The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators

Started strongly and then made 34 minutes feel like a very long time. Almost like they threw every musical genre going into a bag, added an electric jug, and took pot luck on what came out 2*

early psychobilly kinda, i lowkey fuck with it

Хорошие мужики я под них дремал в 18 лет

Great album, really enjoyed it, a bunch of different old vibes in it and one or two cover songs, really liked it.

This was pretty overwhelming. I often enjoy the more pleasant side of this genre but this wasn't one of those albums. That "duckaduckaDUCKAduck" sound will haunt my dreams for life. I need a lie down after that.

Ei

No entiendo el motivo de este álbum de estar en esta lista. Sinceramente, a qué artista influyó? No tiene sentido. Ojo no me parece un álbum desastroso pero no lo pondría en esta lista.

Far out mannnnn

Roky rules

I’m conflicted and don’t think I like it. The pigeon noises are grating. Rating:2/5 GEMV (09.10.2026)

What makes music ‘psychedelic’? Longer instrumental sections? No pop appeal? An instrument that sounds like bubbles giggling? This sounds like music of its time. Maybe it was ahead of its time? I wasn’t alive, I don’t know. Not bad. 3 stars

3.5 rounded down. Mick Jagger-like vocals (other than Monkey Island, where he sounds like Janis Joplin). Pretty decent 60s psychedelic rock/pop. I like that he makes monkey noises on Monkey Island. It’s a vibe. This isn’t my favorite musical style, though, so won’t ascend to a 4.

Ripper of a psych rock album. Very understandable how Roky influenced so many in the Austin scene and beyond.

Not on Apple Music. Rating based on other album.

Oh yippee 🙄 Joka biisissä toistuu tosi ärsyttävä ääni / elementti. Ei oo mun musaa.

This was fun. I’d never heard of this band. Def psychedelic and trippy. They used a weird whistley instrument thingy.

The psychedelic years brought a lot of crap in the form of music... but that’s not the case here; this one is really good.

Is it from the 60s? No but it seems like it could have been. Perfectly listenable but unnecessarily long

Really surprised how much I like this - was not expecting to like a psychedelic album.

Grooovy maaaan!

Not really my thing. The whole album passed me by like loud, poorly recorded noise. I don't really do this kind of music.

The 13th Floor Elevators put “psychedelic” in the album title, but to my ears the music still sounds closer to raw garage rock than the psychedelia I associate with 1967. The electric jug adds a strange bubbling sound, and the band certainly has energy, but I kept expecting the songs to take me somewhere a little more peculiar. There’s charm in how rough and eager it all sounds. Still, having heard what other bands would do just a year later, I find this less adventurous than the title suggests. That may be an unfair expectation to bring to an early record, but it’s where I end up: happy to hear the beginnings, more excited by what followed.

Well it was different-kept me occupied on the tarmac in Rome waiting for a plane to take off. Particular mention for the electric jug.

Quite a mash up, good in places, but perhaps electric jugs should stick to boiling water.

Sounded a bit like the Rolling Stones. But not nearby as good.

Wish I could give half points. Not a 3 or a 2. Not the most interesting music to me but maybe something that just didn’t click on first listen. Some cool guitar riffs

Þessi fær þrjár bara fyrir jug-hljóðfærið.

After I saw the Album Cover, the tags and the titel i expected it to be worse. But wasn't good either

The psychedelic vibe and hippy feel of it are very 60’s. I kinda feel like they totally had a feel for that and influenced the hell out of the rest of that “movement” with both the use of the term “psychedelic” and this sound. The record really rocks at times, it’s “far out” at times and it is interesting at times. This sound isn't uniquely theirs, but it this record certainly did contribute to that counterculture sound of the era. It is the first known recording to use an amplified jug… yes, that’s a thing. But there’s a particular tone on something - perhaps that very jug, which is distracting, annoying and deeply irritating throughout the record. It’s a high warble sound. It makes the record uncomfortable even during the parts I liked. But throughout, there’s that odd sound that just makes it hard to get through and makes me not want to listen again. I feel and hear the influence. I’ve listened. And I will likely never revisit it.

Psychedelic, sure.. I didn't expect it to be quite that bad.

65

I don’t even think this would sound good on psychedelics.

Day1000 - it sounds exactly how i thought it would, a mix of every sixties psychedelic band

Mad whirring sound they've added here, no idea what that is but it's epic.

Wow, this was great and the reason I love this list so much. I loved the psychedelic guitar sounds so much.

Oh man another 60s psychedelic rock album? That's like, six in a row now.

Did Christopher Walkin produce this? "What this album needs is more electric jug!" Besides that bit of annoyance, the album is raw, engaging, and just plain classic psychedelic rock.

