Identifying Trip-Hop: The Impossible Task
In the ’90s, Jim's favorite trip-hop artist was Tricky. How do I know this obscure fact? We've had two unfortunate conversations about it…
Not unfortunate because it's trip-hop...I love the genre. Not because of Tricky...even though my fascination with his music lasted just one album, Maxinquaye. Unfortunate because I never miss a chance to talk the ear off of a fellow music lover. And on Friday—when I was dying to share my latest research findings on a genre few people ever took seriously—Jim’s cubicle happened to be in my sights. Woe for Jim.
Yay for me…
Despite his ardent fandom, Jim was unaware that trip-hop had lasted past its ’90s heyday, and into the 2000s. This is forgivable. The more I uncover about the genre—e.g., the culture from which it was born, who the players were (and weren't), how things evolved and expanded, and the music’s post-2000s legacy—the more I realize how little I've always known myself.
So as a goodwill exchange, Jim and I agreed to create playlists for each other of our favorite ’90s trip-hop. Fun project! I even promised to create a follow-up playlist of “post-classic” trip-hop...so he'd finally know what he's been missing for the past 20-plus years.
But before diving into that, first a little background on the genre...
Graffiti art by Banksy, one of the world’s most prolific and famous graffiti artists…straight outta Bristol! (Massive Attack member 3D has, at times, falsely been rumored to be Banksy in disguise.)
The So-Called “Bristol Underground”
Original trip-hop came out of Bristol, England—pioneered by acts like Massive Attack, Tricky, Portishead, Smith & Mighty, Monk & Canatella, et al.—as early as 1991. But the sound had been brewing for awhile…starting with the soundsystem culture imported to Britain by Jamaican immigrants in the ’60s and ’70s. Although Brooklyn-style breakbeats and scratching were a stylistic mainstay of the genre, Bristol’s trip-hop was a mishmash of British cultural influences (reggae, post-punk, electronica) and other beloved styles (soul, jazz, film noir). Hip-hop was a primary ingredient in the mix…but it was just one.
Soundsystems were not the only music thriving in Bristol. There was a strong punk music scene, around since the ’70s. So it’s not surprising that the area’s youth were also influenced by American hip-hop…a style that promoted the same raunchy, DIY aesthetic as punk. Add to that a growing graffiti culture, unavoidable racial tensions, and social realities driven by unpopular politics, and you have what exists in most major cities. Not an “underground” so much as just a bunch of young artists striving to find their own voice.
This was the scene from which trip-hop emerged. It was at once a fresh, surprising mix of established styles…and completely its own thing. That propensity toward eclecticism was the genre's greatest strength. It was also a cause cited for its eventual breakdown.
Music for the Unfortunate Hipster
Trip-hop grew in popularity and reach, even thriving into the 2000s. But it seems people stopped paying attention after the ’90s. Why? Some might say the style was predestined to be short-lived. Too trendy and obsessed with incorporating “cool” influences, such as neo soul, jazz, and EDM. (Particularly as the style was adopted by more bands who wanted to either incorporate a trip-hop feel into their music, or create their own variations of the style.) Even the name sounded contrived and silly.
Trip-hop was a dumb label. The name may have been coined innocently enough, to describe a new, hip-hop-based sound that was truly “trippy.” (The term originally referenced DJ Shadow's excellent “In/Flux.”) But it became a convenient catchall for music that mixed hip-hop with any number of electronic influences and/or stylistic genres. Hip-hop eclecticism did become trendy—an approach that’s prevalent in music to this day. But in the ’90s, it was also the easiest way to get slapped with a somewhat demeaning label that would become less and less relevant over time. Okay, enough label-bashing.
Did people really stop paying attention…or was it something else? Trip-hop was featured in TV shows (House), movie soundtracks (The Matrix), club settings, malls, and wherever young people were standing around trying to look cool. There was no denying its popularity. But once a style is that absorbed into mainstream culture, it’s in danger of becoming invisible. From there, it doesn’t take long to become something else…a bit of a joke. Music for folding jeans…
Some say that trip-hop’s demise was that it was not able to change with the times. I argue the opposite: It was too changeable. Too easy to adapt such a diverse, eclectic style into a million different things. As a result, trip-hop lost its original authenticity. It sucks…but it happens.
Restoring Trip-Hop’s Glory
There will be plenty more trip-hop history to sort through in future essays. But for now, back to the “fun project” at hand. Is it possible to create definitive playlists of this somewhat maligned genre, in an attempt to restore some of its former glory? Or am I just setting myself up?
In the latter half of the ’90s, when trip-hop was still a new and heady experience for most fans, no one paid much attention to the aforementioned particulars. We just loved the music. (No distinguishing one flavor of trip-hop from another; or caring who was true trip-hop, and who wasn't. We were too busy standing around, looking cool.) Now on the other side—and looking at things not just as a fan, but also an historian, archivist, and critic—I realize that trip-hop got kinda messy.
As the genre expanded into the 2000s—ultimately giving way to styles like downtempo and chillout—trip-hop became harder to tell apart from all the styles it had begun to influence. This was not necessarily a bad thing. (I’m glad trip-hop had somewhere to go, as opposed to dying out completely.) But it has made my task a bit more challenging.
These days, identifying trip-hop is mostly a judgement call. (Maybe it always was.) Still, I will be creating three lists—each covering a different era/period of the genre. These lists will not be comprehensive...as it's hard to do a comprehensive anything regarding trip-hop. (The reasons have to do with how the music has morphed over time—and how so many things have become identified as trip-hop that are, well...kinda debatable. At least for an OG fan like me, who fondly remembers trip-hop’s beginnings.)
Conclusion…
What started as this essay’s “introduction” has, much like trip-hop itself, morphed into something a bit more bloated than its original idea…losing more of that identity with every paragraph I write. Readers of this blog have commented that my essays tend to “go all over the place.” Not to worry, the next essay in this series will be more specific than general. I’ll be covering the actual music of trip-hop’s “Classic Era,” as I have defined it. (1991–2000.)
As trip-hop has morphed over the years, many popular styles, artists, and songs have been touched by it. (Dream pop, lounge, lo-fi, chillhop; Madonna, Radiohead, The Weeknd, FKA Twigs; et al.) So if you have the slightest curiosity about, or nostalgia for, this popular genre from the ’90s, please take a seat and join Jim in seeing how this ambitious series plays out. He’d appreciate the company…and so would I. ;)
Click above to listen to “Trip Hop’s Classic Era (1991–2000)” on Spotify!
Also…if you just can’t wait for the next 1,200-word installment to grace these pages, my excellently curated playlist, Trip Hop's Classic Era (1991-2000), is available to enjoy on Spotify right now. (Just saying…a lot of excellent curation is going into these playlists, y’all. Don’t miss it!) Warning…explicit lyrics! So maybe listen with headphones…and/or when the kids aren’t around.
Stay tuned, and feel free to comment below…