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It’s been such a long time since I’ve listened to the 13th Floor Elevators, but I made up for that last night and couldn’t resist sharing this little golden nugget of bliss!
Hailing from Austin, Texas, the members of 13th Floor Elevators were, quite possibly, the first artists to describe their music as psychedelic rock. Their lyrics and sleeve notes openly and religiously endorsed the use of drugs (particularly LSD) to alter human consciousness for the better….which is perhaps worthy of a debate??
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 group pioneered some of the first garage psychedelia on its numerous releases, which commenced in 1966 with their epic debut, The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators!
However, Texas at that time was an extremely conservative area that still hadn’t come to terms with 50’s rock ‘n’ roll, let alone the wanton realms of psychedelia! It wasn’t long before the authorities and the police set out to bust the entire band for pot (and—not surprisingly—succeeded). Stacy Sutherland was jailed and, in order to avoid a prison term, Roky pleaded insanity – a misguided ploy that landed him in Rusk State Hospital for the criminally insane for 3 years!!!..I never knew that fact until now!!!
That turn of events spelled the end of the band, although there was a posthumous LP in 1968 called Bull of the Woods.Roky Erickson was released from hospital in 1973 and embarked upon a successful solo career and the rest, as they say………
You Don’t Know is taken from their splendiferous debut LP and can be enjoyed (at very loud volume) above.
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