Second Toughest in the Infants

Underworld’s breakthrough album remains an artistic peak for the group, even 25 years later. Its anthemic, wave-your-hands-in-the-air melodic hooks, complex but pounding beats, and frontman Karl Hyde’s gnomic lyrics is an unlikely but perfect recipe for listener euphoria, whether on headphones, in a car, or screaming in a field with 100,000 other people (probably). The single “Pearls Girl,” one of the few Underworld tracks to use a drum ’n’ bass breakbeat, was a hit, but the group’s real anthem from this era, “Born Slippy .NUXX,” was originally a non-LP B-side that took on a life of its own via the movie Trainspotting. (It was later appended to reissues of Second Toughest.)