0:00:02 > 0:00:04- Thanks, mate.- You going down to Bristol again, are you?
0:00:04 > 0:00:06- That's right.- What's it like?
0:00:06 > 0:00:08Bristol, what's it like?
0:00:08 > 0:00:13MUSIC: Unfinished Sympathy by Massive Attack
0:00:13 > 0:00:16This programme contains some strong language.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33I think Blue Lines is one of the great albums of all time.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40As a young black man, it was the first record I could identify
0:00:40 > 0:00:42as something that came out of Bristol.
0:00:42 > 0:00:47# I know that I've been mad in love before
0:00:47 > 0:00:49# And how it could be with you... #
0:00:49 > 0:00:52I remember hearing Unfinished Sympathy and I just went,
0:00:52 > 0:00:53"Fuck, that is amazing."
0:00:53 > 0:00:57You know that's exactly what I've been trying to do all of this time.
0:00:58 > 0:01:0325 years ago, the music scene in Bristol exploded with the release
0:01:03 > 0:01:07of Blue Lines, the pioneering debut album from Massive Attack.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12A little kid can hear it in an estate, in France,
0:01:12 > 0:01:15or in Germany or in Portugal or whatever.
0:01:15 > 0:01:17They think if Grant can get up there and do something,
0:01:17 > 0:01:19if Tricks can get up there and do something,
0:01:19 > 0:01:223D can get up there and do it, we can fucking have a go.
0:01:24 > 0:01:26In February 1991,
0:01:26 > 0:01:29the second single from the album, Unfinished Sympathy,
0:01:29 > 0:01:32and the cutting-edge video that accompanied it,
0:01:32 > 0:01:36thrust Bristol's music scene into the global spotlight.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40But its genesis was in the decades that led up to the 1990s,
0:01:40 > 0:01:44and the fusion of musical styles that emerged from the diverse
0:01:44 > 0:01:46suburbs of this historic city.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06Modern Bristol is a cultural melting pot.
0:02:06 > 0:02:11Home to a large Caribbean community after post-war immigration,
0:02:11 > 0:02:14it's stereotyped by outsiders as laid-back, even sleepy,
0:02:14 > 0:02:17in comparison to the Northern powerhouses
0:02:17 > 0:02:18of Liverpool and Manchester.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21They have a saying in Jamaica...
0:02:21 > 0:02:22"Soon come. Soon come."
0:02:22 > 0:02:25"What time are you going to be here?" "Soon come. Soon come."
0:02:25 > 0:02:28And in Bristol, we've kind of got that mentality.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31The Jamaican community settled largely in the inner-city suburb
0:02:31 > 0:02:34of St Pauls during the post-war years of relative prosperity.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40But in 1980, less than a year into Margaret Thatcher's premiership,
0:02:40 > 0:02:44rising youth unemployment and disaffection resulted in a backlash.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48SHOUTING AND SCREAMING
0:02:52 > 0:02:57On April 2nd, the Black And White Cafe was raided by police,
0:02:57 > 0:03:02sparking a full-scale riot in which 130 people were arrested.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05The reason why it went wrong yesterday, right, is because the
0:03:05 > 0:03:09policeman came down in too much of a force to raid one small cafe, right?
0:03:09 > 0:03:11We know how it is round here, right?
0:03:11 > 0:03:14It's been like this for years, right? And the tension is so tight,
0:03:14 > 0:03:15you can cut it with a scissor.
0:03:19 > 0:03:20From what I remember,
0:03:20 > 0:03:26the police were trying to arrest somebody in the Black And White.
0:03:26 > 0:03:28It just escalated from there, I think.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32You know, I think a lot of what was happening politically in the country
0:03:32 > 0:03:36kind of exacerbated the situation to what it became, you know.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39Just kind of like a world event.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42It's cooled for a while, towards the late afternoon,
0:03:42 > 0:03:46but then the police processed up the road with dogs and 50 police behind
0:03:46 > 0:03:48them and I think the police, if they thought through that,
0:03:48 > 0:03:51maybe they would've handled it differently.
