"That Smell" is a song by the

Southern rock Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music and a genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country and blues, and is focused generally on electric guitars and vocals. History 1950s and 1960s: origin ...

band

Lynyrd Skynyrd Lynyrd Skynyrd (, ) is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1964. The group originally formed as My Backyard and comprised Ronnie Van Zant (vocals), Gary Rossington (guitar), Allen Collins (guitar), Larry Junstrom ...

. Written by two band members, vocalist

Ronnie Van Zant Ronald Wayne Van Zant (January 15, 1948 – October 20, 1977) was an American singer, best known as the founding lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. He was the older brother of Johnny Van Zant, the cu ...

and guitarist

Allen Collins Larkin Allen Collins Jr. (July 19, 1952 – January 23, 1990) was an American guitarist, and one of the founding members of the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. He co-wrote many of the band's songs with frontman and original lead singer Ronni ...

. JoJo Billingsley also allegedly took part in the writing; however, she was never credited. It was said Ronnie claimed he wanted to fix it. The song was released in 1977 on the album '' Street Survivors''. At the time the song was written, the band had been using alcohol, cocaine, and heroin.''Classic Rock Stories'', Tim Morse, (New York.: St. Martin's Griffin, 1998), p. 83 Van Zant said that he started using heroin and cocaine to relieve the pressure of performing in front of large audiences. Van Zant's inspiration for the song was the increasing reckless indulgences of the band members culminating in the evening when guitarist

Gary Rossington Gary Robert Rossington (December 4, 1951 – March 5, 2023) was an American musician best known as a founding guitarist of Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, with whom he performed until his death. Rossington was also a founding member of the ...

crashed his

Ford Torino The Ford Torino is an automobile that was produced by Ford Motor Company, Ford for the North American market between 1968 and 1976. It was a competitor in the mid-size car, intermediate market segment and essentially a twin to the Mercury Monte ...

into an oak tree along Mandarin Road in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

, after excessive consumption of alcohol and other drugs. Van Zant was thus inspired to write the song as a warning about the consequences of careless overuse of drugs. The song earned Rossington the moniker "Prince Charming" from Van Zant. Later when asked, Van Zant said, "I had a creepy feeling things were going against us, so I thought I'd write a morbid song." The lyrics cautioned that "tomorrow might not be here for you", and that "the smell of death surrounds you". Three days after the album was released, the band was devastated by a

plane crash An aviation accident is an event during aircraft operation that results serious injury, death, or significant destruction. An aviation incident is any operating event that compromises safety but does not escalate into an aviation accident. Pre ...

in which several members were killed, including Van Zant. "That Smell" was the second single released from '' Street Survivors'' and failed to chart. The song is featured in the films '' Blow'' (2001), ''

Joe Dirt ''Joe Dirt'' is a 2001 American adventure comedy film, directed by Dennie Gordon (in her feature film directorial debut), starring David Spade, Dennis Miller, Christopher Walken, Adam Beach, Brian Thompson, Brittany Daniel, Jaime Pressly ...

'' (2001) and ''

Wild Hogs ''Wild Hogs'' is a 2007 American biker road comedy film directed by Walt Becker and starring Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy. It was released nationwide in the United States and Canada on March 2, 2007 to negativ ...

'' (2007); it is also used at the end of the fourth episode of the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

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True Blood ''True Blood'' is an American fantasy Horror fiction, horror Drama (film and television), drama television series produced and created by Alan Ball (screenwriter), Alan Ball. It is based on ''The Southern Vampire Mysteries'', a series of novels ...

'' (2008). The song appeared in the first season of ''

Entourage An entourage () is an informal group or band of people who are closely associated with a (usually) famous, notorious, or otherwise notable individual. The word can also refer to: Arts and entertainment * L'entourage, French hip hop / rap collecti ...

''. It also appeared in the twenty-first episode of the second season of ''

Miami Vice ''Miami Vice'' is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series stars Don Johnson as James "Sonny" Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo Tubbs, Ricardo "Rico" Tub ...

'' (1984), and the

Universal Studios Florida Universal Studios Florida is a theme park located in Orlando, Florida, that opened on June 7, 1990. Owned and operated by NBCUniversal, it features numerous rides, attractions, and live shows that are primarily themed to movies, television, and ...

attraction '' Disaster!''.

References

External links

* 1977 songs Lynyrd Skynyrd songs Songs about alcohol Song recordings produced by Tom Dowd Songs written by Allen Collins Songs written by Ronnie Van Zant Songs about drugs {{1970s-rock-song-stub