Massive Attack is an
English musical group formed in
1988 in
Bristol, consisting of
Robert "3D" Del Naja and Grant "
Daddy G"
Marshall. Their debut
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 "
Teardrop", and
2003's
100th Window charted in the UK at number 1.
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 5 studio albums that have sold over 11 million copies worldwide.
DJs Daddy G and
Andrew Vowles 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 trio in 1988, with the independently released song, "
Any Love", sung by falsetto-voiced singer-songwriter
Carlton McCarthy,and then, with considerable backing from
Neneh Cherry, 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, who also became their first manager.
Geoff Barrow, who went on to form
Portishead, was an intern and trainee tape
operator at Bristol's
Coach House studio when the album was recorded.
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
Del Naja and Marshall's (initially Tricky's) 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 nineties, the trio became known for often not being able to easily get along with one another and working increasingly separately.
Andy Vowles (
Mushroom), who had once thought of himself as the trio's musical director, acrimoniously left Massive Attack in late
1999, after an ultimatum from the other two members to end the group immediately if he did not.
Despite having taken Del Naja's side in the effective firing of Vowles and then participating in a show-of-unity webcast as a duo the following year,
Grant Marshall (G) had also effectively left by
2001 in that he abandoned the studio altogether. Marshall returned to a studio role in
2005, having joined the touring line-up in 2003/4
- published: 07 Oct 2014
- views: 19989