0:03:51 > 0:03:56That was a major reaction against something that young people
0:03:56 > 0:04:01felt very strongly about and I don't believe it was a racial divide,
0:04:01 > 0:04:04I think it was a youth and authority divide.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08It was the first of its type in the country.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11In the aftermath of the riots, the police gave St Pauls
0:04:11 > 0:04:14a wider berth which gave the creative people who lived there
0:04:14 > 0:04:17greater freedom to express themselves.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21Late-night parties and unlicensed venues,
0:04:21 > 0:04:23more freedom with drugs
0:04:23 > 0:04:26and the liberated approach to the famous St Pauls Carnival.
0:04:30 > 0:04:35Used to set-up our rig at 11am and we used to close, probably
0:04:35 > 0:04:37around 6am, the next morning.
0:04:37 > 0:04:43Cops used to come along and see 500 to 700 people in the streets
0:04:43 > 0:04:48dancing and try to shut us down and nobody was having it, really.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50They just shook their heads and left.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53I think the riots kind of like gave us that freedom.
0:04:55 > 0:05:02I think the police were wary about causing further problems.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05Anything too clumsy would've caused big problems.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11Jamaican immigrants had brought with them their sound-system culture.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15Loud impromptu street parties with huge, often custom-built,
0:05:15 > 0:05:18speaker stacks where communities would come together
0:05:18 > 0:05:20to listen to music.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23Sound-system culture was all about DIY.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27It was about learning how to string up amps, how to cut the wood,
0:05:27 > 0:05:30how to load speakers onto the van properly,
0:05:30 > 0:05:33even how to learn to drive a big HGV lorry
0:05:33 > 0:05:36down the thinnest roads in St Pauls.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40Sound systems provided the musical backdrop to inner-city Bristol
0:05:40 > 0:05:44and unified young people, regardless of their skin colour.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47There was never an issue with the colour.
0:05:47 > 0:05:52I don't think, you know, it really matters to the extent,
0:05:52 > 0:05:55as long as what you do, you do it from the heart.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59And the Wild Bunch sound system exemplified this racial unity.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03Miles "DJ Milo" Johnson, Grant "Daddy G" Marshall,
0:06:03 > 0:06:04Paul Nellee Hooper,
0:06:04 > 0:06:09Claude "Willie Wee" Williams and Robert "3D" Del Naja all came from
0:06:09 > 0:06:12different backgrounds but shared a love of music.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16They were a multiracial group themselves influenced by the
0:06:16 > 0:06:18coming together of those cultures.
0:06:18 > 0:06:23And if you think, The Clash always had that combination of white rock
0:06:23 > 0:06:28and reggae and so there was plenty of tradition to make that work.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32Nellee was regarded like anybody else in the crew, really.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36I think they saw him as somebody who respected the culture
0:06:36 > 0:06:38and the music and that was all that mattered.
0:06:38 > 0:06:40MUSIC PLAYS
0:06:45 > 0:06:50Milo and Nellee had met in 1979 and formed a new wave band.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53They'd regular regularly hang out at Paradise Garage near the bus
0:06:53 > 0:06:58station in Bristol, the hippest clothes shop in the West Country.
0:06:58 > 0:07:00It was here they met Grant Marshall.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04There were three of us for a long while
0:07:04 > 0:07:07which was G, Nellee and myself.
0:07:07 > 0:07:12We used to go to G's house and listen to records that we bought
0:07:12 > 0:07:16in say Virgin, some punk records, some new wave, some disco,
0:07:16 > 0:07:18some reggae, some early hip-hop maybe
0:07:18 > 0:07:20and it was like sitting down as friends
0:07:20 > 0:07:24just listening to this new music that we were getting introduced to.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29These informal gatherings soon attracted more people and
0:07:29 > 0:07:33a bigger space was required for the fledgling unit to share their music.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35We played in one of these places
0:07:35 > 0:07:38after we ran out of space at G's place.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40It wasn't really planned to be anything to do with dance
0:07:40 > 0:07:42or anything like that.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45It was just to give us a bit more space and a bit more volume.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48We just put our records together and just played what we bought
0:07:48 > 0:07:50that weekend.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53It was our first gig outside of the crib.
