History Music / MassiveAttack

* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Music/{{Mezzanine}}''.

Massive Attack are well-known for featuring a large number of guest vocalists in their songs; reggae singer Horace Andy has appeared on all of their albums and Tricky performed on ''Blue Lines'' and ''Protection'' before leaving for a solo career. Other similar collaborators have included Shara Nelson (''Blue Lines''), Tracey Thorn and Nicolette (''Protection''), [[Music/CocteauTwins Elisabeth Fraser]] and Sara Jay (''Mezzanine''), Sinéad O'Connor and [[Music/{{Blur}} Damon Albarn]] (''100th Window''), and [[Music/TVOnTheRadio Tunde Adebimpe]], [[Music/MazzyStar Hope Sandoval]] and [[Music/{{Gorillaz}} Damon]] [[Music/{{Blur}} Albarn]] again (''Heligoland'').

Massive Attack are a Bristol-based band formed out of the Wild Bunch soundsystem in the late 1980s, credited with [[TropeMaker creating the genre]] of TripHop along with contemporaries Music/{{Portishead}} and Music/{{Tricky}} (and arguably Music/DJShadow too).

As with their contemporaries, they don't much like being pigeonholed into the label of "trip-hop," which is probably why every album they've made so far is a NewSoundAlbum.

Their 1991 debut ''Blue Lines'' represented the aforementioned launch of trip-hop. ''Protection'' (1994) added more reggae, dub and soul influences to go with a more elaborate production. ''Music/{{Mezzanine}}'' (1998) attracted an AlternativeRock audience, thanks to its DarkerAndEdgier sound and addition of harsher beats and {{grunge}}y guitar riffs. ''100th Window'' (2003) continued the DarkerAndEdgier bent of ''Mezzanine'', but dialed down the alt-rock influences. Their most recent album ''Heligoland'' (2010) sort of returns to their minimalist ''Blue Lines'' sound but remains just as grimdark as the previous three.

The group's original line-up consisted of Robert "3D" Del Naja, Grantley "Daddy G" Marshall, and Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles. Vowles left the group after the release of 1998's ''Mezzanine'', citing creative differences.

Discography:

* DreamTeam: Their Music/{{Burial}} collaboration.

* MixedAncestry: Even though they both were born and raised in Bristol, Del Naja's father is from Italy, while Daddy G was born to West Indian parents.

Massive Attack are a Bristol-based band formed out of the Wild Bunch soundsystem in the late 1980s, credited with [[TropeMaker creating the genre]] of TripHop along with contemporaries Music/{{Portishead}} (and arguably Music/DJShadow too).

The group's original line-up consisted of Robert "3D" Del Naja, Grantley "Daddy G" Marshall and Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles. Vowles left the group after the release of 1998's ''Mezzanine'', citing creative differences.

* CreepyMonotone: The aforementioned "Butterfly Caught."

* WordSaladLyrics: Frequent.

Their 1991 debut ''Blue Lines'' represented the aforementioned launch of trip-hop. ''Protection'' (1994) added more reggae, dub and soul influences to go with a more elaborate production. ''Music/{{Mezzanine}}'' (1998) attracted an {{alternative rock}} audience, thanks to its DarkerAndEdgier sound and addition of harsher beats and {{grunge}}y guitar riffs. ''100th Window'' (2003) continued the DarkerAndEdgier bent of ''Mezzanine'', but dialed down the alt-rock influences. Their most recent album ''Heligoland'' (2010) sort of returns to their minimalist ''Blue Lines'' sound but remains just as grimdark as the previous three.

->"I'm a little curious of you in crowded scenes \\

We flew and strolled as two, illuminated gently
->Why don't you close your eyes and reinvent me?"
--> -- "Mezzanine" - ''Music/{{Mezzanine}}''.

Massive Attack are a Bristol-based band formed out of the Wild Bunch soundsystem in the late 1980s, credited with [[TropeMaker creating the genre]] of [[TripHop Trip-Hop]] along with contemporaries Music/{{Portishead}} (and arguably Music/DJShadow too).

As with their contemporaries, they don't much like being pigeonholed into the label of "trip-hop," which is probably why every album they've made so far is a NewSoundAlbum. Their 1991 debut ''Blue Lines'' represented the aforementioned launch of trip-hop. ''Protection'' (1994) added more reggae, dub and soul influences to go with a more elaborate production. ''Music/{{Mezzanine}}'' (1998) attracted an {{alternative rock}} audience, thanks to its DarkerAndEdgier sound and addition of harsher beats and {{grunge}}y guitar riffs. ''100th Window'' (2003) continued the DarkerAndEdgier bent of ''Mezzanine'', but dialed down the alt-rock influences. Their most recent album ''Heligoland'' (2010) sort of returns to their minimalist ''Blue Lines'' sound but remains just as grimdark as the previous three.

