The 13th Floor Elevators is an American rock band from Austin, Texas, formed by guitarist and vocalist Roky Erickson, electric jug player Tommy Hall, and guitarist Stacy Sutherland, which existed from 1965 to 1969. During their career, the band released four LP records and seven 45's for the International Artists record label. They are often credited as one of the first psychedelic bands in the history of rock n' roll. According to the 2005 documentary You're Gonna Miss Me, Tommy Hall is credited with coining the term “psychedelic rock”, although artists such as the Holy Modal Rounders and the Deep had used the term “psychedelic” to describe their music earlier. (More from Wikipedia)
One day not so long ago, I was looking at the Wikipedia entry on “Eight Miles High” by the Byrds – a song like this has its own article that (among other things) talks about various versions and covers of the song – and there was a quote in the introductory section from someone at Rolling Stone saying that this was the first psychedelic rock song. I changed the intro and wondered how the RS guy could have thought that. My comment started a discussion with another Wikipedian about this; I noted that the 13th Floor Elevators were advertising themselves as a psychedelic rock band the year before, and he countered that this doesn't mean they were playing true psychedelic rock songs. Anyway, the link to the Rolling Stone quote no longer pointed to anything, so now the introduction says this (I think the caveat “bona fide” was my idea): “Accordingly, critics often cite ‘Eight Miles High’ as being the first bona fide song."
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Another is the debut single by the 13th Floor Elevators called “You're Gonna Miss Me”. The song was released on January 17, 1966 (though its national release was not until May 1966) and climbed as high as #55 on the Billboard Hot 100. One of the bandmembers, Tommy Hall (who played an instrument called an electric jug) is credited with coining the term "psychedelic rock”, although other rock bands were already referring to themselves as “psychedelic”, such as the Holy Modal Rounders and the Deep.
“I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)” by the Electric Prunes was brought to a larger audience when it became the opening track on the classic 1972 compilation album Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968. The early psychedelic rock track “You're Gonna Miss Me” by the 13th Floor Elevators that I mentioned earlier is also on that album.
(July 2015)
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