0:07:53 > 0:07:58MUSIC PLAYS
0:08:00 > 0:08:04Unlike the industrial cities of the North, Bristol had never had
0:08:04 > 0:08:07a musical identity it could claim as its own,
0:08:07 > 0:08:09but as the '80s became the '90s,
0:08:09 > 0:08:12things were changing and the creative city we know today
0:08:12 > 0:08:16was emerging, albeit with typical West Country languor.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19MUSIC PLAYS
0:08:19 > 0:08:21It was a very laid-back scene.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23There was a lot of smoking of dope, I believe,
0:08:23 > 0:08:26and that shows in the music.
0:08:26 > 0:08:31You know, very contemplative, very sort of inward-looking,
0:08:31 > 0:08:33I guess, but in a really lovely way.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37When you go to London, everything is a million miles an hour but when
0:08:37 > 0:08:41you come back to Bristol, it's like everything just slows right down.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45I grew up in Birmingham and, you know, as a teenager,
0:08:45 > 0:08:48the only place to go then if you wanted to drink
0:08:48 > 0:08:51after 10.30 at night, was at Sound System.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55So, you know, it was kind of part of my partying growing up
0:08:55 > 0:08:59so Dub and MC Culture and all that was very familiar to me
0:08:59 > 0:09:02and also very familiar to any white teenager who's going
0:09:02 > 0:09:04out around that time.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07Birmingham was very like Bristol in that it was a small scene,
0:09:07 > 0:09:10so you all knew each other very well.
0:09:10 > 0:09:12It was the same faces every night, different place.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15Anywhere that we were having a party, everybody would come.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17If Grant was DJing, we'd all go to his party.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19We'd all meet in the Red Lion on a Friday night
0:09:19 > 0:09:21and just chat to each other.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24Oh, there's something going on there, there's a gig down there,
0:09:24 > 0:09:27there's something going on... Just rush across town or whatever.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31One of the party venues was Nellee's flat in Clifton Village.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35Nellee lived in one of these apartments here so, yeah,
0:09:35 > 0:09:39we used to practise here and did a few really good house parties
0:09:39 > 0:09:44here and guys used to come up from St Pauls and it was basically
0:09:44 > 0:09:47them who gave us the name, The Wild Bunch.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50MUSIC PLAYS
0:09:50 > 0:09:53And the event where The Wild Bunch name really drew crowds was
0:09:53 > 0:09:55the St Pauls Carnival.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59I'd never heard bass like you hear through a sound system cabinet
0:09:59 > 0:10:03and you can immediately understand the attraction,
0:10:03 > 0:10:07because it was a much more sort of visceral experience
0:10:07 > 0:10:10than a band could create in even the smallest pub.
0:10:10 > 0:10:15Ronnie Size, at the time a young teenager called Ryan Williams,
0:10:15 > 0:10:17had grown up with sound systems.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21You'd be able to hear the music travel all the way up the hill.
0:10:21 > 0:10:23As soon as you heard the sound systems
0:10:23 > 0:10:28being set up in St Pauls, like the Pied Piper, me and my friends,
0:10:28 > 0:10:32we'd all go down to St Pauls and join in all the celebrations.
0:10:32 > 0:10:38MUSIC PLAYS
0:10:38 > 0:10:41The DIY ethos of sound systems was something shared with the
0:10:41 > 0:10:45punk culture that already existed in Bristol and the political
0:10:45 > 0:10:50ideology of the city's youth found common ground in both genres.
0:10:50 > 0:10:51Punk kind of blew the doors open,
0:10:51 > 0:10:54it was a completely enabling political act.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57Seeing Paul from The Clash with little stickers on his bass showing
0:10:57 > 0:10:58him where to put his fingers,
0:10:58 > 0:11:01suddenly we thought we can have a go at doing that,
0:11:01 > 0:11:03otherwise we would've ended up working in a factory.
0:11:03 > 0:11:08I mean he wasn't that far away from that front cover of the fanzine.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11Here are three chords, now go and form a band.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15Coming back from a gig at The Roxy with the Cortinas,
0:11:15 > 0:11:17we decided to make a punk band.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19We said we'd called it The Pop Group to be anti-punk,
0:11:19 > 0:11:20anti-star.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23So we started putting on concerts at Barton Hill Youth Centre.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27Grant was down the front, Miles was down the front, Delta was there.
