Burnwinter Massive Attack's great achievement was the huge inroad they made into the tiresome multifaceted magazine rockism of the 90s. Which became so boring they had to kind of kill it in waves of absurdity, Blur versus Oasis giving way to endless nonsense about no mark people like Pete Doherty.
I feel like this is one reason they're so beloved by many listeners from our generation, it's because they were one of the acts around at the time that actually stretched us a bit, educated us a bit. I have some similar feelings about one of my favourite bands then and now, Stereolab (who I've seen live at two brilliant gigs, and rest in peace Mary Hansen), but they never developed the bombast of MEZZANINE—they were too cool to go for it. But they're the ones who pulled me into the best bits (not the shit bits) of 70s experimental rock and electronic music.
Been waiting to get my laptop out to reply to this post in full. Doing it on my phone, I think, would have RSI'ed my hands out of existence. This point is a great one and one I hadn't really thought about till you mentioned it. I think I was a pretty boring pop and rock kid until I got to Massive Attack. And I actually got to Massive Attack in sort of a backwards fashion. Tricky and another West Country artist, the great PJ Harvey came first via a whole heap of CDs my uncle gave me to prevent my musical tastes being ripped apart at uni. Next came Portishead's Dummy via my mate Chris. And then, Christmas '95, Steve the Ref gave me a tape with Pills, Thrills N Bellyaches on one side and Blue Lines on the other. Although I now recognise the genius in, and love, the Happy Mondays, Blue Lines had me from the intro to Safe From Harm and so the Blue Lines side of the tape dominated.
Tricky's Pre Millennium Tension, although not given as much love as his debut Maxinquaye, pointed the way forward for Massive Attack - particularly in terms of the intensity of his live shows and then Risingson dropped the following year, indicating a darker turn for the Massive which was realised when Mezzanine dropped the following April.
"What are we a fucking punk band now?" Mushroom Vowles was said to have complained. I remember reading an NME interview, I think I still have it somewhere, where the band listed off various influences like Can, The Clash, PIL and Del Naja has said elsewhere that Adam & The Ants Dirk Wears White Sox is one of his favourite albums ever. If you still weren't getting it, the single Risingson's b-side Superpredators was a cover/retooling of Siouxsie & the Banshees Mittageisen (Metal Postcard).
Point being that, whilst it's taken me a few years to delve into all these influences fully, they set me on a road away from the dribbling end of Britpop and guitar music generally (ironic given Mezzanine's use of them). So by the time the Strokes came along to save it, I couldn't have cared less about them, or it. Although, I did (and still do) enjoy the White Stripes very much. I was listening to Roots Manuva and Radiohead's new adventures in hi-fi and electronic music - although it pisses me off that it seems to have taken the phenomenally overrated Kid A to legitimise an incredible genre of music.
Incidentally, Massive Attack's Mezzanine XXI anniversary shows really drove the point home. They didn't play a single track of theirs which wasn't on Mezzanine, but they did play all of the songs they sampled (eg The Velvet Underground's I Found A Reason) or which had influenced the album, like Bauhaus Bela Lugosi's Dead.
Faithless (think I remember you posting about Maxi Jazz not long ago? Rest in peace) are another example where an act that was a little different was normalised.
The Prodigy another—they were massive in the festivals here when they toured FAT OF THE LAND. I wasn't in a mood to enjoy that album, but I know a lot of people who greatly altered their ideas due to it.
Without getting into hyperbole, the modulation of British pop music by the Bristol sound was also one of the reasons stuff like Radiohead getting into Aphex Twin and recording KID A became possible. There were lots of acts out there that were earlier and had greater artistic influence, but those particular changes had a lot to do with an influential stratum among music critics starting to bracket these groups together, instead of ignoring all the ones that weren't yet more traditional four piece boy bands.
Aw, Faithless... as I might have mentioned before, my memories of my second year at uni, living opposite the Headingley Tap and close enough to the cricket ground to hear the crowd are so inextricably tied up with blasting that magnificent debut, like you say, a little bit different out of my bedroom window. Actually, I dropped Baseball Cap at a music night with friends a few weeks back and, well, it surprised a few people... Unfairly sneered at for their worldview and message of positivity (and also those huge Eurodisco anthems).
I think critics missed the point with them, yes God Is A DJ is lyrically suspect, but their music brought people together - one of the first big nights out Jo and I ever had together was at Ally Pally in 2005 and, for the first and only time, we both brought groups of mates, who brought mates with them and we danced and jumped around till the early hours. Even the pain of nightbussing it home across London from Haringey to Bromley, couldn't dampen the joy of that night. Faithless could do that and do it without even really appearing to be trying. I don't listen to their music loads now, though I do have Reverence on vinyl, but I know I will miss Maxi Jazz forever.
As for the Prodigy, I've got The Fat On The Land on now (not entirely coincidentally). Another album and band that I don't listen to loads - although, having made it as far as Climbatize, I'm thinking I've been denying myself some fun there. I do remember liking this more than OK Computer when they both came out around the same time - Breathe sits in the very sweet spot of hearing an absolute ripper at a very exciting time in your life and meaning so much more because of that coincidence. And what a video, it was everywhere for a while. Although I do hold them somewhat responsible for Tricky's mostly risible attempts to meld heavy rock guitars with his music. He never succeeded more than he did on Maxinquaye's searing Public Enemy cover, Black Steel. Yeah, I've got the first three Prodigy albums and I feel like they're all you need.
First time I heard of Massive Attack was on a late night radio show when Robert Plant, of all people, was talking about how much he loved BLUE LINES. And it makes perfect sense he did.
I've been lucky enough to see Robert Plant perform three times, all in wildly differing arenas and circumstances (including a 2005 Crisis in Asia gig also featuring Massive Attack, Damon Albarn & Portishead and my only ever gig at the Hammersmith Palais) and the guy is just a totem of British music. I was gonna say "rock", but as you allude to, Plant is so much more than just rock. And he has this fantastic, restless, searching quality about him - it would be so easy for him to rest on his laurels, reform Led Zeppelin and make millions, but that would be creative death to him, so no - he keeps moving forward. He shares that quality with the boys in Massive Attack.
My friends all loved Massive Attack, anyway. All the guest programmers on our main free-to-air video hits show used to flog "Unfinished Sympathy" to an unseemly degree. As a group—or a collective—Massive Attack were very consistent in the production of class, true artistic ambition and crisp good taste, and of spectacular collaborations with special talents like Horace Andy or Liz Fraser or Martina Topley-Bird.
Have you heard Horace Andy's Midnight Rocker album? Produced by Adrian Sherwood and released last year, it featured a great cover of Safe From Harm.
I can't imagine there will ever be a time where I wouldn't be excited about new Massive Attack music (should they decide to treat us to some), or seeing them live. The emotional connections, ever 25 years past their masterpiece are too deep to disconnect, particularly living with someone who loves the band just as much as I do. They're just as much part of who I am as Arsenal Football Club, or the fact that I come from the same part of London ("West") as Bukayo Saka, they really do "keep (me) strong like a vitamin".
