13th Floor Elevators

The 13th Floor Elevators formed in Austin, Texas in 1965 with Roky Erickson on vocals and guitar, Tommy Hall playing electric jug, Stacy Sutherland on bass, and John Ike Walton on drums. Their debut album 'The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators' came out in 1966, followed by 'Easter Everywhere' in 1967 and 'Bull of the Woods' in 1968.

Their sound was built around Erickson's raw vocals and Sutherland's distorted guitar, with Hall's electric jug adding a strange, droning texture. Songs like 'Everybody Needs Somebody to Love' and '(I've Got) Levitation' had a garage rock energy that felt both primitive and forward-looking for the mid-1960s.

The band's time was brief and difficult, with drug use and mental health problems affecting several members. Erickson was eventually hospitalized, and the group disbanded by the late 1960s. Their small catalog, particularly that first album, became a touchstone for later psychedelic and garage rock bands who discovered their recordings years after they'd stopped playing together.