0:11:27 > 0:11:28In the late '70s and early '80s,
0:11:28 > 0:11:31The Pop Group pioneered the post-punk scene
0:11:31 > 0:11:34which embraced elements of jazz, funk and dub,
0:11:34 > 0:11:37familiar sounds on the streets of Bristol.
0:11:37 > 0:11:43MUSIC PLAYS
0:11:43 > 0:11:47We wanted to be mixing the stuff we were hearing in the clubs and
0:11:47 > 0:11:50streets and the sound systems and the blues dances of Bristol,
0:11:50 > 0:11:52which was baseline.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55We were crashing and smashing and careering all the influences
0:11:55 > 0:11:58we heard on the streets of St Pauls and Bristol in
0:11:58 > 0:12:01a punk manner into what we were doing.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04Because we thought it wouldn't be punk to do something
0:12:04 > 0:12:05that was already happening.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13Mark was also instrumental in introducing hip-hop to Britain.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16And when The Wild Bunch added it to their repertoire,
0:12:16 > 0:12:19the embryonic Bristol sound began to take shape.
0:12:19 > 0:12:24He really did put us onto a lot of good music.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27Punk had the attitude of you don't have to learn your instruments,
0:12:27 > 0:12:30but hip-hop gave the means of putting music together
0:12:30 > 0:12:33without needing to be particularly great musicians.
0:12:33 > 0:12:35You know, it was all about the ideas.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38You could sample the stuff, you could play with the stuff
0:12:38 > 0:12:41without a huge amount of sort of musical talent.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45# Party people, party people
0:12:45 > 0:12:48# Can y'all get funky? #
0:12:48 > 0:12:52We were virtually living in New York. Suddenly, somebody says,
0:12:52 > 0:12:56"There's a really cool radio show on this thing called Kiss-FM and WBLS."
0:12:56 > 0:12:59We used to have big ghetto blasters, double cassette machines,
0:12:59 > 0:13:01back in the day. We copied these tapes, brought them back to Bristol.
0:13:01 > 0:13:03Copied, copied, copied.
0:13:03 > 0:13:043D would draw on them. Suddenly,
0:13:04 > 0:13:07everybody was getting into hip-hop in Bristol.
0:13:07 > 0:13:11Coming up to London, London was not even aware of it.
0:13:11 > 0:13:13# It's time to chase your dreams
0:13:13 > 0:13:16# Up out your seats Make your body sway
0:13:16 > 0:13:19# Socialise, get down let your soul lead the way
0:13:19 > 0:13:21# Shake it now, go, ladies,
0:13:21 > 0:13:22# It's a livin' dream
0:13:22 > 0:13:25# Love, life, live Come play the game... #
0:13:25 > 0:13:29They were getting all these exclusive tracks that no-one
0:13:29 > 0:13:33could get a hold of unless you heard them on maybe WBLS
0:13:33 > 0:13:38and that is when Wild Bunch really started to come into their own.
0:13:44 > 0:13:49We were offering a different genre of music to a community that
0:13:49 > 0:13:52probably had never heard that stuff before, you know?
0:13:52 > 0:13:56And for us, that was just like...just the best.
0:13:56 > 0:13:58Being able to play things like,
0:13:58 > 0:14:03some really underground Chicago house music in like 1985
0:14:03 > 0:14:08or whatever to a bunch of, like, West Indian people who had never
0:14:08 > 0:14:12heard that and then staying for the duration of a record
0:14:12 > 0:14:15that they had never heard like that. It's... I mean, that's job done.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23One of the clubs where these new sounds were shaking the foundations
0:14:23 > 0:14:26was The Dug Out on Park Row.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29The Wild Bunch DJ crew was given a residency,
0:14:29 > 0:14:32which gave them further exposure to the public eye.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36I was made an honorary member of The Dug Out club, which I considered
0:14:36 > 0:14:39to be one of the highest accolades I've ever received.
0:14:39 > 0:14:40Oh, man, The Dug Out...
0:14:40 > 0:14:42Sticky carpets.
0:14:42 > 0:14:44Pretty grim.
0:14:44 > 0:14:48Even its best friends, even its mother would say it was
0:14:48 > 0:14:51a horrible little place, actually, in many ways.
0:14:51 > 0:14:52But the vibe was really good.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55I just remember it feeling quite claustrophobic as a club.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58It was just like one of those ones where it almost felt like it
0:14:58 > 0:15:00was a glorified someone's house.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02Lots of little rooms, you know.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05And the DJ is over there, but you've kind of got to squeeze past them.
