A Public Service Award?

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Usually when we think about the original Lynyrd Skynyrd Band, back in the hell-raisin’ ’70’s, we think about partying and drinking too much, fighting amongst each other, crashing into trees. Not receiving a public service award.

A little background first

1975 was the first year for the Rock Music Awards. Back then the only genre of music that had it’s own specific awards was country. Not like today where they have an award show for every type of music on the planet. (Nothing wrong with that, necessarily. Things were just a lot simpler back then.)

Disco had taken off and was stealing some of the spotlight from rock and roll. Rock impresario Don Kirshner had the idea for an awards show to focus on rock music that was not being recognized as much. It was not particularly successful and only lasted 3 years.

The Fox

The other piece of the puzzle is the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, GA. The theatre had fallen on hard times for awhile during that period, and there was talk of shuttering it and tearing it down.

Part of the legendary history of Skynyrd is the series of shows they did at the Fox Theatre to raise money for it to remain open and be renovated. This series of shows in 1976 were recorded, and eventually became their live album entitled, One More From The Road.

The Rock Music Awards 1976

In the second year of the Rock Music Awards, they decided to give Lynyrd Skynyrd a Public Service Award for their efforts to save the theatre. Leon Wilkeson was the only member from the band to attend. He references Gary’s recovery from his car crash. That happened in September 1976, and resulted in the Skynyrd classic, That Smell. Which appeared on 1977’s release, Street Survivors.

So here, in all its goofy awkwardness is Leon accepting Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Public Service Award from Diana Ross and Alice Cooper, at the 1976 Rock Music Awards.