2001-05-08 - 4:27 p.m.
Just a few more words about killing the Free Bird Meme.
It doesn�t seem to matter what kind of music--punk, jazz, geek rock, world music, whatever--at every show I�ve gone to in the last 20 years there�s been some dorkoid screaming "FREE BIRD!" between songs and laughing uproariously at his own cleverness and originality. Usually it�s also one of the people holding their cigarette lighters aloft like they�re at fucking Budokan or something.
It�s all meant to be ironic, of course, and I�m all for that--anyone who wants to poke irreverent fun at bloated and pompous �70s arena rock is OK by me. The problem here, though, is that "Free Bird" is actually a fairly decent song. I�ve never had much fondness for Lynyrd Skynyrd or for Southern redneck rock in general, but I like to think I know a good tune when I hear it no matter what musical sub-sub-sub-genre it belongs to. Likewise with "Stairway to Heaven," the second most often requested song by concertgoing jokesters. Led Zeppelin definitely did their part in making themselves the real-life model for Spinal Tap, but there�s a reason why the intro to "Stairway" has been one of the first licks learned by everyone who�s ever picked up an electric guitar in the last 30 years.
If you must inject irony into your concert experience, at least pick a song that�s genuinely shitty and/or self-important. How about "In the Year 2525"? Or "In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida"? Or anything by CSNY, especially "Teach Your Children"? Or that fuckawful hippie song about going to San Francisco wearing flowers in your hair? Or if you prefer something more recent, how about anything by Creed?
And put the goddamn lighter away, too, why don�t you?
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