13th Floor Elevators

The Psychedelic Sounds of (1966)

Austin, Texas gave us the 13th Floor Elevators, the first band to use the term “psychedelic” in relation to their music, in 1965. Although the Elevators did have some success, they are mostly known for their single from this album, “You’re Gonna Miss Me.” You’ve heard it – it was the first song in director Stephen Frears’ 2000 film, High Fidelity, and was in a Dell commercial in 2007.

Roky Erickson and Tommy Hall wrote most of the music, with Hall even employing an electric jug that would soon define their sound. Janis Joplin, who sang with the band briefly before moving to California, credits them with her style. Likewise, acid rock bands like The MC5 and Blue Cheer have the Elevators to thank for their success. They were and still are a highly influential band.

Identifying specific tracks on this record is difficult, but only because they all sort of run into each other. Imagine a band like The Byrds bent on LSD and Southern Comfort and you’ll have an idea of what the Elevators were. Notable tracks include “Reverberation” and “Now I’m Home.” The band did, of course, run into some problems. Drug use was rampant among members (go figure), which even led to a couple of members “going crazy.”

After just four records (only two of which were full-length), the band split up in 1969. Erickson, who was committed in 1970 and released in 1975, currently plays gigs with another one of his old bands, The Explosives. Hall, whom I once met in a record store, lives in a rundown part of San Francisco and has been experimenting with acid for the last 40 years. (Dennis Donahue)