|
| Background information |
| Origin |
 Bristol, England |
| Genre(s) |
Trip-Hop
Electronica
Alternative Rock |
| Years active |
1988 - present |
| Label(s) |
Virgin Records |
Associated
acts |
The Wild Bunch
Tricky |
| Website |
Official
Site |
| Members |
Robert
Del Naja ("3D")
Grant
Marshall ("Daddy G") |
| Former members |
| Andrew
Vowles ("Mushroom") |
Massive Attack are a trip hop band
from Bristol,
England.
They have released four studio albums, two movie soundtracks, one remix
album, and a greatest hits collection. Their musical style has been
acclaimed for combining elements of jazz, hip hop, rock,
and soul;
lately darker, subtler forms of electronic music have been dominant
influences.
Massive Attack are constant collaborators and have worked with
a diverse mix of artists, from Sinéad O'Connor to reggae star Horace
Andy to Madonna. Their work has also
been used in many feature films and television shows, including The Matrix,
The Insider,
The West Wing
and House.
They also have a financial stake in a small night club, Tube (formerly
Nocturne, a private members club that they jointly owned), in their
hometown of Bristol.
|
Contents
- 1 History
- 1.1 1980s
- 1.2 1990s
- 1.3 2000s
- 2 Controversy
- 3 Discography
- 3.1 Albums
- 3.2 Singles/EPs
- 4 Live
mixes
- 5 Samples
- 6 References
- 7 External
links
|
History
1980s
Massive Attack began as an offshoot of the popular mid-1980s sound
system The Wild Bunch. The
core group consisted of three members, Robert
Del Naja ("3D"), Grant Marshall ("Daddy G") and Andrew
Vowles ("Mushroom"), along with occasional Wild Bunch
collaborator (and also Del Naja's roommate) Tricky. In 1988
they released their first single "Any Love," followed in 1991 by their
first album, Blue Lines,
featuring the hit singles "Unfinished Sympathy" (with Shara
Nelson) and "Daydreaming." The album, that was produced by Cameron
McVey, was well-received both critically and commercially, with some
polls calling "Unfinished Sympathy" one of the best songs of all time.
Blue Lines subsequently became one of the most
influential British records of the 1990s, ushering in a new genre of
music sometimes referred to as the "Bristol sound," but more often
labelled trip-hop, a label Massive Attack have said they dislike.
1990s
Massive Attack in their 1994 video, Karmacoma.
In 1994, Massive Attack released their follow-up, Protection,
an album that featured two string instrumentals arranged by Craig
Armstrong and a deeper, more lush sound than the first. This marked
Tricky's last collaboration with Massive Attack, as he chose to
concentrate wholly on his solo career. Tricky used lyrics from other
songs (chronologically before and after the album's release) at some
points during the recording. Several of the lyrics from "Karmacoma"
shared between Tricky and 3D were later sung by Martina
Topley-Bird on Tricky's single "Overcome". On "Eurochild", Tricky
borrowed lyrics from "Blank Expression" by The
Specials. Two songs ("Protection" and "Better Things")
feature Everything But The Girl
vocalist Tracey Thorn, whom the band
collaborated with on a remake of The Marvelettes' hit "The Hunter Gets
Captured by the Game" for the Batman
Forever soundtrack.
In 1996, the band won a BRIT Award for "best dance act". This
was a point of amusement for the band, as, at the time, none of them
knew how to dance.
In 1997, the band sampled the music of "Metal
Postcard" by Siouxsie & the
Banshees on "Superpredators" for The Jackal
movie soundtrack.
Massive Attack's third album, Mezzanine,
was released in 1998. Mezzanine showed the band
moving towards a somewhat dark, tense sound filled with distorted
guitars and a combination of drum machines and live percussion that
lacked the laid-back, jazzy nature they had occasionally shown in their
previous albums. Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau
Twins sang lead vocals on three remarkable tracks, adding a
yet another dimension of ethereality to the album. Original member
Vowles, dissatisfied with this change in sound, left the band shortly
after the release of the album. He was replaced by Neil Davidge, who worked with Del Naja
for much of his material on Mezzanine. The release
of Mezzanine also led to a change in Massive
Attack's live show. In addition to their previous simple set up of a
few mics and turntables, the group began incorporating more and more
live instrumentation into their shows. In addition to their usual
numerous guest vocalists, the trio were now being joined on stage by a
live guitarist, bassist, drummer, and keyboard player, as well as a
video screen and lighting effects from United Visual Artists. Also
during this time many members including Richie Partridge
(musician) left the band due to musical differences but the core
members remain. In the 1999
feature
film The Matrix,
Massive Attack's "Dissolved Girl" is playing in the sleeping Neo's
headphones
when he gets the "Knock, knock, Neo..." message on his monitor.
2000s
Massive Attack's fourth album, 100th
Window, which was recorded without Marshall,
was released in early 2003. It entered the Top 10 in the UK chart.
In 2004, the band, now consisting of Del Naja, Davidge, and
programmer Alex Swift, released an instrumental soundtrack for the
feature film Danny the Dog,
which was produced by Luc Besson. The film's title was changed
to Unleashed prior to the American release, though
the album was initially released under the original title as it came
out months before the film. 2005 saw the band contribute another
soundtrack, this time for the feature film Bullet Boy.
The group had also been slated to work on music for the film V
for Vendetta with past collaborator Craig
Armstrong but had to leave the project due to scheduling problems.
That same year, portions of Massive Attack's song Teardrop
were used for the theme song for House,
M.D., a popular television medical drama.
In 2006 the band released a greatest hits compilation, Collected.
