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mahatmakanejeeves

(65,683 posts)
Thu Jul 17, 2025, 10:25 AM Thursday

On July 15, 1947, Roky Erickson of the 13th Floor Elevators was born.

Hat tip, This Day in Music

Born Today In Music

July 15th

1947 - Roky Erickson

American singer, songwriter, harmonica player, and guitarist Roky Erickson who was a founding member of the 13th Floor Elevators and a pioneer of the psychedelic rock genre. Erickson died on 31 May 2019 age 71.

Roky Erickson


Erickson performing at Austin Music Awards (2008)

Born: July 15, 1947; Dallas, Texas, US
Died: May 31, 2019 (aged 71); Austin, Texas, US

Roger Kynard "Roky" Erickson (July 15, 1947 – May 31, 2019) was an American musician and singer-songwriter. He was a founding member of the 13th Floor Elevators and a pioneer of the psychedelic rock genre.

Biography

Born in Dallas, Texas, Erickson was interested in music from his youth, playing piano from age five and taking up guitar at 10. He attended school in Austin and dropped out of Travis High School in 1965, one month before graduating, rather than cut his hair to conform to the school dress code. His first notable group was the Spades, who scored a regional hit with Erickson's "We Sell Soul"; the song is included as an unlisted bonus track on Erickson's 1995 album All That May Do My Rhyme and was adapted as "Don't Fall Down" by the 13th Floor Elevators for their debut album. The Spades' original version of "You're Gonna Miss Me", later a hit for the 13th Floor Elevators, was featured on the compilation album The Best of Pebbles Volume 1.

The 13th Floor Elevators years

Main article: The 13th Floor Elevators

In late 1965, at age 18, Erickson co-founded the 13th Floor Elevators. He and bandmate Tommy Hall were the main songwriters. Early in her career, singer Janis Joplin considered joining the Elevators, but Family Dog's Chet Helms persuaded her to go to San Francisco instead, where she found major fame.

The band released their debut album The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators in 1966. It contained the band's only charting single, Erickson's "You're Gonna Miss Me". A stinging breakup song, the single remains probably Erickson's best-known work: it was a major hit on local charts in the U.S. southwest and appeared at lower positions on national singles charts as well. Critic Mark Deming writes that "If Roky Erickson had vanished from the face of the earth after The 13th Floor Elevators released their epochal debut single, "You're Gonna Miss Me", in early 1966, in all likelihood he'd still be regarded as a legend among garage rock fanatics for his primal vocal wailing and feral harmonica work."

In 1967, the band followed up with Easter Everywhere, perhaps the band's most focused effort, featuring "Slip Inside This House", and a noted cover of Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue". The album Live was released in 1968 by the band's record label, International Artists, with little to no input from the band. It featured audience applause dubbed over studio recordings of cover versions, alternate takes, and older material.

Bull of the Woods (1969) was the 13th Floor Elevators' final album on which they worked as a group and was largely the work of Stacy Sutherland. Erickson—due to health and legal problems—and Tommy Hall were only involved with a few tracks, including "Livin' On" and "May the Circle Remain Unbroken".

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The 13th Floor Elevators

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The 13th Floor Elevators was an American rock band from Austin, Texas, United States, formed by guitarist and vocalist Roky Erickson, electric jug player Tommy Hall, and guitarist Stacy Sutherland. The band was together from 1965 to 1969, and during that period released four albums and seven singles for the International Artists record label.

The Elevators were the first band to refer to their music as psychedelic rock, with the first-known use of the term appearing on their business card in January 1966. The 2005 documentary You're Gonna Miss Me specifically credits Tommy Hall with coining the term "psychedelic rock." Their contemporary influence has been acknowledged by 1960s musicians such as Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, Peter Albin of Big Brother and the Holding Company, and Chris Gerniottis of Zakary Thaks.

The 13th Floor Elevators debut single "You're Gonna Miss Me", a national Billboard No. 55 hit in 1966, was featured on the 1972 compilation Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968. Seminal punk rock band Television played the Elevator's song "Fire Engine" live in the mid-1970s. In the 1980s and 1990s, the 13th Floor Elevators influenced bands such as Primal Scream, the Shamen, Lime Spiders and Spacemen 3, all of whom covered their songs, and 14 Iced Bears who use an electric jug on their single "Beautiful Child". In 2009, International Artists released a ten CD box set entitled Sign of the 3-Eyed Men, which included the mono and new, alternate stereo mixes of the original albums together with two albums of previously unreleased material and a number of rare live recordings.

