Late 1980s–1991: Origins The term "trip hop" first appeared in print in June 1994. In Bristol, hip-hop began to seep into the consciousness of a subculture already well-schooled in Jamaican forms of music. DJs,
MCs,
b-boys and
graffiti artists grouped together into informal
soundsystems. Like the pioneering
Bronx crews of
DJs Kool Herc,
Afrika Bambaataa and
Grandmaster Flash, the soundsystems provided party music for public spaces, often in the economically deprived
council estates from which some of their members originated. Bristol's soundsystem DJs, drawing heavily on
Jamaican dub music, typically used a laid-back, slow and heavy drum
beat ("down tempo"). Bristol's
Wild Bunch crew became one of the soundsystems to put a local spin on the international phenomenon, helping to birth Bristol's signature sound of trip hop, often termed "the Bristol Sound". the golden era of the soundsystem began to end. The Wild Bunch signed a record deal and evolved into
Massive Attack, a core collective of 3D, Mushroom and Daddy G, with significant contributions from Tricky Kid (soon shortened to
Tricky), Dollar, and Hooper on production duties, along with a rotating cast of other vocalists. The latter experimented with his band Mark Stewart & the Maffia, which consisted of New York
session musicians
Skip McDonald,
Doug Wimbish, and
Keith LeBlanc, who had been a part of the house band for the
Sugarhill Records record label. Produced by
Adrian Sherwood, the music combined hip-hop with experimental rock and dub and sounded like a primitive version of what later became trip hop. In 1993,
Kirsty MacColl released "
Angel", one of the first examples of the genre crossing over to pop, a hybrid that dominated the charts toward the end of the 1990s.
1991–1997: Mainstream breakthrough {{Listen , a British trip hop group that helped bring the genre to mainstream success in the 1990s Massive Attack's first album
Blue Lines was released in 1991 to huge success in the United Kingdom.
Blue Lines was seen widely as the first major manifestation of a uniquely British hip-hop movement, but the album's hit single "
Unfinished Sympathy" and other tracks were not seen as hip-hop songs in a conventional sense despite similarities in production methods such as using sample-based rhythms. Co-produced by Jonny Dollar, the orchestral "Unfinished" featured R&B singer
Shara Nelson, and Jamaican dance hall star
Horace Andy provided vocals on several other tracks, as he would throughout Massive Attack's career. Massive Attack released their second album entitled
Protection in 1994. Although Tricky stayed on in a lesser role and Hooper again produced, the fertile dance music scene of the early 1990s had informed the record, and it was seen as an even more significant shift away from the Wild Bunch era. In the June 1994 issue of the UK magazine
Mixmag, music journalist Andy Pemberton used the term
trip hop to describe the hip-hop
instrumental "
In/Flux", a 1993 single by San Francisco's
DJ Shadow, and other similar tracks released on the
Mo' Wax label and being played in London clubs at the time. "In/Flux", with its mixed up
beats per minute,
spoken word samples, strings, melodies, bizarre noises, prominent bass, and slow beats, gave the listener the impression they were on a musical
trip, according to Pemberton. Soon, however, Massive Attack's dubby, jazzy, psychedelic, electronic textures, rooted in hip-hop sampling technique but taking flight into many styles, were described by journalists as the template of the eponymous genre. , a major trip hop artist In 1993, Icelandic musician
Björk released
Debut, produced by Wild Bunch member Nellee Hooper. The album, although rooted in
four-on-the-floor house music, contained elements of trip hop and is credited as one of the first albums to introduce electronic dance music into mainstream pop. She had been in contact with London's underground electronic music scene and was romantically involved with trip-hop musician Tricky. Björk further embraced trip hop with her 1995 album
Post by collaborating with Tricky and Howie B.
Homogenic, her 1997 album, has been described as a pinnacle of trip hop music. Trip hop neared the peak of its popularity in 1994 and 1995, with artists such as
Howie B and
Earthling making significant contributions.