The two-disc set includes selected tracks from their studio albums,
some rare singles, and two new tracks, "Live with Me" and "False
Flags." The DVD layer of the second disc also contains all the group’s
music videos to date. Massive Attack also returned to the studio to
record a new album, tentatively titled Weather Underground. Of
the three original members, Del Naja and Marshall have returned to
record the group’s fifth studio album. However, they will not be
collaborating with each other extensively. Del Naja will be in one
studio with producer Neil Davidge, and Marshall will be
working from his own studio on the other side of Bristol.
Presumably the pair will work more closely on a finished album after
their respective batches of tracks are completed. Dot
Allison, Horace Andy, Mike
Patton, and Mos
Def are expected to contribute vocals.
Massive Attack toured North America and Europe in 2006,
performing closing spots at summer festivals such as Austin City Limits
Music Festival. Mezzanine-era collaborator Elizabeth
Fraser returned to the line-up to provide backing vocals.
Marshall was not present for most of the North America performances,
because, according to Del Naja on stage, Marshall's wife had delivered
a baby.
Massive Attack recorded a live session at Abbey
Road Studios for Live From Abbey Road on July 29
2006. Their performance was screened alongside sets from LeAnn
Rimes and Dr.John on the Sundance
Channel in the USA and Channel 4 in the UK.
EMI/Virgin confirmed that the newest Massive Attack album
would be out in February 2007.
However, during an interview with Zane Lowe on BBC
Radio 1 on December 19th, 2006, Del Naja stated that the release would
hopefully be sometime in 2007, and that the title was now unlikely to
be 'Weather Underground'.
In February 2007 Massive recorded a live performance in
legendary Abbey Road studios. Video of three songs
and short interviews was aired on BBC beginning of March 2007.
On February 6, 7, and 8, 2007, Massive Attack organized and
performed charity concerts in Birmingham and the Brixton Academy in
London for the HOPING Foundation for Palestinian refugee children. The
three sold-out concerts netted over £100,000 for the Foundation, and
attracted extensive media coverage. It is one of the largest concerts
in the world ever performed for Palestinian children.
Controversy
During the first Gulf War, several British media channels
became anxious to avoid using words suggestive of war and violence, and
Massive Attack (then struggling to become established) were forced to
temporarily change their name to simply Massive. Del Naja makes no
secret in interviews of his political objections to what he sees as U.S.
aggression against the Third World in the name of democracy,
often expressing regret that he ever agreed to the name change.
In 2003, Del Naja was arrested and questioned "in connection
with allegations of the possession of class A drugs and Internet
pornography offences," as a part of Operation
Ore, a nation-wide crackdown on child pornography. [2] Del Naja never admitted to the
crime, saying that he has never looked at child pornography in his
life, and some fans have claimed that the government was running a
smear campaign on him for his views on the war in Iraq. The reason
finally stated was that Del Naja's credit card had been used to procure
computer services via a company which, in turn, had links to another
organisation sympathetic to hosting child pornography, Del Naja being
entirely unaware of the connection. He was released on bail after six
hours in jail.
Discography
Albums
| Month/Year |
Album |
UK |
U.S. |
AUS |
Additional information |
| June 1, 1991 |
Blue Lines |
13 |
- |
69 |
|
| September 26, 1994 |
Protection |
4 |
- |
15 |
|
| February 17, 1995 |
No Protection |
10 |
- |
34 |
Dub versions of songs from Protection |
| April 20, 1998 |
Mezzanine |
1 |
60 |
1 |
|
| February 10, 2003 |
100th
Window |
1 |
69 |
4 |
|
| October 11, 2004 |
Danny the Dog |
70 |
- |
- |
Film soundtrack |
| March 27, 2006 |
Collected |
2 |
198 |
19 |
Singles compilation |
| 2007 |
Weather Underground |
TBR |
TBR |
TBR |
To be released |
Singles/EPs
| Month/Year |
Title |
UK |
U.S.
Dance |
AUS |
| 1988 |
Any Love |
- |
- |
- |
| October 15, 1990 |
Daydreaming |
81 |
- |
- |
| February 11, 1991 |
Unfinished
Sympathy |
13 |
- |
- |
| May 28, 1991 |
Safe From Harm |
25 |
32 |
- |
| February 10, 1992 |
Massive Attack EP (aka
Hymn of the Big Wheel) |
27 |
- |
- |
| October 17, 1994 |
Sly (featuring Nicolette) |
24 |
- |
- |
| January 9, 1995 |
Protection (featuring
Tracey Thorn) |
14 |
- |
- |
| March 20, 1995 |
Karmacoma |
28 |
- |
- |
| July 7, 1997 |
Risingson |
11 |
- |
- |
| April 27, 1998 |
Teardrop
(featuring Liz
Fraser) |
10 |
- |
16 |
| July 13, 1998 |
Angel |
30 |
- |
- |
| October 19, 1998 |
Inertia Creeps |
- |
- |
- |
| March 11, 2002 |
I Against I (featuring
Mos
Def) promo only |
- |
- |
- |
| February 24, 2003 |
Special Cases (featuring
Sinead O'Connor) |
15 |
- |
- |
| June 16, 2003 |
Butterfly
Caught |
- |
- |
- |
| April 22, 2005 |
Bullet Boy EP itunes download
only |
- |
- |
- |
| March 13, 2006 |
Live with Me (featuring
Terry
Callier) |
17 |
- |
- |
| June 5, 2006 |
False Flags (promo
only) |
158 |
- |
- |
Live mixes
- BBC Radio One Essential Mix (December 12, 1994)
- Heaven, Stockholm (May 18, 1998)
- Pinkpop Festival (June 3, 1998)
- Royal Albert Hall (July 7, 1998)
Samples