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History

Formation

The 13th Floor Elevators emerged on the local Austin music scene in December 1965, where they were contemporary to bands such as the Wig and the Babycakes and later followed by Shiva's Headband and the Conqueroo. The band formed when Roky Erickson left his group the Spades, and joined up with Stacy Sutherland, Benny Thurman, and John Ike Walton who had been playing Texas coastal towns as the Lingsmen. Tommy Hall was instrumental in bringing the band members together, and joined the group as lyricist and electric jug player. The band's name developed from a suggestion by drummer John Ike Walton to use the name "Elevators". Clementine Hall added "13th Floor". In addition to an awareness that a number of tall buildings in the US lack a designated 13th floor, it was noted that the letter "M" (for marijuana) is the thirteenth letter of the alphabet.

1966-1967: Psychedelic Sounds and Easter Everywhere

In early January 1966, producer Gordon Bynum brought the band to Houston to record two songs to release as a single on his newly formed Contact record label. The songs were Erickson's "You're Gonna Miss Me", and Hall-Sutherland's "Tried to Hide". Some months later, the International Artists label picked it up and re-released it.

Throughout the spring of 1966, the group toured extensively in Texas, playing clubs in Austin, Dallas, and Houston. They also played on live teen dance shows on TV, such as Sumpin Else, in Dallas, and The Larry Kane Show in Houston. During the Summer, the IA re-release of "You're Gonna Miss Me" became popular outside Texas, especially in Miami, Detroit, and the San Francisco Bay Area. In October 1966, it peaked on the national Billboard chart at the No. 55 position. Prompted by the success of the single, the Elevators toured the west coast, made two nationally televised appearances for Dick Clark, and played several dates at the San Francisco ballrooms The Fillmore and The Avalon.

The International Artists record label in Houston, also home to contemporary Texas underground groups such as Red Krayola and Bubble Puppy, signed the Elevators to a record contract and released the album The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators in November 1966, which became popular among the burgeoning counterculture. Tommy Hall's sleeve-notes for the album, which advocated chemical agents (such as LSD) as a gateway to a higher, 'non-Aristotelian' state of consciousness, has also contributed to the album's cult status.

During their California tour, the band shared bills with Quicksilver Messenger Service, the Great Society (featuring Grace Slick), and Moby Grape. On returning to Texas in early 1967, they released a second single, "Levitation", and continued to play live in Austin, Houston and other Texas cities. In November 1967, the band released a second album, Easter Everywhere. The album featured a cover of Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue". However, shortly before work began on Easter Everywhere, Walton and Leatherman left the band and were replaced by Danny Thomas on drums and Dan Galindo on bass, because of disputes over mismanagement of the band's career by International Artists and a fundamental disagreement between Walton and Hall over the latter's advocacy of the use of LSD in the pursuit of achieving a higher state of human consciousness. As a result, they were not credited in the Easter Everywhere sleevenotes, despite having appeared on " (I've Got) Levitation" and "She Lives (In a Time of Her Own)". Despite the lengthy studio work and resources utilized, Easter Everywhere was not the success the band and International Artists had hoped for. Lacking a hit single and released too late in the year, it sold out its original run, but was never reprinted, suggesting somewhat disappointing sales. Record label paperwork indicate that the band's debut album sold upwards of 40,000 copies during its original run, while Easter Everywhere may have sold around 10,000 copies.

At one point around 1967, Erickson was a roommate of future cult musician Townes Van Zandt. Erickson insisted that he join the Elevators on bass, even though he was a guitarist who had never played bass before. He auditioned for Hall, but Hall rejected him.

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Previously at DU, some related material:

November 6: Happy birthdays, Doug Sahm, of the Sir Douglas Quintet, and George Young, of the Easybeats

http://www.thisdayinmusic.com/

1942 {Sic. Wikipedia says it was 1941}, Born on this day, Doug Sahm, Tex Mex Singer, songwriter, guitarist, Sir Douglas Quintet, (1965 US No. 13 single ‘She’s About A Mover’). Died 18th November 1999.



Douglas Wayne Sahm (November 6, 1941 – November 18, 1999) was an American musician and singer-songwriter from Texas. Born in San Antonio, Texas, he was a child prodigy in country music but became a significant figure in roots rock and other genres. Sahm is considered one of the most important figures in what is identified as Tex-Mex music. Proficient on multiple instruments, he was the founder and leader of the 1960s rock and roll band, the Sir Douglas Quintet. He would later co-found the Texas Tornados with Augie Meyers, Freddy Fender, and Flaco Jiménez as well as Los Super Seven.

