Ex:el by 808 State

Ex:el, 808 State's third album, came out on ZTT on 4 March 1991, and it's the Manchester crew pushing acid house somewhere brighter and brasher without sanding off the grit. The melodies are catchier than anything they'd done before, but the beats hit harder too, all heavy acid-techno thump and clattering percussion, with streaks of hip-hop and industrial noise bleeding through.

The guest list is the real coup. Bernard Sumner of Joy Division and New Order sings "Spanish Heart", and Björk turns up on "Qmart" and "Ooops", which she co-wrote, kicking off a long partnership with Graham Massey. No electronic album had put alternative rock voices up front like this before, and the idea soon became standard issue. It's also the first big release to lift that "we are the music makers" line from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, a sample electronic music has leaned on ever since.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.