Following the breakup of the Sugarcubes, Björk moved to London, where she began pursuing a dance-oriented solo career. Bjork knew that if her solo ventures were going to be truely representative of her varied aesthetic tastes, she would need to eventually step out and find a way to involve herself with the rave scene.
Ooops
Meeting in London, 808 State's Graham Massey invited Bjork to Manchester to spice up recording sessions for 808's forthcoming album, Ex:El.
The pair worked on a number of tracks together but the one they kept coming back to was a throbbing minor-key banger named "Q-Mart." With its bulging synth lines and frantic, staccato percussion it wasn't the most obvious candidate for a vocalist but Bjork had come up with an equally rhythmic scat that seemed to fit perfectly.
QMart
Once a successful take on "Qmart" was in the bag, the duo moved on to the other 808 state song that piqued Bjork's interest. "Ooops" had a more conventional verse-chorus-vers strong structure to it there also seemed to be more room for a complete vocal line. Björk took a walkman containing the song's rough cut out into the Manchester rain and came back an hour later with complete lyrics. Massey's immediate sense upon completing the song was that they'd just recorded something very special.
"Doing things like this with 808 State keeps me going. I really love their music and it was totally delightful when they thought I could fit in. This is my first time doing this type of music but they were just as excited as I was, which is brilliant. It's always good when people can meet and understand each other but this was special ... There's something about 808 State I just love ... I think it's because they've got the right attitude."