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A Texas Tornado and more: 1990s

In 1989, Sahm formed the Tex-Mex supergroup, the Texas Tornados, with Freddy Fender, Augie Meyers, and Flaco Jimenez. The original group recorded seven albums (including two live ones, and a "Best of" collection). Their first album won a Grammy for Best Mexican-American Performance for the song "Soy de San Luis", in 1991. Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, besides touring and recording with the Texas Tornados, Sahm also played and recorded with several other bands, including the Sir Douglas Quintet, the Texas Mavericks, the Last Real Texas Blues Band, the Amos Garrett–Doug Sahm–Gene Taylor Band, Doug Sahm & Sons, the Mysterious Sam Dogg and the Cosmic Cowboys, and others, including his last band, the Cherry Ridge Riders. In 1990 Sahm and his sons Shawn and Shandon joined forces to record a powerful version of the 13th Floor Elevators song "You're Gonna Miss Me" for the all-star compilation album Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye: A Tribute to Roky Erickson.


Texas Psychedelic Rock


And now, the one and only Roky Erickson:



ROKY ERICKSON CD CLUB
Published on Nov 1, 2015

13th Floor Elevators - You're Gonna Miss Me American Bandstand 29/10/66 (upgrade)

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Melanie Hamilton 2 years ago

This song still kicks ass. So many good "garage bands" back then. The core members of ZZ Top started in a garage band called The Moving Sidewalks.

Well, that's gone for a while. Until I can find that video again, let's try this one.



13th Floor Elevators - 1966 - You're Gonna Miss Me - Where the Action Is
4,845 views Oct 13, 2012

PsychedelicMindGarage
19.8K subscribers

13th Floor Elevators - 1966, You're Gonna Miss Me, Where the Action Is, Roky Erickson

The Psychedelic Mind Garage:
fuzz, garage, acid, punk, and psychedelic rock from mid & late 60s

Moving Sidewalks

The Moving Sidewalks was an American psychedelic blues rock band, most notable for giving future ZZ Top guitarist, Billy Gibbons, his start in the music business. The band consisted of Gibbons on guitar, Don Summers on bass, Dan Mitchell on drums and Tom Moore on keyboards.

History

Gibbons founded the Texas psychedelic group in the mid-1960s and quickly drew a large following, especially among the Houston "teen scene". They recorded several singles and one full-length album, Flash. Their single "99th Floor" was well received and topped the charts at No. 1 in Houston for six weeks. The success of this record led the Sidewalks to sign with Wand Records which then released "Need Me", also a Top 10 Hit for the band. The group was asked to open for many rock tours, including Jimi Hendrix and The Doors.

After Tom Moore and Don Summers were drafted into the United States Army, Gibbons and Mitchell added Lanier Greig and formed the original ZZ Top.

While attending Warner Brothers' art school in Hollywood, California, Gibbons engaged with his first bands including The Saints, Billy G & the Blueflames, and The Coachmen. By 1967, Gibbons returned to Houston and formed an artfully designed band, conceptually inspired by friend and fellow musician, Roky Erickson and The 13th Floor Elevators. The "Moving Sidewalks" name was chosen and shortly thereafter 99th Floor. Around this time Gibbons had developed quite a camaraderie with the rock and roll superstar Jimi Hendrix. As a guest on The Dick Cavett Show, Hendrix started that Gibbons was slated to be the next big thing as a guitarist.

The Moving Sidewalks continued to appear along with the 13th Floor Elevators at the short-lived yet legendary Houston psychedelic venue, Love Street Light Circus at Allen's Landing. One night the Elevators set was cut short by Houston Police who arrested the band's lead singer Roky Erickson for marijuana possession.

In January 2013 Gibbons announced the Moving Sidewalks would reunite with all original members for one show on March 30, 2013, at B.B. King's Blues Club in New York City. Since that successful sold out NY show and despite their single show announcement, the band played as official headliners of Austin Psych Fest on May 1, 2013, and the Charity Gala for The Deacons of Deadwood Ball on September 28, 2013, in Houston.

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External links

• Official Moving Sidewalks Website: https://web.archive.org/web/20130502035431/http://www.movingsidewalks.com/

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Mon Jul 17, 2023: On July 15, 1947, Roky Erickson of the 13th Floor Elevators was born.

Fri Jul 15, 2022: On this day, July 15, 1947, Roky Erickson, of the 13th Floor Elevators, was born.

Fri Aug 7, 2020: I forgot his birthday this year, but let's just listen to something by Roky Erickson anyway.

Mon Jul 15, 2019: He would have turned 72 today: Roky Erickson, of the 13th Floor Elevators
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