Massive Attack formed in Bristol, England in 1988 out of the Wild Bunch sound system and effectively invented trip hop with Blue Lines (1991). Mezzanine (1998), with Elizabeth Fraser and Horace Andy on vocals, is the dark masterpiece most collections start with. Explore Massive Attack vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Massive Attack formed in Bristol, England in 1988 from members of the Wild Bunch sound system collective. Their 1991 debut Blue Lines - featuring extensive collaborations with vocalist Shara Nelson, reggae singer Horace Andy, and rapper Tricky - is widely cited as the foundational document of trip hop as a recognized genre. Their 1998 album Mezzanine (with extensive guest vocals from Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins and Horace Andy) is widely considered one of the most important electronic albums of the 1990s. Mushroom departed in 1999, with Del Naja and Marshall continuing as a duo. Del Naja has been widely speculated to be the anonymous street artist Banksy (a claim he has neither confirmed nor denied). The 2018 Mezzanine 20th anniversary tour included multimedia performance work.
Massive Attack's sound is foundational to trip hop as a recognized genre - combining trip hop, electronic, downtempo, dub, alternative R&B, dark ambient, and electronic rock with extensive guest vocalist arrangements, atmospheric production approaches, and lyrical content addressing politics, surveillance, urban life, and broader contemporary themes.
Original Wild Bunch / Circa / Virgin pressings of the Massive Attack catalog are widely collected. Multiple anniversary editions of Mezzanine (including the 2018 reissue and 2019 Mezzanine in DNA conceptual release), audiophile reissues, and the comprehensive Virgin/UMC reissue programs have been released.
Listeners new to Massive Attack typically start with Mezzanine (1998) or Blue Lines (1991).