Ninja Tune, the
independent record label founded by the duo
Coldcut, significantly influenced the trip-hop sound in London and beyond with breakthrough artists
DJ Food,
9 Lazy 9,
Up, Bustle & Out,
Funki Porcini and
The Herbaliser, among others. The period also marked the debut of two acts who, along with Massive Attack, would define the Bristol scene for years to come. In 1994,
Portishead, a trio comprising singer
Beth Gibbons,
Geoff Barrow, and
Adrian Utley, released their debut album
Dummy. Their background differed from Massive Attack in many ways: one of Portishead's primary influences was 1960s and 1970s film soundtrack LPs. Nevertheless, Portishead shared the scratchy, jazz-sample-based aesthetic of early Massive Attack (whom Barrow had briefly worked with during the recording of
Blue Lines), and the sullen, fragile vocals of Gibbons also brought them wide acclaim. In 1995,
Dummy was awarded the
Mercury Music Prize as the best British album of the year, giving trip hop as a genre its greatest exposure yet. Portishead's music was also widely imitated, to the point that they distanced themselves from the trip-hop label they had inadvertently helped popularize, with Barrow stating "The whole trip-hop tag was nonsense. It was developed by people in London, and the people in Bristol just had to put up with it.". Tricky also released his debut solo album,
Maxinquaye in 1995, to great critical acclaim. The album was produced largely in collaboration with
Mark Saunders. Tricky employed whispered, often abstract stream-of-consciousness lyrics, remote from the gangsta-rap
braggadocio of the mid-1990s US hip-hop scene. Even more unusually, many of the solo songs on
Maxinquaye featured little of Tricky's own voice: his then-lover,
Martina Topley-Bird, sang them, including her re-imagining of rap group
Public Enemy's 1988 song "
Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos", while other songs were male-female duets dealing with sex and love in oblique ways, over beds of sometimes dissonant samples. Within a year, Tricky had released two more full-length albums, although they failed to find the same popularity as his Bristol contemporaries Massive Attack and Portishead. Through his collaborations with Björk, however, he exerted influence closer to the pop and
alternative rock mainstream, and he developed a large cult fan-base. Although not as popular in the United States, bands like Portishead and
Sneaker Pimps saw moderate airplay on alternative-rock stations across the country.
1997–2010: Continued success and new directions , an artist who has often incorporated trip hop in her music After the initial success of trip hop in the mid-1990s, the artists who made their own interpretations of the genre include
Archive,
Baby Fox,
Bowery Electric,
Esthero,
Morcheeba,
Everything but the Girl,
Sneaker Pimps,
Anomie Belle,
Alpha, Jaianto,
Mudville and
Cibo Matto and
Lamb. These artists incorporated trip hop into other genres, including
ambient,
soul,
IDM,
industrial,
dubstep,
breakbeat,
drum and bass,
acid jazz, and
new-age. The first printed use of the term "post-trip hop" was in an October 2002 article of
The Independent, and was used to describe the band
Second Person. Trip hop has also influenced artists in other genres, including
Gorillaz,
Emancipator,
Nine Inch Nails,
Travis,
PJ Harvey,
How to Destroy Angels,
Beth Orton,
The Flaming Lips,
Bitter:Sweet,
Beck,
Alanis Morissette,
The xx and
Deftones. Several tracks on Australian pop singer
Kylie Minogue's 1997 album
Impossible Princess also displayed a trip hop influence. Various prominent artists and groups, such as
Janet Jackson,
Kylie Minogue,
Madonna,
Björk, and
Radiohead, have also been influenced by the genre. Trip hop has spawned several subgenres, including
illbient (
dub-based trip hop which combines
ambient and
industrial hip-hop). Some note-worthy trip-hop artists and
albums to come out of this time from newer artists on the scene include the
duo I Monster and
english virtual band
Gorillaz who released their self titled
debut album in March 2001, in the album Trip-hop and
dub influenced sounds are sprinkled in the chaotic concoction. The album received high praise from critics and fans who could not get enough of their music. The album contains fifteen tracks primarily with a trip-hop and
downtempo feel, while others incorporate more
electronic or
alternative elements into their sound. As for the band
I Monster, their 2003 album
NeveroddoreveN, is heavily praised and considered ahead of its time for an
electronica record. Widely considered one of the best of the decade. The record is also considered to be
genre blending with [e]qual parts
rock and
electronic, with small chunks of
jazz,
funk,
dance,
blues,
ambient and
easy listening. The song "
Daydream in Blue", which is a cover and remix of the original song, has been featured in numerous advertisements, movies, and TV shows. Many popular mediums with the audio include the television series
Severance and movies such as
Flower containing clips of the audio. Trip hop continued to influence notable artists in the 2000s. Norwegian
avant-garde band
Ulver incorporated trip hop in their ambient/electronic/jazzy album
Perdition City. Atmospheric rock band
Antimatter included some trip hop elements in their first two albums. Australian composer
Rob Dougan proposed a mix of trip hop beats, orchestral music and electronics.
