Massive Attack

Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol by Robert "3D" Del Naja, Adrian "Tricky" Thaws, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall.

The debut Massive Attack album ''Blue Lines'' was released in 1991, with the single "Unfinished Sympathy" reaching the charts and later being voted the 63rd greatest song of all time in a poll by ''NME''. 1998's ''Mezzanine'' (containing the top 10 single " Teardrop") and 2003's '' 100th Window'' charted in the UK at number one. Both ''Blue Lines'' and ''Mezzanine'' feature in ''Rolling Stone''s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

The group has won numerous music awards throughout their career, including a Brit Award—winning Best British Dance Act, two MTV Europe Music Awards, and two Q Awards. They have released five studio albums that have sold over 13 million copies worldwide. Throughout their history, Massive Attack have been supporters and activists for political, human rights and environmental causes.

History

Deejays Daddy G, Andrew Vowles, musician and rapper Tricky, and graffiti artist-turned-rapper Robert Del Naja met as members of partying collective the Wild Bunch. One of the first homegrown soundsystems in the UK, the Wild Bunch became dominant on the Bristol club scene in the mid-1980s.

Massive Attack started as a spin-off production quartet in 1988, with the independently released song, "Any Love", sung by falsetto-voiced singer-songwriter Carlton McCarthy, and then they signed to Circa Records in 1990—committing to deliver six studio albums and a "best of" compilation. Circa became a subsidiary of, and was later subsumed into, Virgin Records, which in turn was acquired by EMI. ''Blue Lines'' (1991), was co-produced by Jonny Dollar and Cameron McVey, McVey also became their first manager. McVey (credited at the time as 'Booga Bear') and his wife, Neneh Cherry, provided crucial financial support and in-kind assistance to the early careers of Massive Attack, Portishead, and Tricky during this period, even paying regular wages to them through their Cherry Bear organisation. Massive Attack used guest vocalists, interspersed with their own ''sprechgesang'' stylings, on top of what became regarded as an essentially British creative sampling production; a trademark sound that fused down-tempo hip hop, soul, reggae and other eclectic references, musical and lyrical.

In the 1990s, the members worked increasingly separately. Adrian "Tricky" Thaws left Massive Attack in 1995 and Andrew Vowles (Mushroom) left Massive Attack in late 1999. Despite having taken Del Naja's side and participating in a webcast as a duo the following year, Grant Marshall (Daddy G) took a personal break in 2001. Marshall rejoined the band for their following tour in 2003 and 2004, and returned to a studio role in 2005, and also Thaws rejoined Massive Attack in early 2016.

''Any Love'' beginnings

Unsigned, Mushroom (Andy Vowles), Daddy G (Grant Marshall), 3D (Robert Del Naja) and Tricky (Adrian Thaws) put out "Any Love" as a single, co-produced by Bristol double-act Smith & Mighty.

''Blue Lines'' and "Unfinished Sympathy"

3D co-wrote Neneh Cherry's "Manchild", which peaked at number 5 in the UK single chart. Cameron McVey and Neneh Cherry helped them to record their first LP, ''Blue Lines'', partly in their house, and the album was released in 1991 on Virgin Records.

The album used vocalists including Horace Andy and Shara Nelson, a former Wild Bunch cohort. MC's Tricky and Willie Wee, also once part of the Wild Bunch, featured, as well as Daddy G's voice on "Five Man Army". Neneh Cherry sang backing vocals on environmentalist anthem, "Hymn of the Big Wheel".

That year they released "Unfinished Sympathy" as a single, a string-arranged track at Abbey Road studio, scored by Will Malone, that went on to be voted the 10th greatest song of all time in a poll by ''The Guardian''.

The group temporarily shortened their name to "Massive" on the advice of McVey to avoid controversy relating to the Gulf War. They returned to being "Massive Attack" for their next single, "Safe from Harm".

''Protection'' and Melankolic

After Shara Nelson left, the band brought in Everything but the Girl's Tracey Thorn and Nicolette as vocalists and released "Protection" on 26 September 1994.

