47 years ago this week back in 1977....Lynyrd Sknyrd released their fifth studio album "Street Survivors" which turned out to be their most successful album ever...reaching #5 on The Billboard Albums Chart at the time. The record also featured guitarist Steve Gaines who had joined the band some months before! Unfortunately...The release of the record was eclipsed by the airplane crash that occurred just three days after it's release on October 20, 1977 as the band was en route to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. That crash claimed the lives of three of the band's members including front man and lead vocalist Ronnie Van Zant as well as the pilot and the co-pilot. Unfortunately...The airplane had run out of gasoline due to a leaky gas tank but the defective gasoline gauge indicated that the fuel tanks were full! Interestingly...Some months earlier...Aerosmith had considered purchasing that very airplane but had backed out of the deal after questioning the safety of that airplane! As a result of the airplane crash too...the album cover art was immediately modified as well. The original album cover showed the band standing amid flames and the later updated record cover had the flames deleted which turned the initial batch of the albums with the original album cover into collectors items for many years. Eventually...However...With the resurgence of vinyl albums over the past fifteen years....The original album cover artwork with the flames has been restored...