0:15:05 > 0:15:11It had a rather wonderful atmosphere of decadence, I suppose.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14It was quite an eclectic mix.
0:15:14 > 0:15:16It felt extraordinarily Bristol.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20Unfortunately, I was too young to get into The Dug Out,
0:15:20 > 0:15:24but the amount of times I tried to sneak in
0:15:24 > 0:15:26and got caught was a crazy amount.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30Miles would find the tunes, Nellee would be the selector.
0:15:30 > 0:15:32It goes back to old Jamaican sound systems.
0:15:32 > 0:15:34Somebody was selecting the songs, then there was the MC,
0:15:34 > 0:15:37or the toaster like U-Roy back in Jamaica.
0:15:37 > 0:15:38Grant would toast a bit.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40Round that time, I think we kind of, like,
0:15:40 > 0:15:42established ourselves as a DJ unit.
0:15:42 > 0:15:47Later on, we would get a couple of guys to do some emceeing,
0:15:47 > 0:15:50which would be Willy and 3D.
0:15:50 > 0:15:51Some occasions, Tricky.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55I was working at The Face at the time and so we got sent,
0:15:55 > 0:15:57kind of white labels of the early sort of Smith & Mighty
0:15:57 > 0:16:01stuff and The Wild Bunch stuff and really, really liked it.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03I guess it was like a natural progression
0:16:03 > 0:16:08that we would want to record our own tunes at some point.
0:16:08 > 0:16:13So, yeah, I think that timing of The Dug Out enabled us to do that.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20# Scooby-Doo, get down with the crew
0:16:20 > 0:16:21# On the mic singing one, two
0:16:21 > 0:16:23# Where to drink your Tennent's where to drink your brew
0:16:23 > 0:16:26# Get down with The Wild Bunch crew. #
0:16:26 > 0:16:30In 1985, the graffiti art exhibition at the Arnolfini
0:16:30 > 0:16:34gave young creatives the opportunity to legitimately flex their muscles.
0:16:34 > 0:16:373D and his fellow artists painted the walls of the gallery.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40And The Wild Bunch perform to an audience that included
0:16:40 > 0:16:42a 13-year-old boy named Geoff Barrow
0:16:42 > 0:16:45who would go on to engineer Blue Lines
0:16:45 > 0:16:47and later still, form the band Portishead.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59This previously unbroadcast footage illustrates the emergence of a scene
0:16:59 > 0:17:02which drew heavily on the New York culture,
0:17:02 > 0:17:05which the likes of The Wild Bunch found so fascinating.
0:17:05 > 0:17:07HIP-HOP MUSIC PLAYS
0:17:10 > 0:17:13The whole hip-hop attitude in Bristol,
0:17:13 > 0:17:15you could express yourself all kinds of ways.
0:17:15 > 0:17:17You know, you could be a DJ, you could be a rapper,
0:17:17 > 0:17:20you could make music, you could make art,
0:17:20 > 0:17:22you could make record sleeves, you could make little films
0:17:22 > 0:17:26and all of those things intertwined and mixed with each other.
0:17:26 > 0:17:30And it was very acceptable to be a videomaker one day,
0:17:30 > 0:17:31a rapper another, a DJ the next.
0:17:31 > 0:17:35And as a result, you got that fluidity.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40# No moneyman can win my love... #
0:17:40 > 0:17:45The next step on The Wild Bunch journey was a trip to Japan in 1987.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49Milo had been there the previous year deejaying during fashion shows,
0:17:49 > 0:17:53arranged by The Face magazine and Neneh Cherry, a singer who had
0:17:53 > 0:17:57previously been in the Bristol post-punk group Rip Rig + Panic.
0:17:57 > 0:17:59# Looking good hanging with The Wild Bunch
0:17:59 > 0:18:02# Looking good in the Buffalo Stance... #
0:18:02 > 0:18:05But now the group were to tour Japan,
0:18:05 > 0:18:07another step on the ladder to wider success.
0:18:07 > 0:18:11Me and Nellee went out there the following year and hooked up
0:18:11 > 0:18:14the tour and brought the rest of the guys out there.