With McVey out of the picture, Massive Attack enlisted the production talents of former Wild Bunch Nellee Hooper to co-produce some songs on it, with Mushroom. Other tracks were co-produced by the Insects and 3D. A dub version, '' No Protection'', was released the following year by Mad Professor. ''Protection'' won a Brit award for Best Dance Act. The other collaborators on ''Protection'' were Marius de Vries, Craig Armstrong, a Scottish classical pianist, and Tricky. Tricky's solo career was taking off at this time and he decided not to collaborate with Massive Attack after this.

1994/1995 was also the period of Portishead's '' Dummy'' and Tricky's ''Maxinquaye'' albums and the term "trip hop" was coined. The media started to refer to the "Bristol scene".

In 1995, Massive Attack started a label distributed by Virgin/EMI, Melankolic, and signed Craig Armstrong and a number of other artists such as Horace Andy, Alpha, Sunna, and Day One. The group espoused a non-interference philosophy that allowed the artists to make their albums in the way they wanted.

The same year the Insects became unavailable for co-production and having parted ways with Nellee Hooper, the band were introduced to Neil Davidge, a relatively unknown producer whose main claim to fame thus far had been an association with anonymous dance-pop outfit DNA. The first track they worked on was "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game", a cover version sung by Tracey Thorn for the ''Batman Forever'' soundtrack. Initially, Davidge was brought in as engineer, but soon became producer.

The group increasingly fractured in the lead-up to the third album, Davidge having to co-produce the three producers' ideas separately. Mushroom was reported to be unhappy with the degree of the post-punk direction in which Del Naja, increasingly filling the production vacuum, was taking the band.

In 1997, the group contributed to the film soundtrack of '' The Jackal'', recording "Superpredators (Metal Postcard)", a song containing a sample of Siouxsie and the Banshees' "Mittageisen" and "Dissolved Girl", a new song with vocals by Sarah Jay (that was later remixed for the next album), which was featured at the beginning of the 1999 film ''The Matrix'', although it was not on the official soundtrack.

Later that year they released a single, "Risingson", from what would be their third album, ''Mezzanine''.

''Mezzanine'', "Teardrop", Vowles's departure and Marshall's absence

In 1997, Del Naja became the band's main producer in the recording sessions that made ''Mezzanine'', Massive Attack's most commercially successful album, selling nearly four million copies. It featured Neil Davidge as a sound engineer and co-producer, and Horace Andy and Elizabeth Fraser as the main guest vocalists. During recording, Angelo Bruschini became their permanent lead guitarist both in the studio and live.

The lead single, after "Risingson", was " Teardrop", sung by Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins. The song was accompanied by a video directed by Walter Stern, of an animatronic singing fetus. Horace Andy sang on three songs, including "Angel". A track the band made for the film '' The Jackal,'' "Dissolved Girl", sung by Sarah Jay, was remixed for inclusion on the record.

''Mezzanine'' went on to win a Q Award for Best Album as well as being nominated for a Mercury Prize.

Touring extensively, friction between Mushroom and the others came to a head. Mushroom was unhappy with the direction of the group and having to appear on tour.

Around this time, Del Naja, with Davidge decamped into Ridge Farm studio with friends and band members of Lupine Howl (made up of former members of the band Spiritualized, including Damon Reece, who went on to be Massive Attack's permanent drummer and one of two live drummers) towards a fourth Massive Attack LP, taking things even further into a rock direction.

2001 also saw the release of ''Eleven Promos,'' a DVD of all Massive Attack's 11 music videos thus far, including "Angel", a £100,000+ promo.

''100th Window'', Marshall's return and ''Collected''

With Daddy G temporarily no longer involved in the studio, Davidge and Del Naja steered "LP4" on their own. Enlisting the vocals of Sinéad O'Connor and Horace Andy, ''100th Window'' was mastered in August 2002 and released in February 2003.

Featuring no samples or cover versions, ''100th Window'' was not as critically well received in Britain as the other records, although the album received a warmer reception internationally, scoring a 75 out of 100 on review aggregation site Metacritic.

The group collaborated with Mos Def on the track "I Against I", which appeared on the "Special Cases" single and the soundtrack for ''Blade II.'' "I Against I" is also notable as the only track from the ''100th Window'' sessions that features a writing credit from Daddy G.

