Electric Warrior is the second studio album by English rock band T. Rex, their sixth if including the group's earlier incarnation as Tyrannosaurus Rex. The album marked a turning point in the band's sound, dispensing with the folk-oriented music of the group's previous albums and pioneering a flamboyant, pop-friendly take on electric rock and roll known as glam rock.

The album reached number 1 on the UK charts and became the best selling album of 1971. The single "Get it On" reached the top ten in the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Retitled "Bang A Gong (Get It On)" by the US record company, it also became the band's only hit in North America.

Electric Warrior has since received acclaim as a pivotal release of the glam rock movement.

The album is credited as the first glam rock record album, pioneering the development of glam rock.[1]

In 1987, Electric Warrior was ranked number 100 in Rolling Stone magazine's "100 Greatest Albums of the Last 20 Years" list. In 2003, the album was ranked number 160 by the same magazine in its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list. In 2004, Pitchfork ranked Electric Warrior as the 20th best album of the 1970s. The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. It was voted number 873 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).

The Jam's Paul Weller cited it as one of his all-time favourite records, hailing Bolan's guitar playing as "really unique. You know his sound instantly." The Slits's guitarist Viv Albertine also mentioned a special liking for this album for "the whole sound, the whole cartoony, sexual, and humourous [sic] thing, it's very English as well. I think Prince has taken so much from Bolan."  PJ Harvey's main collaborator John Parish included it in his favourites: "when I'm working... I like to have a few records that are most important for me, which I periodically stick on to remind myself just how good records can be. [...] I have a duty to at least try and make something as sweet and irresistible as this".  Morrissey covered "Cosmic Dancer" live in 1991, both solo and for a one-off duet with David Bowie during an encore at a Los Angeles' concert; a version was included as a b-side for "Pregnant for the Last Time". Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream has cited "Get it On" as one of his all-time favorite pop songs, adding "When I was growing up, singles were an art statement. [...] People like [..] T. Rex were changing all the time. As a fan you wanted to know what they were going to wear and whether you could follow them to that new place".  The Bongos released a cover of "Mambo Sun" in 1981. "Get It On" was a hit cover single for rock supergroup The Power Station in 1985. Former Guns N' Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke covered "Life's a Gas" on his 1995 EP, Blooze. The Dax Riggs-led stoner rock band Agents of Oblivion covered "Cosmic Dancer" on their 2000 self-titled album.[28] Poison drummer Rikki Rockett included a cover of "Life's a Gas" on his 2003 solo album Glitter 4 Your Soul. Chad Smith and Josh Klinghoffer of Red Hot Chili Peppers recorded a cover "Jeepster" and "Monolith" for a 2019 Record Store Day 7" release: both songs were originally intended for a T.Rex tribute album.

The song "Jeepster" is featured in a bar scene in Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof (2007). In the opening scene of the film Billy Elliot (2000), the title character is shown putting Electric Warrior on a turntable and skipping to the song "Cosmic Dancer". "Cosmic Dancer" was also included in the soundtrack for the film Velvet Goldmine (1998) and in the soundtrack for the tv show Sex Education.

"Cosmic Dancer" is featured prominently in the soundtrack of the final segment of the 2019 Netflix documentary Dancing with the Birds, in which a male Carola's parotia successfully woos a female into mating with his mating dance. Full article