0:18:14 > 0:18:16But when the rest of the crew arrived,
0:18:16 > 0:18:18things quickly deteriorated.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21I don't want to put anybody on the spot here or anything like that,
0:18:21 > 0:18:24but it's just like...
0:18:24 > 0:18:27a member of the crew had an issue,
0:18:27 > 0:18:30problems he had back home at the time
0:18:30 > 0:18:33and he needed to get back.
0:18:33 > 0:18:34And we were like,
0:18:34 > 0:18:38"Dude, we just got this tour together and you want to bail
0:18:38 > 0:18:41"on us right when we're going to start this tour?"
0:18:42 > 0:18:45And that kind of like...really pissed us off.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51And with tensions running high, the tour that should have been
0:18:51 > 0:18:54the making of the group put an extra strain on their relationships.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57When we came back from the tour and we came back to the UK,
0:18:57 > 0:19:00it was hard work trying to work with that dude again.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10In spite of the disagreements within the group,
0:19:10 > 0:19:14on returning to UK, The Wild Bunch secured a record deal.
0:19:14 > 0:19:16Got signed to...
0:19:16 > 0:19:19Island - 4th and Broadway,
0:19:19 > 0:19:22and recorded a couple of...
0:19:23 > 0:19:24..things for them.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26# Born and raised in the ghetto
0:19:26 > 0:19:27# An age-old story
0:19:27 > 0:19:29# And this is how we go
0:19:29 > 0:19:31# They call me black my skin is brown... #
0:19:31 > 0:19:34The deal with Island led Nellee to believe that the logical
0:19:34 > 0:19:37next step was for the group to relocate to London.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40Nellee was the one who was basically the ambitious one,
0:19:40 > 0:19:42so I was just tagging along.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45He just said, "Do you fancy moving to London?"
0:19:45 > 0:19:47I thought, you know, "Sure."
0:19:49 > 0:19:51Nellee had previously tasted the limelight,
0:19:51 > 0:19:55appearing on Top Of The Pops with Cheltenham band Pigbag.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01He was like the leader,
0:20:01 > 0:20:03in that sense, in terms of pushing us forward,
0:20:03 > 0:20:09not so much creative steps forward, but steps forward as a crew.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17But Daddy G and 3D were reluctant to swap the laid-back lifestyle
0:20:17 > 0:20:20of the west for the fast pace of the capital.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23We had asked them, but they just weren't comfortable with it.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27They did come up to do some recording.
0:20:27 > 0:20:31And whatever press things that we needed to do.
0:20:32 > 0:20:36The geographical spread of the crew wasn't the only issue.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39As pioneers of a new sound to British audiences,
0:20:39 > 0:20:42their record label struggled to know what to do with them.
0:20:42 > 0:20:43We were like their first, basically,
0:20:43 > 0:20:46hip-hop, say, group to sign to a major.
0:20:46 > 0:20:48How are they going to promote us and stuff?
0:20:48 > 0:20:52It's much easier to sell a female singer than
0:20:52 > 0:20:55a hip-hop band or the genre
0:20:55 > 0:20:57that people just were not familiar with yet.
0:20:57 > 0:21:01And that really was...the trouble that we had.
0:21:01 > 0:21:05Their relationship with Island was short-lived and the crew fragmented.
0:21:05 > 0:21:06Milo set up home in New York
0:21:06 > 0:21:10while Nellee joined Jazzie B and Soul II Soul,
0:21:10 > 0:21:13co-producing their multimillion selling debut album
0:21:13 > 0:21:15Club Classics, Volume One.
0:21:15 > 0:21:16Back in Bristol,
0:21:16 > 0:21:20the collective that would become Massive Attack was taking shape -
0:21:20 > 0:21:233D, Daddy G and Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29There wasn't one Bristol sound and that gave Massive Attack the
0:21:29 > 0:21:34opportunity of saying, "Well, look, there is room for something big."
0:21:34 > 0:21:35# Massive. #
0:21:37 > 0:21:40One of the things that made Massive Attack into the phenomenon
0:21:40 > 0:21:43they were was meeting and knowing Neneh Cherry
0:21:43 > 0:21:45and Cameron McVey, you know,
0:21:45 > 0:21:48who supported them financially and gave them lots of resources
0:21:48 > 0:21:52and really encouraged and nurtured their talent.
