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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZMASSIVE ATTACKGround-breaking cerebral dance ensemble formed in Bristol '90 from the remains of pioneering underground sound system the Wild Bunch. A shifting constellation of singers including reggae veteran Horace Andy and gifted soul chanteuse Shara Nelson were based around a central trio of Robert '3D' Del Naja (b '65), Andrew 'Mushroom' Vowles (b 10 Nov. '67) and Grant 'Daddy G' Marshall (b 18 Dec. '59). A string-drenched third single 'Unfinished Sympathy' was a UK top ten '91, debut album Blue Lines described as the most original and innovative record of the year; the fusion of Jamaican dub reggae and US rap styles with a homespun lyrical twist opened up a new intellectual frontier in UK dance music just as De La Soul had done in the USA two years earlier. Second album Protection '94 was a long time coming due to notorious Bristolian inability to get up before lunchtime, but was worth the wait: title track participation relaunched the career of Tracey Thorn, the talented vocalist of popular AOR duo Everything but the Girl. Talk of a 'Bristol sound' was misguided but understandable given subsequent success of Massive Attack associates. Blue Lines' guest teenage rapper Tricky Kid (b Adrian Thaws) went on to make the intense and sulphurous Maxinquaye '95 on 4th and Broadway, one of the most adventurous British albums of the decade so far, with singer Martina Topley-Bird, and the extraordinary collaborative experiment Nearly God '96 with guest vocalists including Bj”rk, Alison Moyet and ex-Special Terry Hall. Ex-Massive Attack studio hand Geoff Burrows formed Portishead (named after a run- down Bristol suburb) with singer Beth Gibbons and released the massive twin-turntable torch song sleeper hit Dummy '94 on Go! Discs. The Massive Attack trio did not always get along, avoided publicity and disliked their music's 'trip-hop' label, but third album Mezzanine '98 was another hit. |