Also in 2003, Del Naja was arrested on child porn allegations, which were reported widely in the media. Del Naja was soon eliminated as a suspect (although he was charged with ecstasy possession and unable to get a U.S. visa for a while) with Daddy G and fans proffering their support. The arrest affected the beginning of the ''100th Window'' tour schedule.

''100th Window'' sold over a million copies and was toured extensively (including Queen Square, Bristol—a one-off sell out concert set up in the city centre park, which was seen as a homecoming).

Afterwards, Del Naja and Davidge agreed to an offer from director Louis Leterrier, to score the entire soundtrack for '' Danny the Dog,'' starring Jet Li. Dot Allison, who had sung with the band on the ''100th Window'' tour, sang the end titles track, "Aftersun". Del Naja and Davidge also scored the soundtrack for the ''Bullet Boy'' film, with Del Naja on the end titles' vocals.

In 2005, Daddy G started coming into the studio, although little came of the material. He decided to instead work with a production duo, Robot Club, in another studio, feeling that he would be more free to develop tracks in the way he wanted. Meanwhile, Del Naja and Davidge recorded with a number of different singers as well as creating a track named "Twilight", for UNKLE's '' War Stories'' album. Later that year, Massive Attack decided to release their contractually obliged compilation album '' Collected'' in 2006. They released it with a second disc, made up of previously released non-album songs and unreleased sketches.

"Weather Underground" / ''Heligoland'' era

In 2007, Del Naja and Davidge scored three soundtracks, ''In Prison My Whole Life'' (which featured a track called "Calling Mumia" with vocals by American rapper Snoop Dogg), ''Battle in Seattle'' and ''Trouble the Water.''

In February 2007, Massive Attack hosted a charity benefit for the Hoping Foundation, a charity for Palestinian children. In 2008, it was announced that Massive Attack were to curate the UK's Southbank Meltdown, a week-long event. It was suggested in interviews that this event would inspire Massive Attack back into action, having spent several years drifting towards the completion of their fifth studio album.

Later that year, Del Naja and Daddy G headed to Damon Albarn's studios for some writing and jamming. Around this time, Davidge scored the soundtrack for a Paul McGuigan film, ''Push'' and in December, Del Naja completed the score for '' 44 Inch Chest'' with the Insects and Angelo Badalamenti.

Davidge and Del Naja got back together in 2009 with Daddy G to finish the fifth album, incorporating bits of the Albarn material. Later it was announced that the band were to headline the 2009 Bestival festival, and soon after that they were to tour the UK and Europe. In May, Robert Del Naja's instrumental "Herculaneum", featured in the film '' Gomorra,'' won an Italian award for Best Song. Later that month, Del Naja and Marshall picked up a special Ivor Novello award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music.

On 29 May Jonny Dollar died of cancer aged 45, survived by his wife and four children. Dollar was the programmer and hands-on producer behind ''Blue Lines,'' writing some of the melodies that were the basis for the string arrangements in "Unfinished Sympathy".

On 25 August their new EP, ''Splitting the Atom,'' was announced. The other new tracks on the EP were Tunde Adebimpe's "Pray For Rain", Martina Topley-Bird's "Psyche" and Guy Garvey's "Bulletproof Love". The latter two tracks appear as remixes of the album versions.

The fifth album was released on 12 November 2009, called ''Heligoland,'' after the German archipelago of Heligoland, after a previous project called "Weather Underground" was abandoned. Del Naja said "I think it's got definitely a more organic feel". The opening track, "Pray For Rain" featured guest vocals of TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe, and Damon Albarn and Mazzy Star frontwoman Hope Sandoval also provide guest vocals on the album. Del Naja said in October 2010, to the Spinner website, that his plans were now for "unorthodox" releases of several EPs in 2011, rather than an album.

''Ritual Spirit'' EP, the return of Tricky, and new songs

In a 2013 interview for his first solo art show since 2008, Del Naja confirmed that not only was new Massive Attack material in the works, but that rumours of a reunion with Tricky were true. Tricky had not been featured on a Massive Attack album since 1994's ''Protection.''

On 5 February 2014, it was confirmed that Massive Attack would headline at Secret Solstice, a new music festival in Reykjavík in June. On 21 February 2015, it was confirmed through the Massive Attack Facebook page that they would be collaborating with Run the Jewels.

