On October 17, 1977 the Southern Rock band, Lynyrd Skynyrd (pronounced ‘lĕh-‘nérd ‘skin-‘nérd) released their fifth studio album, Street Survivors. What’s Your Name and That Smell were two of the many highlights from this Double Platinum album (meaning it sold over 2 million copies in the United States alone… sorry if you already knew that).
On October 20, 1977 a plane carrying the band (who had just finished performing a show in Greenville, South Carolina) ran out of fuel and crashed in Gillsburg, Mississippi. Lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, legendary guitarist Steve Gaines, Steve’s sister and Lynyrd Skynyrd backup vocalist Cassie Gaines, the band’s assistant road manager and both pilots were killed on impact. The remaining band members and their crew sustained serious injuries.
At the request of Teresa Gaines, Steve’s widow, and out of respect for the fallen members of the band, MCA Records withdrew the original “flame” cover and reissued the album with a similar image of the band amongst a basic black background.
The Prudent Groove 
First off…respects to all the members of Lynyrd Skynyrd who are now gone. OK…
This record, in my opinion, is the absolute best Skynyrd record production-wise. The funky sound and clean guitar tones on many of these tracks really make this record stand out from the rest. Not that the previous ones were by any means bad. ALL of Skynyrd’s music is EXCELLENT!!! But if I was forced to recommend one, and only one, Skynyrd record (assuming that the box set is not allowed), it would be this one. The addition of Steve Gaines to the band gave an already great band a boost to the next level. And it’s sad to think about all the great music that us Skynhyds missed out on because of the plane crash.
FYI-The Street Survivors album was reissued on CD in 2001 with the original fiery cover art.
I did see that about the CD version and I agree… there was a potential goldmine of music lost due to the crash. Sad indeed.