Massive Attack

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

They released their debut album in 1991, Blue Lines, which has been included on numerous best-of lists and is generally considered the first album of the trip-hop genre. In 1994, they released their second album, Protection. Thaws left the band later that year to pursue a solo career. In 1998, they released their third album, Mezzanine, giving them their first number one on the UK Albums Chart. Mezzanine contains the top-10 single "Teardrop". In 1999, Vowles left the band, with Del Naja and Marshall continuing as a duo. They further released the albums 100th Window (2003) and Heligoland (2010).

Both Blue Lines and Mezzanine feature in Rolling Stones list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The group have collaborated with several recurring guest vocalists, including Horace Andy, Shara Nelson, Tracey Thorn, Elizabeth Fraser, Sinéad O'Connor, Damon Albarn and Hope Sandoval.

Massive Attack's awards include a Brit Award for Best British Dance Act, two MTV Europe Music Awards, and two Q Awards. Their five studio albums have sold over 13 million copies worldwide. Massive Attack also support several political, human rights and environmental causes.

History

The Wild Bunch and "Any Love" (1980s–1990)

DJs Daddy G and Mushroom, and rappers Tricky and 3D met as members of partying collective the Wild Bunch in the early 1980s. One of the first homegrown sound systems in the UK, the Wild Bunch became dominant on the Bristol club scene in the mid-1980s. It was co-produced by Bristol double-act Smith & Mighty and featured the falsetto-voiced singer-songwriter Carlton McCarthy. In 1990, they committed to deliver six studio albums and a "best of" compilation to Circa Records. This record label became a subsidiary of, and was later subsumed into, Virgin Records, which in turn was acquired by EMI.

Blue Lines and "Unfinished Sympathy" (1991–1993)

thumb|[[Robert Del Naja at Barcelona 2007]]

3D co-wrote Neneh Cherry's Manchild in 1989 alongside producer, Jonny Dollar. This working relationship continued with Cherry helping Massive Attack to record their first album Blue Lines. Cherry's partner Cameron McVey was an executive producer of the album and became the group's first manager. Cherry and McVey provided financial support, via the Cherry Bear organisation, and the album was partly recorded in their house. The band 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 hip hop, soul, reggae and other eclectic references, both musical and lyrical. MC Willie Wee, also once part of the Wild Bunch, featured. Neneh Cherry sang backing vocals on environmentalist anthem, "Hymn of the Big Wheel". The album has been retrospectively considered the first of the "trip-hop" genre and received critical acclaim.

That year they released "Unfinished Sympathy" as a single, with its genre defining strings recorded at Abbey Road studio, composed by Jonny Dollar and later arranged by Wil Malone. 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 (1994–1997)

For their second album, the band brought in Everything but the Girl's Tracey Thorn The other collaborators on Protection were Marius de Vries and Craig Armstrong, a Scottish classical pianist.

Tricky decided to end his involvement with the band in 1995 in order to pursue a solo

career. This was also

the period of the release of Tricky's Maxinquaye and Portishead's

Dummy. The term "trip hop" was coined and was referred to by the media

as part of the "Bristol scene". Also in 1996, Massive Attack produced two remixes of "Milk" by Garbage, released across the single's UK 12-inch vinyl formats: "D Mix" and "Trance Mix".

Massive Attack started a label in 1995 distributed by Virgin/EMI, Melankolic, and signed Craig Armstrong and a number of other artists such as Horace Andy, Lewis Parker, 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 who had 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 3D, increasingly filling the production vacuum, was taking the band. 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 (1997–2001)

3D became the band's main producer in 1997 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 a session capacity and live. as well as being nominated for a Mercury Prize.

Touring extensively, friction between Mushroom and the other band members came to a head. Mushroom was unhappy with the direction of the group and having to appear on tour. In 1999, Mushroom left the band.

Around this time, 3D, 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 session drummer and one of two live drummers) towards a fourth Massive Attack LP, taking things even further into a rock direction.

Despite having taken 3D's side after Mushroom's departure and participating in a webcast as a duo in 2000, Daddy G took a personal break from the band in 2001.

100th Window, Marshall's return and Collected (2002–2006)

thumb|upright|[[Daddy G|Grant Marshall at the Eurockéennes Festival 2008]]

With Daddy G temporarily no longer involved in the studio, Davidge and 3D 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. 100th Window sold over one 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).

3D was arrested on allegations involving child pornography in 2003, which were reported widely in the media. 3D 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 offering their support. The arrest affected the beginning of the 100th Window tour schedule.

3D and Davidge agreed to an offer from director Louis Leterrier to score the entire soundtrack for Danny the Dog, starring Jet Li, in 2005. Dot Allison, who had sung with the band on the 100th Window tour, sang the end title track, "Aftersun". 3D and Davidge also scored the soundtrack for the Bullet Boy film, with 3D on the end title vocals.

Daddy G started coming into the studio the same year, 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, 3D 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.

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, 3D 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, 3D completed the score for 44 Inch Chest with the Insects and Angelo Badalamenti.

Davidge and 3D 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, 3D's instrumental "Herculaneum", featured in the film Gomorra, won an Italian award for Best Song. Later that month, 3D and Daddy G picked up a special Ivor Novello award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music.

Jonny Dollar died of cancer on 29 May 2009 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".

Their new EP, Splitting the Atom, was announced on 25 August 2009. 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. The opening track, "Pray For Rain" featured guest vocals of TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe. Damon Albarn, Martina Topley-Bird and Mazzy Star frontwoman Hope Sandoval also provide guest vocals on the album. 3D 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 and working with Tricky again (2013–2019)

In a 2013 interview for his first solo art show since 2008, 3D 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.