I mean, they have one good song and then other songs that sounds like it

So many albums on this list are just middle of the road. This was on but felt very dated, I'm sure it was a fresh and exciting sound as the time, and perhaps influential, but these days it sounds like a time warp.

Boring

Far out.

This could be good if I was taking shrooms but alas I am straight edge. So this is shit.

Arguably the first Psychedelic Rock album. In that regard, it is of the utmost historical important. Outside of that context, it's still pretty good, but not really on the level of the real masterpieces of the genre. Key tracks: You're Gonna Miss Me Splash 1 You Don't Know (How Young You Are)

gutes album würde es wieder hören

how exhausting

The stupid fucking wobbling noise got irritating 2 songs in. This sucks. Its like if a joke band like The Monkees didn't know they were a joke. Maybe a little harsh, but very few albums on this list have given me such a visceral feeling of rage.

Much less the psychedelic than expected. If I’m pushing the button for the 13th floor, I want to get a lot higher

I not knew the opening track from “High Fidelity” and everyone after that movie came out would talk about this band like they discovered them from the beginning (even though they were born in the 70s). So I wrote them off. Track 2 “Roller coaster” is great and feels like a surf song. Love it. On track three. This album is way better than I expected.

This album encapsulates everything you could want from ‘60s psychedelic music: a gritty garage rock sound, unconventional instruments, and raw production techniques that amplify the psychedelic vibe. For those familiar with this album, the distinctive bubbling and warbling noise of the “electric” jug stands out. Despite its name, it’s actually a ceramic jug. Tommy Hall used a microphone to amplify its sound, integrating it seamlessly with the other instruments. This album remains a fan favorite within the psychedelic community, thanks to its uniqueness and forward-thinking approach that helped redefine the ’60s counterculture movement.

poopy

tbf really enjoyable

Didn’t love running to it

That's just not for me

1.8 kinda ass, it was well made to an extent, but there was no part of the songs that i kind of looked forward to. It was boring and stale in that sense. Not trying to hate I am just trying to contextualise my issues with the album

I knew You're Gonna Miss Me. This was fine, kind of boring. It was very 60's and psychedelic.

Decent enough psychedelia

Some really good old music, except most of the vocals ruined it for me. Too goofy

Meh. Don't care too much one way or the other. Not too bad.

I was into it--my only exposure to Roky had been a tribute album that R.E.M. was on, so it was nice to hear some lyrics. The jug was weird, but overall the songs were great and I would totally buy an old used version of this album and show it off.

This was perhaps worth listening to as a time capsule of a moment. But it’s an awful listen.

Hell yeah. I like Easter Everywhere more but the early days definitely deserve major reps. Admittedly, the jug is quite annoying but they (probably apocryphally) tuned it based on how much weed was in it and that's based. Review review: the top review guy is the biggest coward I've ever laid eyes on. Roky gets an extra star for old mate.

I enjoyed this more than I was expecting to Playlist add: “Reverberation”

6/10… psychedelic rock / *1966

This had some interesting aspects. I didn’t finish both albums but it was solid enough.

This one was super interesting. You could hear the influence on the genre

Talk about your drugged out jug band. For this, their debut album, these guys tripped at every rehearsal, recording, and performance in their native Texas in the 60's, when LSD wasn't yet illegal, but marijuana was! So legal troubles with pot and the health effects of heavy drug use cut them down early (well, after 3 albums), but they still pioneered the psych rock sound at the cost of their bodies and livelihoods. I can hear their influence in Matt Berry's music, and the seeds sown for many other artists. That it sounds a lot like most other psych rock outfits in the 60's-80's shows how strong an impression they made on the scene. The weird woobly sound present in many tracks may be the amplified jug player, which I find awesome in concept but excessive on first listen. Ymmv!

I actually enjoyed this much more than I thought I would - it's weird and goofy and very dated, but also very listenable. Not something would return to often, but an interesting footnote all the same, probably quite influential.

Liked it. Not enough to run out and buy it, but better than a lot of the stuff on the list.

There are a lot of 60s albums that just sound like typical 60s albums.

This is getting a lot of grace for when it came out. This is the type of psychedelic work that rightly got reigned in and refocused. The Kingdom of Heaven would really hit if you were in their headspace. They know what they're doing but there's some real nonsense sound work going on here. The fact that it's a debut makes a lot of sense

It probably isn't important for people know that the electric jug exists or what it sounds like. The audio engineering is pretty poor.

This was OK. I doubt that I’ll remember anything about it tomorrow. I added “You’re Gonna Miss Me” to my playlist.

