When & why did requesting "Freebird" become a joke?

Question

I'm 30 years old and as long as I can remember it's been considered funny and stupid to request "Freebird" from a band. I'm just wondering if anyone could shed some light on how this joke/annoyance spread so far that even 19 year-old college kids in South Dakota think it's funny in 2007.

Answer 1

I'm 29 and I remember first noticing the joke when I was a kid in the 80s. Wikipedia actually has a section that talks about that on the 'Free Bird' page. It says it sort of began in the 70s because Lynyrd Skynyrd didn't play Free Bird until their second encore at a concert. After the first encore, the audience chanted 'Free Bird" until they came back out. It credits some Chicago Radio DJ named Kevin Matthews for telling his listeners to shout it at a Florence Henderson concert in the 80s. That's supposedly where the joke came from.

Answer 2

That's a really hard question. There are so many different opinions over Global Warming I'm not sure anyone can definitively say its happening. If you look back 300 million years ago, The Earth was much warmer and greenhouse gases were high, at a time long before civilization/industrialization. I don't know anyone who can prove its not just a natural fluctuation in the gases that compose our atmosphere. But, on the other hand, I don't think that means we shouldn't do anything to stop pollution and "Global Warming" because there is evidence that mankind is a leading factor in the cause of a rise in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today. If you want more information look at the NASA study on Global Warming and try skimming through Google. I hope this helped.

Answer 3

RE:
When & why did requesting "Freebird" become a joke?
I'm 30 years old and as long as I can remember it's been considered funny and stupid to request "Freebird" from a band. I'm just wondering if anyone could shed some light on how this joke/annoyance spread so far that even 19 year-old college kids in South Dakota think...

Answer 4

I don't know...but my son is 12, has taught himself to play guitar (and when there was nothing more he could teach himself we decided to put him into music lessons and he's the best student there and so far I can't see what more they've taught him) and one of his favourite songs to play is FREEBIRD!!!! And guess what...that is what the instructor has been "working with him" on, perfecting it...ok...I think my son knows more than he does.

Anyhow...not everyone likes it...maybe it's too long, and they can't pull it off...all I can say is viva la difference and who cares what anyone thinks!!!! ;-)

To each their own right?

PS: At karaoke at a big schoolboard competition this weekend he got up there and sang IRONMAN...not exactly kosher...but hey, all the DADS were rocking! LOL

What's wrong with Sweet Home Alabama...you all must be YANKS....we just like good music up here and don't really have white (or any other kind of) trash.

How cruel to diminish two perfectly great songs!!! ;-)

Answer 5

It was that way by the early 80's - Freebird is one of the most played out songs of all time - every high school used that song and/or stairway to heaven as a prom theme in the late '70's early '80's. I was in a band in the early '80s, we played what we liked not what people wanted to hear - we used to end with highway song by blackfoot - long southern rock song, slow builds to a big jam. When we were done a couple of wasted idiots would yell Freebird. I would always say we just did.

Answer 6

I think it started the day after it was released.

When I was in college (in the South) it seemed like there were a lot of guys who didn't want to hear anything but Freebird. They'd shout out "Freebird!" even if the band had just played it. I think people do it to make fun of those types.

Answer 7

freebird, sweet home alabama, stair way to heaven, american pie...


every gig any musician has ever played, be it a rennasance classical flute duet or a punk show these requests are consistently spewed out by some red faced 30 year old drunk with a mullet and no side burns.

so it is a joke to request it based on how annoying it is to hear the request.

Or if you learn to play these four songs and go down to some carnival beer tent you are god

Answer 8

I think it goes back to an Episode of "Beavis and Butthead". In the episode, they go to a concert, and while on line for a porto-potty (where they spent the whole episode and miss the concert), some drunk dude walks up and said, "PLAY SOME SKYNARD MAN! WOOOOO!", then vommits and collapses.

People were saying "PLAY SOME SKYNARD MAN" for awhile after that. If you think about it though, "Freebird" is possibly the most known Skynard song of them all. You also have to think, when you copy something, something is lost in transistion. Hence why requesting "Freebird" is probably an evolved part of this joke.

Answer 9

First things first I am not musically inclined at all. But Lynrd Skynrd is the best bands of all time (in my opinion). I think they think it is funny because it is a hard song to learn and play. This is what some band members I know tell me. That is why it is funny. The people requesting it is just poking fun at the band members. And as far of the 19 year olds they are kids they probably don't even know the groups name that sings it.

Answer 10

well, let's see...i remember 20 years ago, it was a joke...i think it's because every bar band in the country started playing it...rather badly...soon, it became like "feelings", for the country crowd....oh, and "free bird" is not the white trash anthem...."sweet home alabama" is....interestingly enough....same band, huh?....