One of the original acid rock bands.

Formed in Austin, Texas in late 1965 from earlier incarnations known as the Spades and the Lingsmen, the Elevators started as a garage rock outfit. The band's classic line-up was singer/guitarist Roky Erickson, electric jug player Tommy Hall, guitarist Stacy Sutherland, drummer John Ike Walton and bass player Ronnie Leatherman, with several other irregular contributors and session musicians. Erickson and Hall were the band's primary songwriters, but most band members submitted material from time to time. The electric jug sound would become the band's signature and trademark.

Throughout the spring of 1966, the group toured extensively in Texas, playing clubs in Austin, Dallas, and Houston and also playing on live teen dance shows on local television.

In late summer 1966, the Elevators toured the West Coast, made two nationally televised appearances and played several dates at the Fillmore and the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco. The International Artists record label in Houston signed the Elevators to a record contract and released the album The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators in the latter part of 1966, which became instantly popular among the new counterculture. The album's sleevenotes, which advocated LSD as a guaranteed gateway to a higher state of consciousness, attracted some controversy.

Over the next few months, the band shared bills with Quicksilver Messenger Service, the Great Society and the Byrds in San Francisco and in 1967 released their a concept album, Easter Everywhere, also released by International Artists. Shortly before the album's release, in July 1967, Leatherman and Walton left the band due to managerial disagreements with the band's label, as well as non-payment of royalties, and were replaced by Danny Thomas on drums and Dan Galindo on bass. Leatherman later returned in 1968 after serving 18 months in Vietnam and played on their final album, Bull of the Woods.

Singer Janis Joplin was a close associate of the band. She sang with the band at a few shows and considered joining the group in Austin, before she headed to San Francisco and joined Big Brother and the Holding Company.

Drugs and legal problems were a constant issue for the band. In 1969, facing a marijuana possession charge, Erickson chose to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital rather than serve a prison term, signalling the end of the band's career. The band was really only at full power for a couple of albums, but all are revered among psychedelic collectors.

After the Elevators, Sutherland formed his own band, Ice, which performed only in Houston and never released any material. After a battle with heroin addiction, Sutherland was shot to death by his wife Bunny in 1978.

Galindo played bass with Jimmie Vaughan's band Storm in Austin, Texas, during the 1970s. He died in 2001 from complications of Hepatitis C.

Thurman joined a string of other bands, most notably Mother Earth, with Powell St. John.

Erickson was released from hospital in 1975 and embarked upon a solo career, although this was blighted by a continual struggle with mental illness and was never successful, resulting in him withdrawing from public life for many years. However, in the 2000s he has re-emerged with a new band, the Explosives, playing regular gigs and festivals.