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What Made Austin Austin
Ruminations on the Creative Power of Austin’s Own Roky Erickson
This week, I learned of the passing of Roky Erickson, the sparkplug of the 13th Floor Elevators. If I may re-purpose a line from politicians who claim they were “Trump before Trump,” the Elevators were The Grateful Dead before The Grateful Dead.
Oh, all right. Like most things countercultural, there’s an argument about that. Both the Elevators and the Dead formed under their famous names in 1965, the Dead gigging in the Palo Alto area and the Elevators in Austin. Both the Dead and the Elevators had many personnel changes over the years but most rock critics would agree that each had a major talent who created their gravitational force field and propelled their sound: Jerry Garcia for the Dead and Roky Erickson for the Elevators.
If we break the tie by referring to the first major recording under their eventual names, The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators came out in 1966 followed by the hip eponymous (and classic) album, The Grateful Dead, that arrived in a record store near you in 1967, a year remembered for the Summer of Love, for which the Dead would provide much of the soundtrack.
The Dead went on to acquire the most loyal fan base in the history of rock, with the possible exception of a cat named Elvis, who went from being parents’ worst…
