The 10 best songs by Massive Attack
Britain’s first and most prominent trip-hop innovators, Massive Attack, revolutionised music throughout the 1990s. The Bristol-based group formed in 1988 from the ashes of The Wild Bunch, a hip-hop and reggae fusion collective where founding members Robert ‘3D’ Del Naja, Grant ‘Daddy G’ Marshall, Adrian ‘Tricky’ Thaws and Andrew ‘Mushroom’ Vowles began their careers. With the release of their first single, ‘Any Love’, in the late ’80s as part of a street art exhibition at MShed Museum in Bristol, the group gained a small but potent following in the local scene.
Among those dazzled by Massive Attack’s formative output was the singer and DJ Neneh Cherry, who helped the band sign to Virgin Records and subsequently release their debut album, Blue Lines, in 1991. While the genre was yet to be named, Blue Lines is widely accepted as the birthplace and one of the most refined examples of trip-hop. Bristol became the established home of trip-hop when local band Portishead entered the fray in 1994 with their Mercury Prize-winning debut, Dummy.
Following the arrival of Protection, Massive Attack’s second studio album, it became clear that the group weren’t keen on standing still. The album brought a slightly darker tone through many of the tracks, welcoming more piano-driven soundscapes while retaining the reggae and hip-hop influences heard in Blue Lines.
During the lengthy and arduous production of 1998’s Mezzanine, Massive Attack appeared to hit a peak creatively, but with the peak came considerable friction. The album’s much darker atmospheres and subject matter reflected rising tension within the band, culminating in Vowles’ departure. With this missing piece, the picture of Massive Attack was never quite so clear again. Following the underwhelming fourth album, 100th Window, in 2003, fans were surprised to hear Massive Attack back on form in 2010, when they shared their fifth and latest album, Heligoland.
Today, we’re sifting through Massive Attack’s illustrious five-album-run to rank their ten greatest tracks.
The 10 best songs by Massive Attack
10. ‘Heat Miser’
The appearance of this lesser-known track from 1994’s Protection may come as a little surprise to some fans. But ‘Heat Miser’ is one of Massive Attack’s deeper cuts that I can never listen to enough. As an instrumental track, it shuffles an intriguing array of textures throughout.
Beginning with the ominous ‘Tubular Bells’, channelling piano run, and Darth Vader breathing sounds, ‘Heat Miser’ develops into something eerie and enveloping when the drum beat and pulsating synthesisers enter the fray. This track is one of a couple on Protection that seems to point towards the superior follow-up, Mezzanine.
9. ‘Safe From Harm’
‘Safe From Harm’ arrived in May 1991 as the third single to be taken from Massive Attack’s debut album. Like the first two singles, ‘Daydreaming’ and ‘Unfinished Sympathy’, ‘Safe From Harm’ was enhanced by the emotive vocal offerings of Shara Nelson.
In one of Massive Attack’s most iconic lyrical moments, Nelson sings, “If you hurt what’s mine/I’ll sure as hell retaliate” while Del Naja raps: “Terious, terious, terious, infectious and dangerous/ Friends and enemies find us contagerous/ I was lookin’ back to see if you were lookin’ back at me/ To see me lookin’ back at you” – quite the tongue twister.
8. ‘Man Next Door’
It was difficult to decide which tracks from the Mezzanine masterpiece should appear in the Massive Attack top ten. ‘Angel’, ‘Teardrop’ and ‘Risingson’ were dead certs, but behind these, a strong army of tracks line up near-flush. ‘Man Next Door’ just takes fourth place on the album because, for me, it’s one of the most all-encompassing songs for the band.
The track was a cover of ska group The Paragons’ 1968 original and mixes the band’s characteristic hip-hip beat style with post-punk influences. The presence of rock music in this track is notably strong, with prominent use of guitars and, of course, samples from The Cure’s early single ’10:15 Saturday Night’ and Led Zeppelin’s ‘When the Levee Breaks’.
7. ‘Blue Lines’
Before Massive Attack gradually slipped toward the intensely atmospheric and gloomy realms of Mezzanine, Blue Lines held some upbeat gems that most obviously channelled early rap and reggae influences. Tracks like ‘Be Thankful For What You’ve Got’, ‘Hymn of the Big Wheel’ and ‘Daydreaming’ carry a distinctive positive energy that is lacking throughout the subsequent releases.
Of the debut album’s more upbeat moments, ‘Blue Lines’ has always stood out as a particular highlight. The surging, almost-danceable beat is adorned throughout by quite possibly Massive Attack’s greatest rap performances as the founding members trade lines. Compositionally, the track is a perfect convergence of hip-hop sampling, bass guitar and keys – a formative trip-hop essential.
