The 13th Floor Elevators

This article is about the American psychedelic band. For their debut album, see The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators.

13th Floor Elevators
OriginAustin, Texas, U.S.
Genres
Years active1965–1969, 1973, 1984, 2015
LabelsInternational Artists, Radar, Charly
Past members
Roky Erickson at 2007 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival

The 13th Floor Elevators was an American rock band from Austin, Texas, United States,[7] 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.[8][9][10]

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.[11] 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, the Jesus and Mary Chain[12] and Spacemen 3, all of whom covered their songs, and 14 Iced Bears who use an electric jug on their single "Beautiful Child", as well as The Black Angels in "Sunday Afternoon".[13] In 2009, International Artists released a ten CD box set entitled Sign of the 3-Eyed Men, which included the mono and new, alternative, stereo mixes of the original albums, together with two albums of previously unreleased material and a number of rare live recordings.

  1. ^ "Okkervil River Are Roky Erickson's New Backing Band". Chart Attack. January 12, 2010. Archived from the original on October 12, 2016. Retrieved October 28, 2016.
  2. ^ Needs, Kris (October 2014). "The 13th Floor Elevators – Live Evolution Lost". Record Collector. No. 432. Retrieved October 28, 2016.
  3. ^ Knowles, Christopher (2010). The Secret History of Rock 'n' Roll. Cleis Press. p. 211. ISBN 978-1-57344-405-7.
  4. ^ White, Timothy (June 1986). "Reviews". Spin. SPIN Media LLC: 34. ISSN 0886-3032.
  5. ^ Nagelberg, Kenneth M. (2001). "Acid Rock". In Browne, Ray Broadus; Browne, Pat (eds.). The Guide to United States Popular Culture. Popular Press. p. 8.
  6. ^ Folgar, Abel. "Top Twenty Proto-Punk Bands: An Incomplete List". Broward Palm Beach New Times. Retrieved August 3, 2017.
  7. ^ Colin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin Books. p. 1174. ISBN 1-85227-745-9.
  8. ^ 13th Floor Elevators – The Complete Reference File by Patrick Lundborg, 2002
  9. ^ The International Artists Record label by Patrick Lundborg, 2008
  10. ^ "TSHA | 13th Floor Elevators". www.tshaonline.org. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
  11. ^ Lundborg, Patrick (2010). The Acid Archives (2nd ed.). Lysergia. p. 394. ISBN 978-91-976523-1-5.
  12. ^ "The Jesus and Mary Chain - Honey's Dead Album Reviews, Songs & More | AllMusic" – via www.allmusic.com.
  13. ^ Simpson, Ernest (April 15, 2008). "The Black Angels : Directions To See A Ghost". Treble. Retrieved May 7, 2023.