“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” - music critic Mark Dermig

Howdy Kids! Welcome back to Outloud. I don’t know if you are sick of it yet, but I have another installment in my “Great Punk (including Proto Punk”) singles. If you are tired of this tangent or love it please drop me a line to let me know, personally, I love walking through the virtual bargin bin and retrieving some great songs that should be on any music fans’ iPod.

This week’s featured installment comes from one of Austin’s greatest rock and roll combos. Before you ask I don’t mean Spoon, The Big Boys or even The Dicks - I am talking about the 13th Floor Elevators.

Long before Gram Parsons started talking about “Cosmic American Music” this brash band led by singer/guitarist Roky Erickson, were out doing it. Their sound mixed the soul of blues, the speed of garage rock and the images, instrumentation and ideals of the psychedelia. Their logo (included above) is one of the coolest and greatest icons in rock and roll. It is trippy, aggressive and raw, which is everything the band was always about - they took shots, smoked pot, dropped acid and rocked!

Although the Elevators were only a band for 3 1/2 years, their impact on rock and Austin’s music scene was huge. Although they put out three great albums (the last one was kind of put together quite quickly), their finest hour was clearly the classic “You’re Gonna Miss Me,” the lead track from their debut album The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators. The song was lead by Roky Erickson’s trademark howl, which managed to embody the heartbreak, bitterness, anger and strength that is at the core of the song. Backing up, along with a really great and rich riff, is the chugging electric jug playing of Tommy Hall. Yes, that’s right, I said electric jug. Unlike “useless” band members like Bez from The Happy Mondays or Mickey Finn of T. Rex, Hall’s playing and songwriting was key to the band’s sound. Why don’t you take a look for yourself. Here is a rare clip of the band performing the song live:

“You’re Gonna Miss Me” [mp3]

How great was that? Roky is clearly breathing fire here, no singer of the era could touch him. On top of great singing “You’re Gonna Miss Me”, has one of the best kiss off songs in rock and roll “I gave you the warning but you never heeded it/How can you say you miss my loving when you never needed it?”

Ouch. If you are ever making a mix to kiss that old ex off, there is no question this song should be included. In fact, “You’re Gonna Miss Me”, even made “professional appreciator” Rob Gordon’s list and heads off the great film High Fidelity

The song lifted the band out of obscurity (although they were famous in Austin, in fact, a young Janis Joplin was close to joining them) and put them on tour with The Byrds and many other hard rocking bands of the era. Unfortunately in 1969, Roky Erickson was busted on a pot charge. Rumor had it, the band was unfairly hassled by “the man” do to their outrageous apperance and music in a small town. Fearing a long jail sentence, Roky pleaded insanity and was admitted to a mental institution, forced to undergo electroshock therapy. His disappearance and new mental state (he would later be arrested several times for bizarre crimes, “abducted by aliens”, etc.) signaled the end of the band.

The 13th Floor Elevators unique mix of rock, guitar effects (new things like reverb and distortion), drug use (they often recorded and played live under the influence of LSD) informed not only future psychedelic bands but stoner rock, punk rock, hard rock and indie rock, is immense. Hopefully, this will get you, dear reader, interested in one of the greatest bands of all time.

Buy the records, absorb the influence and rock out.

Last 5 posts by Dan Berkman

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