0:21:52 > 0:21:54# In my space... #
0:21:55 > 0:21:58I think it was Daydreaming that I first heard.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02I loved the juxtaposition in that piece,
0:22:02 > 0:22:05the fact that it was a really strong but simple driving groove
0:22:05 > 0:22:10and this really ethereal, softly, sort of rapped vocal.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15- # Daydreaming - Way that we say 'em in style
0:22:15 > 0:22:17# That we write 'em in Massive Attack,
0:22:17 > 0:22:19# We keep it strong just like a vitamin
0:22:19 > 0:22:22# Going for the positive wiping out the negative songs
0:22:22 > 0:22:23# Cos, brother, it's relative
0:22:23 > 0:22:26# The pass is picking up all the lyrics on the dance floor
0:22:26 > 0:22:28# That raise your spirit level cos it demands for
0:22:28 > 0:22:30# Attitude is cool degrees below zero
0:22:30 > 0:22:33# Up against the wall behaving like De Niro
0:22:33 > 0:22:35# Tricky's performing taking his phono
0:22:35 > 0:22:38# Making a stand with a tan touch it like cocoa... #
0:22:38 > 0:22:41If you hear Blue Lines, it's like walking around City Road,
0:22:41 > 0:22:43a little bit out of it after Carnival or something
0:22:43 > 0:22:45and just hearing all these things,
0:22:45 > 0:22:48just like washing over you and they didn't polish it, they didn't...
0:22:48 > 0:22:51It's real, it's fucking real.
0:22:51 > 0:22:55Bang, there you go. You've got these huge, huge hits.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59Massive records played on daytime radio.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02And in a pre-Internet age,
0:23:02 > 0:23:06Milo Johnson, who Mark Stewart referred to as the king in exile,
0:23:06 > 0:23:11stumbled upon the band's phenomenal success in a New York bookstore.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15I saw them on a quite big magazine cover in New York.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18And I was like, "Wow, shit! Guys, fucking brilliant!"
0:23:18 > 0:23:21Do you know what I mean? It put a smile on my face.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24Blue Lines kind of had this impact
0:23:24 > 0:23:28where they recognise Bristol having a sound.
0:23:28 > 0:23:31It was that underlining sub-bass from the dub,
0:23:31 > 0:23:33it was the breaks from hip-hop
0:23:33 > 0:23:39and the two gelled together and it just summed up the culture.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42And I think Massive Attack really tapped into that.
0:23:42 > 0:23:44Outside of the core members,
0:23:44 > 0:23:48Tricky was also bringing his unique talent to the group.
0:23:48 > 0:23:50# Weebles, wobble, occasional squabble
0:23:50 > 0:23:53# But what happen when the bomb drops down... #
0:23:53 > 0:23:56I met Tricky before everybody, basically.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59He was like around about seven years old.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02He looked at music differently from most kids at that age.
0:24:02 > 0:24:07I mean, he was, like, really focused on everything,
0:24:07 > 0:24:10every detail of what we were playing him.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14I had this, like, big house down...by the Feeder Road and
0:24:14 > 0:24:16Tricky used to... On his way home from school,
0:24:16 > 0:24:18he used to just pop into the house, right?
0:24:19 > 0:24:23The guy was an obvious...nutter.
0:24:23 > 0:24:28He brought his, you know, original style of laid-back, smoked-up,
0:24:28 > 0:24:32doped-up lyrical flair to the table.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34After Blue Lines, Tricky went on to have
0:24:34 > 0:24:37solo success with his debut Maxinquaye.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40Tricky's first album is a seminal album.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43You know, it was the darker side of the whole trip-hop thing,
0:24:43 > 0:24:45I think. I hate that word trip-hop, actually,
0:24:45 > 0:24:48but of the music that was coming out of Bristol, you know,
0:24:48 > 0:24:51his was the more kind of paranoid,
0:24:51 > 0:24:53"been smoking dope for a week and
0:24:53 > 0:24:56"I'm not quite sure where I am any more" kind of side of it.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59But it also had a kind of really beautiful intimacy that drew
0:24:59 > 0:25:01you in and a great warmth about it.
