Quote Of The Day By Gary Rossington: 'We Didn't Ever Think We'd Make It ...'

Gary Rossington was one of the founding members of the legendary Southern rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd. He was born in Jacksonville, Florida, on December 4, 1951, and formed the band while still in school alongside fellow founding members Ronnie Van Zant, Allen Collins, Bob Burns, and Larry Junstrom.

Like others of his generation, Rossington was hugely influenced by the British Invasion bands of the early 1960s, and he wanted to become a rock star despite having no immediately apparent aptitude for playing rock 'n' roll. Rossington gravitated toward the guitar, and the band played continually in clubs under various names including the Noble Five before settling on their famous moniker, inspired by the name of their teacher Leonard Skinner.

It took years for the band to build a following, and Rossington claims they didn't feel successful even after their debut album was released. But soon hits like "Free Bird" — featuring a legendary guitar solo from Rossington – and "Sweet Home Alabama" made them rock heroes. Tragically, three members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, including Van Zant, died in a plane crash in 1977. Rossington and Collins were injured and traumatized by the experience but nevertheless returned to music. Rossington died in 2023, but the resilience he showed throughout his life makes him our Quote of the Day.

"We didn't ever think we'd make it real big. I knew a couple of chords, but Ronnie couldn't sing at all, and we didn't think we could ever write a song in our whole lives."

Today's Quote of the Day comes from an interview Gary Rossington gave to Classic Rock magazine back in 2012. The discussion covers the entirety of his career, which by that point had entered its fifth decade. Rossington recalls, however, that despite being inspired by bands such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, he and his Lynyrd Skynyrd bandmates didn't initially consider themselves to be future stars.

But they nevertheless played compulsively. Under Ronnie Van Zant's leadership, the young band practiced all day long in a cabin in the woods where no one would complain about the noise. Despite their early reservations, they slowly began to make it as a professional act.

As our Quote of the Day shows, Gary Rossington and the rest of Lynyrd Skynyrd may not have been the best musicians in the world when they first started. However, their sheer joy at playing the music they loved — and competitiveness among the musicians in the group — slowly pushed them toward being one of the most famous bands of the 1970s. Rossington's quote, then, suggests that neither he nor Ronnie Van Zant let their early uncertainty about their ability prevent them from pursuing their interest in music, and they managed to silence their inner critics so they could continue to practice their art.

That kind of perseverance would be vital for Rossington and Allen Collins after the crash, when they sought to carry on after the heart-wrenching loss of their friends and their own severe injuries. As Rossington notes in the interview with Classic Rock, initially the trauma and loss he had suffered made him adamant that he would never play again. During his recovery, he announced to his loved ones his intention to retire from the music industry.

Fortunately, it didn't play out that way. Months after the crash, while on a Barbados vacation organized by Lynyrd Skynyrd manager Peter Rudge, Rossington was convinced to jam with local musicians as well as Alan Price of the Animals. He managed to play — and enjoy it — despite his injuries impairing his performance. He claimed it was this experience that convinced him to reunite with Collins to form the Rossington Collins Band, again having to overcome his own limitations to live the life he loved.

• "Paul Kossoff was a big influence ... we heard that this band called Free was coming into town ... after that show, me, Ronnie, and Allen decided to really get serious and work hard and dedicate our lives to making it."
• "Certain songs mean a lot to certain people and they thank you for it or they say they live by that. It gives some meaning in their life, and it's always great to hear that. That's what we do it for."
• "I'm not really a leader. If anything gets out of hand, I straighten things up. But Ronnie was a real leader — he was like our father figure at the time."
• "I'm proud of the fact that we made it out of a poor part of town in Jacksonville, Florida. There's not much around there. Playing music was one way to get out of town and that's what we were trying to do. We learned to be good enough to get out of there. And our dream came true."
• "We're just a good, hard-working band that's stuck by our guns and tried to do what's right. We try to write songs and play songs that make people happy — our fans and ourselves. A good American band — I hope that's our legacy."