RJD2 began his career as a DJ, but in 2001, began releasing albums under
El-P's
Def Jux Label.
Zero 7's album
Simple Things, and in particular, its lead single "
Destiny", was regarded highly by underground listeners and achieved significant popularity. In 2006,
Gotye debuted his second studio album,
Like Drawing Blood. The songs on the album featured down-tempo hip-hop beats and dub style bass reminiscent of trip hop. Hip-hop groups
Zion I and the
Dub Pistols also displayed heavy trip hop influence. Norwegian singer and songwriter
Kate Havnevik is a classically trained musician, but also incorporates trip hop into her work. During the late 1990s and early 2000s trip hop achieved crossover success in the United States, often lumped under the "
electronica" label. Trip hop songs were featured in film soundtracks of this era such as the
Matrix series. Many producers who were not explicitly trip-hop artists also displayed its influence during this time. Daniel Nakamura, aka
Dan the Automator, released two albums that were heavily inspired by trip hop. His 2000 album
Deltron 3030 was a concept album about a rapper from the future, portrayed by
Del the Funky Homosapien. 2001 saw the release of his side project,
Lovage and the album
Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By, with special guests
Mike Patton,
Prince Paul,
Maseo,
Damon Albarn, and
Afrika Bambaataa. British producer
Fatboy Slim's breakthrough album,
Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars, was his most commercially successful release. Another heavily trip-hop influenced band,
Elsiane, published their first album
Hybrid in 2007, creating a "mellow, hypnotic atmosphere utilized in the ’90s by big names like Massive Attack, Portishead, etc."
2010–present Major notable trip hop releases from 2010s include Massive Attack's
Heligoland, their first studio album in seven years; and Dutch's
A Bright Cold Day in 2010, the latter group including
Jedi Mind Tricks producer
Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind.
DJ Shadow's
The Less You Know, the Better was released in 2011 after a highly publicised unveiling of songs, including appearances on
Zane Lowe's
BBC Radio 1 show and previews at a performance in Antwerp in August 2010. The album was met with "generally favorable reviews" on Metacritic, with some criticising Shadow's lack of originality. Sam Richards of
NME felt that the album sounded "like the work of a man struggling to recall his motivations for making music in the first place."
Beak's album titled
Beak>> was released in 2012 and received high scores from journalists, including an 8/10 from
NME and
Spin magazine.
Lana Del Rey released her second album,
Born to Die in 2012, which contained a string of trip hop ballads. The album topped the charts in eleven countries, including Australia, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom; it has sold 3.4 million copies worldwide as of 2013 according to
International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. Following the 2013 release of
EP2, the music of
FKA Twigs was described in a
Pitchfork Magazine article as "trip hop for a new time", with "a menacing undertow reminiscent of Massive Attack's
Mezzanine." In September 2021, the Sneaker Pimps released the album "Squaring the Circle" which had been their first release in over 20 years, featuring Simonne Jones on some of the tracks. The album, while rooted in Trip Hop, had much more of a Pop styling than previous efforts. In April 2024, Irish rock band
Fontaines D.C. released "
Starburster", the lead single from their fourth album
Romance. Critics
Consequence and
Clash described the track as trip hop. In the mid-2020s, the genre saw a resurgence, most notably in the music of FKA Twigs,
Addison Rae and
Tame Impala. Twigs' third studio album
Eusexua and Rae's
debut self-titled album saw elements of trip hop in its production, and critics argued that both albums were laced with trip hop influences that resembled Madonna's 1998 studio album
Ray of Light. ==See also==