There’s no question that the ’60s produced some of the most unique bands in rock history, and the 13th Floor Elevators were definitely among the most distinctive of the era. For one thing, the pioneering psychedelic rockers manage to get a song featuring an electric jug on the Billboard Hot 100. For another, that song — called “You’re Gonna Miss Me” — was written by singer-songwriter Roky Erickson when he was just 15 years old.
Erickson got his start in music early, according to the Southwest Review, beginning piano lessons when he was just four years old at his mother’s suggestion.
“My mom always encouraged everybody to sing,” the late Erickson explained in his last interview. “She’d say, ‘If you’re not going to do anything constructive around the house, the least you could do is sing! Sing a happy song.’”
Growing up in Austin, Texas, Erickson was a big fan of musicians like Buddy Holly, Little Richard, and James Brown. The influence of those idols can certainly be heard on “You’re Gonna Miss Me,” which Erickson first recorded with his local group the Spades. Like many teenage rock bands, the Spades didn’t last for very long, and Erickson went on to form the 13th Floor Elevators with University of Texas psychology student Tommy Hall in 1965.
As drummer John Ike Walton recalled years later, the 13th Floor Elevators came together as a group fairly quickly.
“We went to Tommy’s house. Tommy got Roky over and we were jamming. Next thing, we’re playing at the Jade Room,” he told The Austin Chronicle.
Showcasing Erickson’s one-of-a-kind voice (often described as a primal scream or howl) and Hall’s trademark whoop-whooping jug, “You’re Gonna Miss Me” was the opening track on the band’s 1966 debut album, The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators.
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While “You’re Gonna Miss Me” was only a modest hit commercially, peaking at #55 on the Billboard Hot 100, it’s still considered to be one of the most influential songs of the era, credited with helping to shape the sound of psychedelic and garage rock. Nearly 50 years later, in 2014, Paste ranked “You’re Gonna Miss Me” at #2 on a list of the “50 Best Garage Rock Songs of All Time,” with music journalist Eric R. Danton calling it a “significant milestone” and the 13th Floor Elevators’ “defining statement.”
While the 13th Floor Elevators never had another song on the charts, they did release a few more albums (despite such complications as run-ins with the law, substance issues and Erickson’s severe mental health struggles). As for Erickson, though his condition would continue to deteriorate over the years, he didn’t let that stop him from making music.
“He was the most electric performer I’ve ever seen, and that includes Hendrix,” former Warner Bros. executive Bill Bentley said of Erickson. “He was possessed, so vivid and mesmerizing. His voice was so sharp and cutting — sometimes he’d get lost in his screams.”
In 2005, Keven McAlester‘s documentary You’re Gonna Miss Me explored Erickson’s music and life (including his schizophrenia diagnosis and onstage comeback). Erickson died in 2019 at the age of 71.
Related: 1964 Garage Rock Anthem, Ranked Among ‘Greatest Songs of All Time,’ Was Written by an 18-Year-Old