Released: 1966
Most of the time the myth and the hype never quite fulfill each other, a lack of payoff which leaves the listener wondering idly what the fuss was all about. In the case of the 13th Floor Elevators separating the two is near impossible, such were the times, the players and the drugs.
From hyper conservative Texas, the band revolved around guitarist Stacy Sutherland, vocalist Roky Erickson and Tommy Hall, who played of all things an amplified jug. All three became renowned for a prodigious intake of psychedelics, a searching which caused them problems both with themselves and the authorities. Keen to find a niche, they even had business cards printed on which they were the first to use the phrase Psychedelic Rock, a term which would go on to feel more notorious than it really was.
By 1969 it was all over, but three years earlier the group has been together enough to release their debut The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators, a without boundaries record which enthused as many as it deterred.
You’re Gonna Miss Me was it’s lead track and the Elevators’ ony hit, not in a sense that it mattered too much. Erickson had a voice which was both raw and wild, his opening shriek making Jagger sound like Frank Sinatra. The jug noise gave everything a bizaree, slightly disorientating air, and although the song itself was no weirder than many other to come, such was it’s impact that the band would later count as later day acolytes Julian Cope and the Jesus and Mary Chain. As time went on myth and hype, hype and myth exchanged places, until they became the same.
The Voice Of Unreason 