Like their name suggests, the UK group Massive Attack led an assault on the music industry that led to the creation of the trip-hop genre of the 1990s. The group came together first in 1983 as Wild Bunch and featured Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles, Grant "Daddy G" Marshall, Tricky and Nellee Hooper, who also worked with Soul II Soul. They released a single in 1986, which was a cover of the Burt Bacharach song "The Look of Love." Mushroom and Daddy G teamed up with Robert "3-D" del Naja, a graffiti artist, afterward to create Massive Attack.

Tricky joined them along with singer Shara Nelson and reggae star Horace Andy to create their first album, Blue Lines, in 1991. Hooper also offered his talents for the release. The album did not explode onto the scene, but instead created a sort of slow burn for the group that would later turn into a full-blown fire. The band's next album, Protection, dropped in 1994, which again featured Tricky and Hooper and also added vocalists Tracey Thorn and Nicolette. The album was remixed in 1995 as No Protection, Massive Attack vs. Mad Professor. The end of the 1990s meant a mainstream breakthrough for the group as they released Mezzanine, which was the first to break onto the Billboard charts at number 60.

The success of Mezzanine led to successful tours both in the United States and Europe. The band took a break after this release to work on separate projects as well as spend time with family, but came back in 2003 to release 100th Window featuring both Andy and Sinead O'Connor. The album reached number one on the Top Electronic Albums chart as well as number 69 on the Billboard 200. The band released a soundtrack album named Danny the Dog in 2004 before releasing a successful greatest hits album in 2006 called Collected.