The group's original line-up consisted of Robert "3D" Del Naja, Grantley "Daddy G" Marshall and Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles. Vowles left the group after the release of 1998's ''Mezzanine'', citing creative differences. Massive Attack are well-known for featuring a large number of guest vocalists in their songs; reggae singer Horace Andy has appeared on all of their albums and Tricky performed on ''Blue Lines'' and ''Protection'' before leaving for a solo career. Other similar collaborators have included Shara Nelson (''Blue Lines''), Tracey Thorn and Nicolette (''Protection''), [[Music/CocteauTwins Elisabeth Fraser]] and Sara Jay (''Mezzanine''), Sinéad O'Connor and [[Music/{{Blur}} Damon Albarn]] (''100th Window''), and [[Music/TVOnTheRadio Tunde Adebimpe]], [[Music/MazzyStar Hope Sandoval]] and [[Music/{{Gorillaz}} Damon]] [[Music/{{Blur}} Albarn]] again (''Heligoland'').

* RealSongThemeTune: Most notably, ''Series/{{House}}'' uses an instrumental cut of "Teardrop" as its theme. In addition, the band's songs are commonly used in media, even though not necessarily for theme tunes.

* CoverVersion: Most obviously, a horrible live one of Music/TheDoors' "Light My Fire" on ''Protection''. Several other songs ("Be Thankful for What You've Got", "Man Next Door") are [[CoveredUp covers of much less well-known originals]], while "Angel" is a version of vocalist Horace Andy's earlier song "You Are My Angel".

[[caption-width-right:358:3D, Daddy G and Mushroom]]

* {{Sampling}}: Also frequently. The original version of ''Mezzanine'''s "Black Milk" led to a lawsuit from Manfred Mann, whose Earth Band song "Tribute" was used as a base without permission — Del Naja explained that they were led to believe that their sample fell within "fair use" limits and were surprised to discover they had sampled the entire song; later releases on ''Collected'' retitled the song "Black Melt" and replaced "Tribute" with a different sample.

* RealSongThemeTune: Most notably, ''Series/{{House}}'' uses an instrumental cut of "Teardrop" as its theme. In addition, the band's songs are [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massive_Attack_discography#Media_usage commonly used]] in media, even though not necessarily for theme tunes.

'''Massive Attack''' are a Bristol-based band formed out of the Wild Bunch soundsystem in the late 1980s, credited with [[TropeMaker creating the genre]] of [[TripHop Trip-Hop]] along with contemporaries Music/{{Portishead}} (and arguably Music/DJShadow too).

* DreamTeam: Their {{Burial}} collaboration.
* EpicRocking: The {{Burial}} remixes of "Paradise Circus" and "Four Walls" clock in at roughly twelve minutes each.

* TheOner: The video for "Unfinished Sympathy" is one of the earliest music videos to use this technique, with vocalist Shara Nelson walking down a Los Angeles street. It was later paid homage to in TheVerve's "Bitter Sweet Symphony" with Richard Ashcroft in London.

* SurrealMusicVideo: "Karmacoma" has a large number of tributes to ''Film/TheShining''. "Teardrop" features a CGI fetus lip-syncing to Elizabeth Fraser's vocals. "Butterfly Caught" is a man sitting in his room as a butterfly tattoo on his face metamorphoses and eventually spreads over his entire body.

They don't much like being pigeonholed into the label of "trip-hop," though, which is probably why every album they've made so far is a NewSoundAlbum. Their 1991 debut ''Blue Lines'' represented the aforementioned launch of trip-hop. ''Protection'' (1994) added more reggae, dub and soul influences to go with a more elaborate production. ''Music/{{Mezzanine}}'' (1998) attracted an {{alternative rock}} audience, thanks to its DarkerAndEdgier sound and addition of harsher beats and {{grunge}}y guitar riffs. ''100th Window'' (2003) continued the DarkerAndEdgier bent of ''Mezzanine'', but dialed down the alt-rock influences. Their most recent album ''Heligoland'' (2010) sort of returns to their minimalist ''Blue Lines'' sound but remains just as grimdark as the previous three.

'''Massive Attack''' are a Bristol-based band formed out of the Wild Bunch soundsystem in the late 1980s, credited with [[TropeMaker creating the genre]] of trip-hop along with contemporaries Music/{{Portishead}} (and arguably Music/DJShadow too).