0:25:01 > 0:25:05MUSIC: Safe From Harm by Massive Attack
0:25:05 > 0:25:07Massive Attack's willingness to collaborate was
0:25:07 > 0:25:09a key element of the success of Blue Lines.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12This is something they carried forward throughout their
0:25:12 > 0:25:13musical career.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20They are great collaborators with each other,
0:25:20 > 0:25:22but also with other people and they brought the best out of
0:25:22 > 0:25:26everyone they worked with, I think, including each other.
0:25:26 > 0:25:31# But if you hurt what's mine
0:25:31 > 0:25:32# I'll sure as hell retaliate
0:25:32 > 0:25:35# Infectious and danger...
0:25:35 > 0:25:39# Infectious and dangerous. #
0:25:39 > 0:25:43A quarter of a century has passed since Blue Lines was released
0:25:43 > 0:25:46and Massive Attack have gone on to have huge success with their
0:25:46 > 0:25:48subsequent work.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51After Mushroom's departure in 1998,
0:25:51 > 0:25:53the duo of Daddy G and 3D
0:25:53 > 0:25:56remain as creative and relevant today as ever.
0:25:56 > 0:25:59Their legacy to the musicians who came out of the city in their
0:25:59 > 0:26:01wake is immeasurable.
0:26:02 > 0:26:06We took the hip-hop breaks, sped them up,
0:26:06 > 0:26:10we took the sub-basses from sound system, tuned them up.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13You know, our whole thing was about energy.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17It was about creating some atmosphere vibes in your head
0:26:17 > 0:26:20and then we were trying to get that from here out to those people.
0:26:20 > 0:26:22I think most people who came out of the Bristol scene,
0:26:22 > 0:26:24none of them wanted to be celebrities,
0:26:24 > 0:26:27and that enabled them to be more creative rather than less.
0:26:27 > 0:26:32I think the ambition was to do something really exciting musically.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35But the ambition was never to be world-famous
0:26:35 > 0:26:37and chased down the street by paparazzi.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40They are punk. Nobody tells them what to fucking do.
0:26:40 > 0:26:41They won't talk on camera.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44I end up talking about them or for them all the fucking time,
0:26:44 > 0:26:46which I don't want to. I'm trying to have my tea.
0:26:46 > 0:26:50Do you know what I mean? But they are proper punk.
0:26:50 > 0:26:51But Bristol punk.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54I think the whole crew owes a lot to Mark.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56I don't think without him,
0:26:56 > 0:26:59they would be where they are, pretty much.
0:26:59 > 0:27:04And without me, I don't think they would be where they are.
0:27:04 > 0:27:05That's kind of like...
0:27:09 > 0:27:14..that's pretty much a fact that I can feel comfortable saying.
0:27:17 > 0:27:21When you saw these guys on Top Of The Pops, it was fantastic.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23You looked up and said, "You know what?
0:27:23 > 0:27:25"If they can do it, I can do it."
0:27:25 > 0:27:27There is something in the water down there.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31Where the hell does all this amazing music come from?
0:27:31 > 0:27:36# Big wheel keeps on turning
0:27:36 > 0:27:41# On a simple line day by day
0:27:41 > 0:27:46# The earth spins on its axis... #
0:27:46 > 0:27:51I think it just made a lot of the people who were already making music
0:27:51 > 0:27:55in Bristol kind of go, "Yeah, of course."
0:27:55 > 0:28:00# Seems like the world is out together just by gravity... #
0:28:00 > 0:28:05The impact that Massive had on the city is just undeniable.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09# Look, my son, the weather is changing... #
0:28:09 > 0:28:11Your shoulders got slightly wider, you know,
0:28:11 > 0:28:15you just stood a little taller.
0:28:15 > 0:28:19# And so the green come tumbling down... #
0:28:19 > 0:28:23The sense of pride to be written across your face,
0:28:23 > 0:28:25"I'm from Bristol."
0:28:25 > 0:28:29# And I'll show you sunset
0:28:29 > 0:28:31# Sometime again
0:28:31 > 0:28:35# The big wheel keeps on turning
0:28:36 > 0:28:40# On a simple line day by day
0:28:41 > 0:28:45# The earth spins on its axis
0:28:46 > 0:28:50# One man struggle while another relaxes. #