Roky Erickson

One of rock's most renowned burnouts, Roger Kynard Erickson was a legend at 18, when he wrote "You're Gonna Miss Me" while a member of the 13th Floor Elevators, way back in 1965. The ensuing years found Erickson (who openly advocated LSD consumption) institutionalized at the Rusk State Hospital for...

By Darryl Smyers

March 1, 2007

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One of rock's most renowned burnouts, Roger Kynard Erickson was a legend at 18, when he wrote "You're Gonna Miss Me" while a member of the 13th Floor Elevators, way back in 1965. The ensuing years found Erickson (who openly advocated LSD consumption) institutionalized at the Rusk State Hospital for the Criminally Insane following an arrest for marijuana possession in 1969. The electroconvulsive therapy and Thorazine treatments greatly affected his mental capacities, and Erickson spent 20 years bouncing around halfway houses in Austin and sporadically releasing demented (and occasionally brilliant) solo material. In 2005, with the help of his younger brother Sumner, Roky played his first full-length concert in two decades at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Approaching his 60th birthday, Erickson is still capable of channeling his much-tortured muse in order to make music with legitimate power. His is a long, sad story with an ending that, while not exactly happy, is at least hopeful.

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