Lynyrd Skynyrd

At nine-plus minutes of poignant grace veering into Southern-fried boogie-rock, "Free Bird" — one of the 20 greatest songs in the history of rock 'n' roll, period — tells you everything you need to know about Jacksonville's finest export: when they were firing on all cylinders, Ronnie Van Zant's gravel-road vocals swaddled in epic six-string, Lynyrd Skynyrd wasn't so much a band as a three-guitar, triple-threat force of nature, combining the best in rock, blues and country. Follow up the band's signature track with its most popular single, 1974's boogie-riffin' riposte to Neil Young's "Southern Man," "Sweet Home Alabama."

Discover the wall-to-wall quality of Skynyrd's albums, in Next Steps.

Just as sure as Skynyrd could construct monolithic Southern rock anthems, they also knew how to make an LP the listening experience it was intended to be, filling their finest platters — '74's [i]Second Helping[/i], '75's [i]Nuthin' Fancy[/i], '76's [i]Gimme Back My Bullets[/i] — with some of the choicest album cuts of any band of its era. 1977 would bring the plane crash that killed frontman Van Zant, newly acquired guitarist Steve Gaines and his sister (backing singer Cassie Gaines), but — after several reformations — the band put out [i]Twenty[/i] (1997) featuring the stoical "We Ain't Much Different."

Live blues jams and demos come to the fore in our Skynyrd Deep Cuts.

Think Cream did the definitive take on "Crossroads" outside of Robert Johnson? Well, then, you haven't spent sufficient time with Skynyrd, whose '76 live version could go toe-to-toe with Clapton & Co.'s. That's the thing about the Jacksonville seven-piece: they kept some of their finest cuts — like growlin', prowlin' "On the Hunt" from third album [i]Nuthin' Fancy[/i] — hidden well up their sleeve. Vietnam vet lament and slide-guitar showcase, "Four Walls of Raiford," appeared on the 1987 demo compilation, [i]Legend[/i], and — like the harder rockin' "Truck Drivin' Man" — it's well worth seeking out.

"Free Bird," "Sweet Home Alabama," "What's Your Name?," "Gimme Three Steps" . . . from their 1973 debut [i]Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd[/i], straight up to 1977's [i]Street Survivors[/i], no band in the land could touch the Southern rock locomotive that was Lynyrd Skynyrd (named, incidentally, after a long-hair-hating school teacher called Leonard Skinner). A decade after the plane crash that should've destroyed the band forever, Skynyrd somehow rose from the ashes, recording and filling arenas once again, ultimately emerging as an institution — a Stones-like rock 'n' roll necessity. Here are 45 reasons why, including sensational, ram-jammin' live versions of "Gimme Back My Bullets" and "T. for Texas (Blue Yodel No.1)."