The band had their only US hit, "You're Gonna Miss Me", early in their career. In 1966, came the band's first and most popular album, The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators, which was followed by Easter Everywhere (1967), an integrated experience, if not a concept album. Drug problems and harassment by law enforcement quickly helped tear the band apart, as Erikson entered a mental hospital in the late 1960s.
Erickson continued to sporadically record and play live in the 1970s, and into the late 1980s.