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Massive Attack is the name of a British collaborative music duo, currently consisting of Robert Del Naja (known as D) and Grant Marshall (known as G). They have enjoyed immense critical and commercial success over twenty years working with a series of session musicians and guest vocalists.

The group was founded in 1988 in Bristol, England – originally as a trio that also included Andrew Vowles (known as Mushroom) – and self-released their first single Any Love (ft. Carlton McCarthy) the same year. In 1990 they signed to Circa Records and released their debut album Blue Lines – generally considered to be the world’s first trip hop album.

Blue Lines was a UK Top 20 hit and produced the singles Daydreaming, Safe from Harm and the Grammy Award-nominated Unfinished Sympathy. The latter is now regarded by a variety of sources as diverse as BBC Radio 1, MTV2, The Face and Melody Maker, as the greatest song of all time – and is also notable for its much-imitated one-take music video.

The trio’s follow up album Protection was a complex mixture of reggae, hip hop, R&B, synthpop, electronic and classical music, with a heavy use of string instruments. It was critically acclaimed and produced three singles: Protection, Karmacoma and Sly. This was followed by the 1998 album Mezzanine, which was another critical smash hit – named as one of the Greatest British Albums Ever by Q music magazine in 2000 – and also performed commercially, reaching number one on the UK Album Chart.

The group’s fourth album – and their first after the 1998 departure of Vowles – was released in February 2003. 100^th Window saw the duo’s music become increasingly experimental but, perhaps consequently, less commercially successful. However, the album did produce the single Special Cases (ft. Sinéad O’Connor), which reached number fifteen on the UK Singles Chart.

After a seven year hiatus, Massive Attack’s fifth studio album Heligoland was released in February 2010 and has produced one single to date: Splitting the Atom.