The 13th Floor Elevators
The 13th Floor Elevators was an American rock band from Austin, Texas, United States, 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. Their debut single "You're Gonna Miss Me" was a national Billboard No. 55 hit in 1966.
Considered pioneers of psychedelic rock, the Elevators were the first band to refer to their music as such, with the first-known use of the term appearing on their business card in January 1966, likely coined by member Tommy Hall. As open proponents of drugs such as LSD, the group was targeted by local law enforcement, resulting in the 1969 arrest of Erickson for drug possession, effectively ending the group. With their inclusion on the 1972 compilation Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968, they also came to be recognized as precursors of punk rock. Their contemporary influence has been acknowledged by a wide range of artists.
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.
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