Needles & Grooves

i mean the only songs i know from them are sweet home Alabama and free bird.. and even free bird only the solo.. so I dunno how racist they are

I can get behind this but I need some examples.

I know next to nothing about them but you gotta cite your sources here

Most images of the band I've seen included a confederate flag.

and while we're at it blue oyster cult can get off their high horse.

As a casual LS fan, please elaborate

Some of them, probably fairly, but I do think there's some nuance in there. The Confederate flag use is problematic, definitely. Hard to tell where a lot of the original band would stand personally, since they died 50 years ago, but I know Ronnie Van Zandt had some decent views, and others had revisited conversations about use of the flag in the 2010s.

Are they beloved by racists, yeah, and are some of the members probably racist now/then, yeah, but there's also evidence that the original band was more liberal than they're given credit for. As for the music itself, if there's anything overtly racist in there, I have not heard it.

By this logic, Tarantino is just as, if not more, racist.

Every picture/video I've ever seen of them they're draped in Confederate flags, they felt compelled to defend Slavery itself by writing Sweet Home Alabama as a response to NY's Southern Man. That songs disgusting and just serves as a celebration of post-confederate "culture", with some absolutely disgusting lyrics. Oh and theres another confederate flag on the single cover

And any illusion of nuance gets discredited by surviving members/people around the band saying "No, this was one for the good ol boys". It's like they set out to make music that you'd listen to while dressed in your clan robes.

@Melt Face Molly Drop I don't follow that logic at all. Though Tarantino is definitely problematic, moreso than is generally talked about.

There’s always been an argument (which I’m sure Van Zandt alluded to in interviews before his death) that sections of Sweet Home Alabama are actually subtle protests against racist politics in the South. Thinking particularly about the Wallace section.

Definitely nuance kicking about with this one.

Agreed, this conversation deserves more nuance than an immediate dismissal, but you’re free to do as you see fit of course. I found this fairly short read a good introduction to that nuance (click link for article):

If it's indeed some nuanced take on southern pride, why even feel the need to pin it as a response to Neil Young's song? That seems like a deflection to me. I've done some reading myself and I find just many interview tidbits with members saying it's straightforward as those saying it's nuanced.