WOOCKEWOOCKEWOOCKEWOOCKEwoockewoockewoockewoockeWOOCKEWOOCKEWOOCKEWOOCKEwoockewoockewoockewoockeWOOCKEWOOCKEWOOCKEWOOCKEwoockewoockewoockewoockeWOOCKEWOOCKEWOOCKEWOOCKEwoockewoockewoockewoocke

Sound quality is quite bad. Typical 70s rock

There’s a reason why the ”electric jug” never became a stable instument even within the paychedelic rock scene. To be fair, I don’t hate it as much as some people do, but I do find it thoroughly unnecessary. Anyway, it’s a pretty good record. Fsr better than most other psychedelic rock from the same period. Still not something I’d really listen to regularly though.

Digger psyck rock - surf rock Tror albumet er kulere på et annet anlegg enn Hiacen, skjærer litt i øra. Beste sang : you’re gonna miss me

Hørte ikkje på alt, det hadde eg ikkje tid te, men det eg hørte likte eg. Samtidig... så føle eg at det var ein veldig kul mix av stiler som aldri klrte å naila det de prøvde på. Satt liksom og holdt pusten og venta på någe dritkult, men d kom aldri... Like riffet i Splash1 burde kanskje vært på sopp Best sang: Splash 1

It's hard to get into the headspace of "never having heard psychedelic rock before," but making the effort to do so gives you a taste of how crazy this album must have sounded relative to everything else in 1966. Perhaps most remarkable is the fact that, other than the electrified jug, all the instrumentation is pretty standard, though perhaps with some unusual techniques and pedals and production, all arranged into a distinctive and lightly ominous final result. The songwriting is overall not quite as strong as that of some later psych exemplars, perhaps, but Roky Erickson's howling vocals are awesome. Music for doing rituals to enter the Paisley Zone to.

good mix of surf and psychadelia. crazy to think this came out before the beatles went cuckoo

Was looking forward to this one but they really overused that warbling effect in every song

Another fine record. Nothing stood out other than the history of it. Like i get this was early to the psychedelic thing that ruled the 60s but I dont know if it had much more staying power than that. Its not bad at all just kinda not memorable. The thing I got most was the added extra track of I assume a voice tweating around in the background. Its cool just thats all I got. I was hoping for more but what's here is OK as is. Just doesnt get it better than a C. Passes but thats about it

409/1089 this was some psychedelic rock that i listened to, didn’t dislike it necessarily but wasn’t really interested either 37/100

Interesting, but not for me

Psych garage slik som det skal gjøres... på 60-tallet.

Høres litt ut som en plate som Helge Skog ville gitt panegyriske anmeldelser. Ikke noe galt med musikken, men for oss som ikke onanerer til Feedback så er Garage en ganske kjedelig sjanger. Interessant å lese Wiki’en og alt det der. Men blir midt på treet her.

Blir litt for ufarlig og ensformig. Sikkert kult og banebrytende i 1966.

You're Gonna Miss Me - 3/5 Roller Coaster - 3/5 Splash 1 - 3/5 Reverberation (Doubt) - 3/5 Don't Fall Down - 3/5 Fire Engine - 3/5 Thru the Rhythm - 3/5 You Don't Know - 3/5 Kingdom of Heaven - 3/5 Monkey Island - 3/5 Tried to Hide - 3/5 This would probably be a lot better if I was on whatever drugs these guys were on to think that an electric jug would be a good idea. I mean I see the appeal here but it's really not for me. Overall: 3/5 Favorites: Meh

Never heard of this before. It’s very much not my thing but I guess it’s decent for what it is.

Did not care for this one.

this felt like such a long album, I kinda wanted it to end sooner. Just not my thing

Meh. Low-budget stones. It all sorta blended together. I didn't think it sounded terribly psychedelic.

Blew my head off, this album is superb, I listened back to back, in mono, then QFPS, I would’ve like to have seen them live in the 60s, preferably on LSD, or Mushrooms😎

Everything about this is so oppressively 60s

One hit wonder?

yet another pull from the 60s, bored with this pretty much immediately

As much as I want to like this album, it invariably starts to grate on me. 3 Boolean: True

alter kram. nicht bis zum ende der doppel-LP gehört.

Naja 60er aber eigentlich noch gut

Yes it's the 60's, yes its Psychedelic. I quite like 60's psychedelic music and this is a good example. But it appears to me that the reason for its inclusion here is that it was the first album to use the word psychedelic in its title, and therefore probably the the one to give the genre its title. So I suppose it is worthy of it's place here. But again it is fairly standard fare, nothing to reach out and grab you, well not nowadays anyway. But when all said and done got to be worth a 3.

I know this wasn’t boring, there was lots going on, but somehow it just bored me anyway.