Sweet Home Alabama
"Sweet Home Alabama" was written as an answer to two songs, "Southern Man" and "Alabama" by Neil Young, which dealt with themes of racism and slavery in the American South. "We thought Neil was shooting all the ducks in order to kill one or two," said Ronnie Van Zant at the time. The following excerpt shows the Neil Young mention in the song:
In his 2012 autobiography "Waging Heavy Peace", Young commented on his role in the song's creation, writing "My own song 'Alabama' richly deserved the shot Lynyrd Skynyrd gave me with their great record. I don't like my words when I listen to it. They are accusatory and condescending, not fully thought out, and too easy to misconstrue".
Alabama (American band)
By the late 1980s, Alabama's sales slowed down considerably, with only their major albums going gold. The group's popularity was mostly eclipsed by more traditional-sounding artists such as Ricky Skaggs, Randy Travis, George Strait, and Dwight Yoakam. Despite this, they continued to be a popular touring act, and the band issued their first live album, "Alabama Live", in 1988. For 1989's "Southern Star", the band decided to part ways with longtime producer Shedd, instead splitting production duties between Josh Leo and Larry Lee, and the other half with Barry Beckett. "Song of the South" was another number one, and the album's remaining singles—"If I Had You", "High Cotton", and "Southern Star"—were number ones in both the U.S. and Canada. That year, Alabama were named by "Billboard" the Country Artist of the 1980s and the ACA voted the band the Artist of the Decade.