6. ‘Risingson’
‘Risingson’ arrived in July 1997 as the first previewing single for Mezzanine. The track perfectly introduced fans to the next eerie chapter for Massive Attack; what was once a band looking to “create dance music for the head” had become a new beast entirely – as seen in the Mezzanine cover art.
This new chapter would be identified by its arms open to the gritty influence of rock music. Mezzanine included samples from The Cure, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Isaac Hayes and Manfred Mann, among others. ‘Risingson’ benefitted from well-selected samples from The Velvet Underground’s ‘I Found a Reason’, Pete Seeger’s ‘Where Have All the Flowers Gone?’ and Dennis Pinnock’s ‘Dennis the Menace’.
5. ‘Protection’
The most popular track on Protection was its glorious title track. Following Shara Nelson’s brilliant contributions to Blue Lines, Tracey Thorn, the lead vocalist from Everything But the Girl, was brought in as the Massive Attack’s resident female voice. Thorn offered her unique vocals and songwriting experience to both the eponymous single and ‘Better Things’.
After the chart success of Blue Lines’ ‘Unfinished Sympathy’, Massive Attack hoped the stylistically similar ‘Protection’ could perform similarly. When released as a single in January 1995, ‘Protection’ reached number 14 on the UK Singles chart, just one space behind ‘Unfinished Sympathy’ at its peak spot.
4. ‘Paradise Circus’
In 2010, seven years after the generally disappointing 100th Window, Massive Attack returned with a delightfully varied and immersive album, including collaborations with Damon Albarn, Guy Garvey and Adrian Utley. The most memorable of the Heligoland collaborations was ‘Paradise Circus’, the album’s definitive moment featuring the former Mazzy Star vocalist, Hope Sandoval.
The atmospheric and profound tone of the instrumentals perfectly frames Sandoval’s voice in a hit reminiscent of ‘Unfinished Sympathy’ with its prosperous use of orchestral string arrangements. The track was issued as a single in 2011, alongside the previously unreleased track ‘Four Walls’, in a remix collaboration with electro pioneer Burial.
3. ‘Teardrop’
On a different day, this undeniable classic could have snuck ahead of the two below hits. ‘Teardrop’ was the most successful single on Mezzanine and the Massive Attack’s only UK top ten hit to date. As the group’s most popular single, I’ve undoubtedly ruffled some feathers by putting this one in third place; however, for me, ‘Angel’ teems the dark intensity at the core of the album’s DNA.
The single, released in July 1998, was initially written with the intention of Madonna performing the vocals as the group had previously collaborated with her on a cover of Marvin Gaye’s ‘I Want You’. However, Madonna was ultimately voted against, two to Vowles’ one, in favour of Cocteau Twins singer Elizabeth Fraser, which compounded tension within the band at the time.
2. ‘Angel’
When Mezzanine arrived on April 20th, 1998, only ‘Risingson’ had been issued as a preview single. Fans were treated to a platter of the band’s finest and most inspired work, which peaked with ‘Angel’. With a beat sample from The Incredible Bongo Band’s song ‘Last Bongo in Belgium’, the band brought synth-infused intensity to guest Horace Andy’s ethereal vocals.
The track builds in tempo and texture towards a crescendo, highlighted by the guitar solo and Andy Gangadeen’s dramatic drum contributions. The intensely dramatic aura of the song has made it a common feature in film and TV, with notable appearances in Guy Ritchie’s Snatch and John Moore’s Flight of the Phoenix. Discussing the recording process, Marshall recalled that after beginning ‘Angel’, it was “something we’ve got to finish. It was a much bigger thing than any member of the band.”
1. ‘Unfinished Sympathy’
Perhaps Massive Attack’s most iconic and unique tracks came at the very beginning as the second single on Blue Lines. ‘Unfinished Sympathy’ juxtaposed with the album’s more rap and reggae-orientated tracks like ‘Be Thankful For What You’ve Got’ and ‘Hymn of the Big Wheel’. The success of ‘Unfinished Sympathy’ owes its thanks to Shara Nelson’s arresting vocal performance and the atmospheric orchestral string arrangements, which were recorded at Abbey Road Studios and afforded by the reluctant sale of the band’s car.
“We were lazy Bristol twats,” Marshall once told The Observer of the band’s unlikely rise from obscurity. “It was Neneh Cherry who kicked our arses and got us in the studio. We recorded a lot at her house, in her baby’s room. It stank for months, and eventually, we found a dirty nappy behind a radiator. I was still DJing, but what we were trying to do was create dance music for the head rather than the feet. I think it’s our freshest album, we were at our strongest then.”