Roky Erickson

He was a legend with the drug addled 13th Floor Elevators; but they are hard to rate/overrated IMO because they were so early (mid 60's).
However after Roky got out of the loony bin in the late 70's he made a great record "The Evil One" as Roky and the Aliens. Southern hard rock with gothic themes. I don't know what else to call it. I've always loved that record.

I know a few of his songs but mostly am familiar with him from the "Return of the Living Dead" soundtrack with the song Burn the Flames. Good tune.

Wow didn't even know there was a thread. Damn right sahb Evil One is brilliant. Scary and sad, not about confronting his demons but just accepting their dominance of him.

Roky's other stuff is great as well, it's going to take me a while to get my hands on a lot of his stuff. One of those artists you gotta get everything.

....and the 13th Floor Elevators, don't get me started (Top 10 favourite band easy). Lets just say they tore the 60's a new one. 'Real' psychedelic music.


13th Floor Elevators - Your Gonna Miss Me (circa 1966, makes the Stones look like the Dave Clark Five!)

Thanks. That clip helps validate the point I was making the other day; seeing them in context helps me appreciate the impact that they must have made at the time. I hope some of the money I've spent on these guys eventually made it's way to poor old Roky.

Yeah there was nothing quite like them at the time, only the Sonics at the time out rocked them.

Not only was Roky a nut but alot of the others too. One of them went to live in a small drug community that lived in a cave or something and another was accidently killed by his wife.

The Elevators influenced a whole lot of my favourite bands from Janis Joplin to Trouble, ZZ Top to the Jesus And Mary Chain, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Thee Hypnotics, Primal Scream etc.

A bands band as many would say. Never achieved mainstream success but has influenced countless of bands along the way. Much like the NY Dolls.

...Oh that Radio Birdman album has a great cover of the Elevators "You're Gonna Miss Me'.

I've heard about this guy from reading some of Henry Rollins books. He's a big fan and talks very highly of his work. Been meaning to check him out but I haven't. I'm lazy that way.

I remember reading about Roky in some music magazine years ago. It made me want to look into his music. And was I ever glad I did.

Everyone should check out the documentary You're Gonna Miss Me. Here is the trailer:

Ghost recently did a cover of the song If You Have Ghosts. I didn't know who originally did it so when I looked it up on youtube I found out it was this guy. After going through some of the songs I came across the song Night Of The Vampire, which I would hear all the time back when they used to have a tv channel called Monsters HD. They would play it in between movies. I have to get his albums, at least get The Evil One. He put out some really great songs. I wish I would have searched who sang that song a long time ago.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I've heard about this guy from reading some of Henry Rollins books. He's a big fan and talks very highly of his work. Been meaning to check him out but I haven't. I'm lazy that way.

Still never picked up anything by him, but my interest was recently re-kindled with the Ghost cover. I've had my eye on a 13th Floor Greatest Hits comp on Amazon for awhile now.

I haven't given that a shot yet, but for poops and giggles I went on youtube and downloaded the Rocky Erickson album The Evil One. I love it. Give that one a shot. I want to get a real copy of it as soon as I can spend some money again haha.