Editing Trip hop (section)

===1991–1997: Mainstream breakthrough===
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[[File:Massive attack at stereoleto.jpg|thumb|[[Massive Attack]], a British trip hop group that helped bring the genre to mainstream success in the 1990s<ref>{{cite web|last=Ankeny |first=Jason |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p13625 |title=Massive Attack - Music Biography, Credits and Discography |website=AllMusic |access-date=25 April 2013}}</ref>]]
Massive Attack's first album ''[[Blue Lines]]'' was released in 1991 to huge success in the United Kingdom.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bl.uk/events/massive-attack-out-of-the-comfort-zone|title=Massive Attack: Out of the Comfort Zone|website=The British Library|access-date=7 January 2021|archive-date=22 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230422153130/https://www.bl.uk/events/massive-attack-out-of-the-comfort-zone|url-status=dead}}</ref> ''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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://humag.co/features/massive-attack|title=Features|first=Cloud Data|last=Service (clouddataservice.co.uk)|website=Honest Ulsterman|access-date=7 January 2021}}</ref> Massive Attack released their second album entitled ''[[Protection (Massive Attack album)|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]] [[record label|label]] and being played in London clubs at the time. "In/Flux", with its mixed up [[Beats per minute|bpms]], [[spoken word]] [[Sampling (music)|samples]], strings, melodies, bizarre noises, prominent bass, and slow beats, gave the listener the impression they were on a musical [[psychedelic experience|trip]], according to Pemberton.<ref name="Mixmag">Pemberton, Andy (June 1994). "Trip Hop". ''Mixmag''.</ref> 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.

[[File:Tricky mp3h1944.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Tricky (musician)|Tricky]], a major trip hop artist]]

In 1993, Icelandic musician [[Björk]] released ''[[Debut (Björk album)|Debut]]'', produced by Wild Bunch member Nellee Hooper.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2013/jul/05/bjork-debut-20-years-of-innovation|title=Björk's Debut: celebrating 20 years of innovation|last=Cragg|first=Michael|date=July 5, 2013|work=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=2019-12-16|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stereogum.com/1398922/bjorks-debut-turns-20/top-stories/|title=Debut Turns 20|website=[[StereoGum]]|access-date=23 September 2014|date=3 July 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.idolator.com/7470313/bjork-debut-anniversary-20-backtracking|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140615101308/http://www.idolator.com/7470313/bjork-debut-anniversary-20-backtracking|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 June 2014|title=Bjork's 'Debut' Turns 20: Backtracking|website=[[Idolator.com]]|access-date=23 September 2014|date=12 July 2013}}</ref> 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 (Björk album)|Post]]'' by collaborating with Tricky and Howie B. ''[[Homogenic]]'', her 1997 album, has been described as a pinnacle of trip hop music.<ref name="bpmhomogenic">{{cite web |url=http://beatsperminute.com/reviews/second-look-bjork-homogenic/|title=Second Look: Bjork – Homogenic|last=Zercoe|first=Cole|date=21 November 2011|website=[[Beats per Minute (website)|Beats per Minute]]|access-date=8 December 2014}}</ref>

Trip-hop neared the peak of its popularity in 1994 and 1995, with artists such as [[Howie B]] and [[Earthling (band)|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 (band)|Portishead]], a trio comprising singer [[Beth Gibbons]], [[Geoff Barrow]], and [[Adrian Utley]], released their debut album ''[[Dummy (album)|Dummy]]''. Their background differed from Massive Attack in many ways: one of Portishead's primary influences was 1960s and 1970s film soundtrack LPs.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/aug/24/portishead-dummy-wasnt-a-chillout-album-25th-anniversary-geoff-barrow-adrian-utley-beth-gibbons|title='Dummy wasn't a chillout album. Portishead had more in common with Nirvana'|last=Rogers|first=Jude|date=August 24, 2019|work=[[The Observer]]|access-date=December 16, 2019|language=en-GB|issn=0029-7712}}</ref> 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,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://gigsoupmusic.com/music-awards/mercury-winners-portishead-dummy-1995/|title=Mercury Winners : Portishead 'Dummy' (1995)|last=Oxley|first=Macon|date=2015-11-01|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-12-16|archive-date=24 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124062226/https://gigsoupmusic.com/music-awards/mercury-winners-portishead-dummy-1995/|url-status=dead}}</ref> giving trip-hop as a genre its greatest exposure yet. Portishead's music was also widely imitated, to the point that they distanced themselves<ref>{{Cite web|last=Reynolds|first=Simon|date=28 May 1995|title=POP VIEW; Another City, Another New Sound|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/28/arts/pop-view-another-city-another-new-sound.html|access-date=15 February 2022|website=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> 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.".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Simpson|first=Dave|date=11 February 2008|title=Portishead|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/apr/11/popandrock.portishead1|access-date=15 February 2022|website=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref>

Tricky also released his debut solo album, ''[[Maxinquaye]]'' in 1995, to great critical acclaim. The album was produced largely in collaboration with [[Mark Saunders (record producer)|Mark Saunders]]. Tricky employed whispered, often abstract stream-of-consciousness lyrics, remote from the gangsta-rap [[Braggadocio (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 (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.<ref>{{cite news|title=Tricky comeback makes for trip-hop trilogy|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2008/may/09/trickycomebackselastriphop|access-date=19 December 2015|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=9 May 2008}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rocklists.com/q101-1997.html |title=Top Songs of 1997 |website=Q101 Chicago Alternative |access-date=25 March 2014}}</ref>