Unfinished: The Massive Attack Documentary

US BBC doc covers group and Bristol scene 30/01/23

Massive Attack celebrated 25 years since their influential album Blue Lines in 2016, and BBC Four signified this with a one-off documentary. Telling the story of how Bristol found its musical identity and tracing the creation of the city's most famous band - the documentary looks at the emergence of the Bristol Sound in the 1980's culminating in the release of Massive Attack's first album. Here's more:

Narrated by actor Paul McGann – who was a part of Bristol's creative scene throughout this period – this one-off documentary traces the history of the scene. From the Sound System culture that arrived in the city with the immigrants from the Caribbean, and how that mixed with the existing punk and new wave scene in Bristol; to hip-hop which arrived in Bristol from New York before any other city in Britain was aware of it.

It explores how this clash of cultures and musical styles gave the city a musical identity which to that point it lacked, unlike other industrial cities in Britain such as Liverpool and Manchester. Featuring contributions from key influencers of the creative scene including Milo Johnson of The Wild Bunch, Mark Stewart of The Pop Group, DJ and Producer Roni Size, and Neil Davidge - producer of Massive Attack's later work. Unfinished: The Making Of Massive Attack tells the story of a creative city finding its feet in the world of music.

Here's another article on the Bristol scene from the highly inappropriately named Classic Pop Mag: https://www.classicpopmag.com/2021/08/the-bristol-sound/

More from Massive Attack: https://www.massiveattack.co.uk/

About the author [midierror]: midierror makes nifty Max For Live devices, innovative music hardware, award winning sample packs and hosts a podcast speaking to people in the music world.