Massive Attack

Massive Attack is a popular band from Bristol, England. They have released four full studio albums. The music is electronic, and combines elements of jazz, hip-hop and other genres, lately rock influences are dominant.

Massive Attack began as an offshoot of the Bristol art community The Wild Bunch. They released their first album Blue Lines in 1991. This subsequently became one of the most influential British records of the 1990s, inspiring other projects such as Portishead and Morcheeba[?] and featuring hit singles "Unfinished Sympathy" and "Daydreaming". "Blue Lines" ushered in a new genre of music best referred to as "Bristol sound", but the press began to use the label "trip-hop", which the members of Massive Attack dislike.

To protest the Gulf War, Massive Attack briefly changed their name to Massive in 1991 before reverting to the original. Band member Robert Del Naja[?], like the playwright Harold Pinter, is deeply troubled by U.S. aggression against the Third World in the name of democracy and is involved in several movements for human rights.

In 1994 Massive Attack released their second effort Protection. Featuring two string instrumentals arranged by Craig Armstrong[?], this album featured a more lush, deeper sound than the first. This marked the last collaboration of Wild Bunch member Tricky with Massive Attack, as he afterwards concentrated wholly on his solo career.

Massive Attack's third album Mezzanine[?] was released in 1998. Mezzanine showed the band moving towards a dark, distorted guitar-based sound, and according to many fans and critics marked a significant evolution.

A fourth album, "100th Window", was released on February 10, 2003. It entered the Top 10 in the UK charts, though scandal errupted when Del Naja was charged with possession of drugs and child pornography later that month.

Massive Attack originally consisted of three members, Robert Del Naja[?] ("3D"), Grant Marshall[?] ("Daddy G") and Andrew Vowles ("Mushroom"). After the recording of Mezzanine Vowles, dissatisfied with the change in sound, left the band. Marshall elected to sit out during the recording of 100th Window, making that album essentially a Del Naja solo project.

Each Massive Attack album features guest vocalists, and so far the band has worked with Tricky, Shara Nelson[?], Tracey Thorn[?] of Everything But The Girl[?], Nicolette, Sara Jay, Elizabeth Fraser[?] of Cocteau Twins and Sinead O'Connor. The Jamaican reggae legend Horace Andy[?] is a fixture of Massive Attack albums.

External links

• Massive Attack homepage (requires Flash) (http://www.massiveattack.co.uk)
• Information about Massive Attack's new album 100th Window (requires Flash) (http://www.100thwindow.com)
• Musicbrainz Discography of Massive Attack releases (http://www.musicbrainz.org/showartist?artistid=4)