Roky Erickson, 13th Floor Elevators front man and a psychedelic rock icon’s career was cut short due to draining mental illness and years spent in a mental hospital in Texas. He has recently passed away on the 31st of May 2019, of unknown causes at the age of 71. Roger Kynard “Roky” Erickson was born on the 15th of July 1947 in Austin, Texas and was a pioneer of the psychedelic rock genre.
Billy F. Gibbons speaks of his dear friend, “Roky came to mean many things to many admirers and will continue to resonate with a legacy of remarkable style, talent, and poetic and artistic tales from beyond. It’s almost unfathomable to contemplate a world without Roky Erickson. He created his own musical galaxy and early on was a true inspiration.”
Erickson spent much of his adult life as a cautionary tale about the perils of LSD and inner exploration. But, he could not have become such a cautionary tale had it not been for the astonishing music he made.
Erickson was really into music as a child, playing multiple instruments such as piano and guitar and then continuing to play harmonica as well. He was a bit of rebel dropping out of high school only a month before his graduation as he refused to conform to cutting his hair for the purpose of the school dress code!
In later life, Roky Erickson suffered from long term mental health issues, specifically schizophrenia, from the use of drugs like LSD and marijuana. This led to the frequent hospitalization of Erickson which is the main reason why 13th Floor Elevators sadly came to an end in 1969. Erickson became famous for losing his mind. In 1969, he pleaded insanity over a drugs charge and spent three years in a Texas mental institution, from which he emerged somewhere south of normal. A famous interview with the NME’s Nick Kent in 1980 fixed him in the mind of rock fans as a befuddled wreck, burbling about aliens and demons. “The devil, see, he’s my friend.” He told Kent.
Some of his essential famous tracks are;
- “You’re Gonna Miss Me” (13th Floor Elevators, 1966)
- “Roller Coaster” (13th Floor Elevators, 1966)
- “Slip Inside This House” (Easter Everywhere, 1967)
- “(I’ve Got) Levitation” (Easter Everywhere, 1967)
- “Two Headed Dog (Red Temple Prayer)” (The Evil One, 1981)
- “I Think of Demons” (The Evil One, 1981)
- “Bermuda” (Don’t Slander Me, 1986)
- “Starry Eyes” (Don’t Slander Me, 1986)
- “I Have Always Been Here Before” (Gremlins Have Pictures, 1986)
- “Be and Bring Me Home” (True Love Cast Out All Evil, 2010)
“Roky Erickson, a heroic icon of modern Rock N Roll and one of the best friends that music ever had”
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