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On This Day in 1998, Massive Attack Released Defining Trip-Hop Album That Almost Led to the Band’s Demise

Tense recording sessions and creative differences didn’t stop Mezzanine from becoming a formative album in the trip-hop scene.

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Massive Attack released their third album, Mezzanine, on April 20, 1998, and at two years shy of 30, it’s still a beloved entry in the trip-hop archives. At the time, it earned much praise. But critics also weren’t afraid to point out its perceived flaws. Retrospectively, however, Mezzanine has benefited from the distance of years. Maybe it has something to do with the contentious atmosphere during recording, and almost three decades have softened those memories.

The recording process for Mezzanine was rife with inter-band conflict. Robert “3D” Del Naja first pitched the album idea in 1997, but the proposed turn toward a distinctly darker sound caused tensions within the group. A rift formed within the trio, as Andrew “Mushroom” Vowles disagreed with the aesthetic change. Grant........

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