Eco Amplifier: Massive Attack
Some artists and groups make music that sticks to a particular sound characteristic of their contemporaries, while others, like Massive Attack, make trailblazing music in its aesthetic and sound.
However, what is rare are the few groups and artists that continuously reinvent their sound and intentionally refuse to stick to any one kind of sound. Massive Attack is one of those groups, going through many lineup changes but never compromising on their decision to never stick to one idea of their work.
Beginning in the late 1980s as a party group called the Wild Bunch, Massive Attack was initially a spin-off production group made up of the core members Grant “Daddy G” Marshall, Adrian “Tricky” Thaws, and Robert “3D” Del Naja.
While Massive Attack has undergone various stylistic and group lineup changes throughout the years, they have consistently created thought-provoking and forward-thinking music.
While many have characterized them as “trip-hop,” they have resented that label as it’s too confining to describe their work. They have experimented with the sounds of grunge, hip-hop, and electronica, blending all and more into an intricate web in their songs.
They have consistently been boundary-pushing in using new music technology, demonstrating AI’s use in art in 2019. However, one of the most defining parts of their art is their social awareness.
They have expressed their support of various human rights causes throughout their time as a group, some examples being in their video for “Saturday Comes Slow,” in which they drew attention to the use of music in torture, as well as changing their name entirely to “Massive” during the Gulf War.
However, their continued commitment to environmental causes is particularly noteworthy. They have been longtime supporters of Greenpeace and, since 2018, of Extinction Rebellion. They did DJ sets for the group in April 2019. In July and October 2019, they participated in protests in over 60 cities providing a portable radio system via transmitters in their backpacks.
In 2021, they commissioned a report from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research on the environmental impact of touring and live music. They became the first band globally to commit their touring companies to the UN “Race to Zero” emissions reduction schedule.
Needless to say, their art reflects their politics quite well, and their politics are obvious to anyone involved in those movements. They are a well-established band that, to this day, makes interesting and engaging contributions to art and music, more than worthy of support.
If you want to read the details of their roadmap to net zero emissions, you can check that out here. If you want to check out their discography or see upcoming event dates, you can check that out here and here.