On 21 January 2016, the iPhone application "Fantom" was released. The application was developed by a team including Massive Attack's Del Naja and let users hear parts of four new songs by remixing them in real time, using the phone's location, movement, clock, heartbeat, and camera.

On 28 January 2016, Massive Attack released a new EP, ''Ritual Spirit,'' which includes the four songs released on Fantom. The EP was written and produced by Del Naja and new collaborator, Euan Dickinson.

It was their first release since the 2011 '' Four Walls / Paradise Circus'' collaboration with Burial, and the first time since 1994 that Tricky had been featured on Massive Attack content. Scottish hip-hop group Young Fathers, London rapper Roots Manuva and singer Azekel also featured on the EP.

On 26 July 2016, Massive Attack previewed three new songs: "Come Near Me", "The Spoils", and "Dear Friend" on the Fantom iPhone application on which they previously previewed the four songs from the ''Ritual Spirit'' EP.

On 29 July 2016, they released a new EP, " The Spoils", which includes "The Spoils" and "Come Near Me", both previewed on Fantom. "The Spoils" features vocals from American singer-songwriter Hope Sandoval, and "Come Near Me" features British vocalist Ghostpoet. A music video for "Come Near Me", directed by Ed Morris, and featuring Kosovan actress Arta Dobroshi, was released the same day as the single. The video for "The Spoils", featuring Cate Blanchett, and directed by Australian director John Hillcoat, was released on 9 August 2016.

''Eutopia'' EP and audiovisual releases

In July 2020, Massive Attack released a political audiovisual EP called '' Eutopia''. The three track fusion was created across five cities during the COVID-19 global lockdown period, and was part-formed by generative algorithmic visuals from AI art pioneer Mario Klingemann and collaborations with Algiers, Young Fathers and US poet Saul Williams. The conceptual project, co-written and produced by 3D and documentary filmmaker Mark Donne, featured strong arguments for global system change from UN Paris Climate Agreement author Christiana Figueres, founder of the Universal Basic Income Principle Professor Guy Standing and inventor of the US "Wealth Tax" policy Professor Gabriel Zucman.

Each video ends with a quote from Thomas More's ''Utopia''.

Massive Attack were scheduled to headline the 2022 edition of the Primavera Sound music festival in Barcelona, Spain, but an unnamed band member's serious illness forced the band to cancel its appearance with the rest of its European tour.

Musical style

Some of their most noted songs have been without choruses and have featured dramatically atmospheric dynamics, conveyed through either distorted guitar crescendos, lavish orchestral arrangements or prominent, looped/shifting basslines, underpinned by high and exacting production values, involving sometimes copious digital editing and mixing. The pace of their music has often been slower than prevalent British dance music of the time. These and other psychedelic, soundtrack-like and DJist sonic techniques, formed a much-emulated style journalists began to dub "trip hop" from the mid-nineties onwards, though in an interview in 2006, Daddy G said, "We used to hate that terminology rip-hopso bad,' laughs. 'You know, as far we were concerned, Massive Attack music was unique, so to put it in a box was to pigeonhole it and to say, "Right, we know where you guys are coming from.""

Other projects

'Fire Sale' exhibition

A solo exhibition of Del Naja's art was held at the Lazarides gallery in central London, from 24 May to 22 June 2013. The show's content spanned a period of over twenty years and featured many of the art pieces that Del Naja created for Massive Attack. Each piece, reinterpreted especially for the exhibition, was hand-printed and finished. The show also featured three one-off 'digital infinity mirrors', two of which contained phrases supplied by Reprieve that were extracted from drone pilot dialogues. Del Naja performed a DJ set during the opening night on 23 May 2013.

Massive Attack and Adam Curtis

Del Naja conceived and designed an eight-night festival with filmmaker Adam Curtis—in collaboration with UVA (United Visual Artists)—that premiered in Manchester, UK in July 2013. The festival featured Curtis's film, unofficially titled ''The Plan,'' which was projected on a huge screen surrounding the audience, while music from Massive Attack was interweaved throughout the film. Del Naja, who orchestrated the film's soundtrack, described the experience as a "collective hallucination" and the film was also shown at the Manchester International Festival in July 2013. Music created by Del Naja for the festival became the score for a BBC
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