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13th Floor Elevators

The 13th Floor Elevators were an American rock band from Austin, Texas, 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.

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 2005 documentary You're Gonna Miss Me specifically credits Tommy Hall with coining the term "psychedelic rock", although artists such as the Holy Modal Rounders and the Deep had described their music as "psychedelic" earlier. Their contemporary influence has been acknowledged by 1960s musicians such as Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, Peter Albin of Big Brother and the Holding Company, and Chris Gerniottis of Zakary Thaks.

The 13th Floor Elevators debut single "You're Gonna Miss Me", a national Billboard No. 55 hit in 1966, was featured on the 1972 compilation Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968, which is considered by critics as important to the history of garage rock and the development of punk rock. Seminal punk band Television played the Elevator's song "Fire Engine" live in the mid-1970s. In the 1980s and 1990s, the 13th Floor Elevators influenced bands such as Primal Scream, the Shamen, and Spacemen 3, all of whom covered their songs, and 14 Iced Bears who use an electric jug on their single "Beautiful Child". In 2009, the International Artists released a ten CD box set entitled Sign of the 3-Eyed Men, which included the mono and new, alternate 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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Genres rock psychedelic rock garage rock acoustic blues rock

Albums

  1. The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators
    1966
  2. Easter Everywhere
    1967
  3. Bull of the Woods
    1968

Other releases

  1. Levitation
    1967
  2. May the Circle Remain Unbroken / I'm Gonna Love You Too
    1968
  3. Live
    1968
  4. Fire in My Bones
    1985
  5. Easter Everywhere / Bull of the Woods
    1988
  6. Live - I've Seen Your Face Before
    1988
  7. The Magic of the Pyramids
    1991
  8. The 13th Floor Elevators
    1993
  9. The 1966–1967 Unreleased Masters Collection
    1994
  10. Paradise Lost: Texas Rock Music Heritage, Volume 2
    1994
  11. Levitation
    1994
  12. The Reunion Concert
    1995
  13. The Masters
    1997
  14. The Best of 13th Floor Elevators
    1998
  15. All Time Highs
    1998
  16. Never Come Down
    1999
  17. Out of Order
    2000
  18. Up on the 13th Floor
    2000
  19. The Psychedelic World of the 13th Floor Elevators
    2002
  20. Absolutely the Best
    2002
  21. His Eye Is on the Pyramid
    2002
  22. Going Up: The Very Best of the 13th Floor Elevators
    2004
  23. The Interpreter
    2006
  24. 7th Heaven: Music of the Spheres, the Complete Singles Collection
    2009
  25. Psychedelic Circus
    2009
  26. Sign of the 3 Eyed Men
    2009
  27. Headstone: The Contact Sessions
    2010
  28. Music of the Spheres
    2011
  29. The Albums Collection
    2011
  30. The Essential 13th Floor Elevators
    2014
  31. Live Evolution Lost
    2014