that record.

Seriously though, Lynyrd Skynyrd is a top 5 band for me and I love them. That Smell is a great tune.

[AlreadyGone95]

Ditto what Austin(WF88 ) said(although top 10 for me). Skynyrd are like gods to music fans here in Georgia. In fact, That Smell is actually my favorite Skynyrd song. Can you post a link to that interview?Both songs differ from each other so I don't think that it would be easy to spot the same drum beat.

[travlnman2]

Ditto what Austin(WF88 ) said(although top 10 for me). Skynyrd are like gods to music fans here in Georgia. In fact, That Smell is actually my favorite Skynyrd song. Can you post a link to that interview?Both songs differ from each other so I don't think that it would be easy to spot the same drum beat.

sure I also love Skynyrd I actually got to see the new band last year and they were rocking

[NOLA]

Interesting about the supposed likeness between the song and OOTN!

Wikipedia has an interesting article on "That Smell." In essence, Ronnie Van Zant wrote it about a car crash that involved Gary Rossington. Anyway, I've always liked the song's message about some of the vice associated with the rock 'n roll lifestyle.

I lived in Jax, FL from '97 to '99. With regards to music in their hometown, Lynyrd Skynyrd was an institution! No doubt that it still is.

[chaim]

Taking a chord idea from here, a drum beat from there, and using them in a different context is not ripping off. Musicians do this all the time. Oh the times I've heard a musician say, "I took that bit from..." That's also how music progresses.

The (Eagles and Lynyrd Skynyrd) songs themselves are not similar. The drummer just decided to use a similar pattern. Besides, Don could probably tell us where he got it. It's like the guitar solo that Mike McCready took from Ace Frehley, who took it from Robby Krieger.

Having said all of that, I can definitely hear it now that I know it. And I do find it very interesting. It's just that I object to the term "ripping off", which is used too much these days IMO.

[NightMistBlue]

I agree with chaim. Wasn't Bobby Blue Bland's "I Wouldn't Treat a Dog (The Way You Treated Me)" said to have influenced the chords and melodic structure on "One of These Nights."

[chaim]

I agree with chaim. Wasn't Bobby Blue Bland's "I Wouldn't Treat a Dog (The Way You Treated Me)" said to have influenced the chords and melodic structure on "One of These Nights."

Exactly. Starts with the same chords, although probably in a different key. That's one of the most common chord progressions, but I can see how Glenn could have taken the vibe from that song, and those first three (very common) chords as well, and gone from there. And it's not a rip-off. The Luther Vandross song "Funky music", which Bowie changed to "Fascination", is similar too.

As a KISS fan I must refer to them again and say that Simmons and Stanley have said a thousand times how they took stuff from here and there. The Move's "Fire brigade", for example, was the main influence for "Firehouse". "Hotter than hell" is "All right now" re-written. The "Deuce" riff was inspired by "Bitch" by the Rolling Stones. Gene's "Love her all I can" riff was inspired by something by The Nazz. A phrase in the "Strutter" lyric basically came from a Dyaln lyric, and was slihtly changed. The lick in the chorus of "Going blind" was inspired by the Layla riff. And on and on and on. And I wouldn't call them rip-offs. Although Gene tends to say about influences in his music "That's me ripping off...".

But, again, I'm very much interested in this subject, and I love threads like this, but I just prefer the word "influence" to "rip-off", when we are talking about various elements in a song. If the actual song (melody line or/and lyric) is identical for several seconds, it's a different matter.