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Exploring Tricky & Maxinquaye: The 90s Bowie? | New British Canon

Trash Theory | November 21, 2025



Tricky hated being called Trip-Hop. Formerly of Bristol Sound progenitors Massive Attack, he with his medicated rasp and the cool indifference of partner Martina Topley-Bird shifted what British hip-hop could sound like. Dark, claustrophobic, paranoid and set upon a foundation of soul, downtempo hip hop and dub reggae. These experiments with genre as well as gender sparked comparisons to, and later kudos from, David Bowie. But after an essential, pivotal debut spawned from history of trauma, addiction and a deep well of melancholy, his sound was snatched from him and made safe for radio. This is New British Canon and this is the story of Maxinquaye.

#tricky #bristolmusic #musicdocumentary

Fact-checking by Chad Van Wagner.

00:00 Introduction
00:58 The Early Days Of The Tricky Kid
07:30 Aftermath & Martina Topley-Bird
14:25 The Creation of Maxinquaye
23:53 The Relase of Maxinquaye
28:08 The Everything After of Tricky

Soundtrack
Luar – Citrine (https://soundcloud.com/luarbeats)
Luar – Anchor (https://soundcloud.com/luarbeats)

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Hell Is Round the Corner by Adrian Thaws, 2019, Blink Publishing
“Massive Attack: Wheeling In The Years” Jim Arundel, Melody Maker, Feb 1992
“The Original Prankster” Ian McCann, NME, Jan 1994
“Dodgy Geezer” Jim Arundel, Melody Maker, Jan 1994
“Tricky & Martina: Slack Magic” David Stubbs, Melody Maker, May 1994
“Massive Attack: The Three Racketeers” Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, Sep 1994
“HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN?” Caspar Smith, Select, 1995
“Tricky Up Your Ears” Ted Kessler, NME, Jan 1995
“Trick of the light” Sonia Poulton, Echoes, Feb 1995
“Tricky: The Wide Bunch” Sean O’Hagan, The Face, Feb 1995
“Get Your Kicks on Route 666” John Mulvey, NME, Apr 1995
“Just Like That” Martin Aston, Q Magazine, Jun 1995
“Sound of The Comedown” Andy Pemberton, Mixmag, Jun 1995
“Tricky – Feature” Simon Reynolds, Melody Maker, Jun 1995
“”Rock died out and then came pop now you’re living in the world of… Trip Hop” — U.N.K.L.E.: ‘If You Find Earth Boring’” Bethan Cole, Mixmag, Aug 1995
“New Faces: Tricky” David Sinclair, Rolling Stone, Aug 1995
“Vampire Of The Sensi” Gavin Martin, NME, Oct 1995
“IT’S A TRICKY WORLD” Andrew Smith, The Face, Apr 1996
“ON THE EDGE” Steven Daly, Rolling Stone, Nov 1996
“Tricky: Things That Go Bumpkin The Night” Johnny Cigarettes, NME, Nov 1996
“The 90 Greatest Albums of The ‘90s” Spin Staff, Spin Magazine, Sep 1999
“Classic Tracks: Tricky ‘Black Steel’” Richard Buskin, Sound on Sound, Jun 2007
“Tricky: Does Rock’n’Roll Kill Braincells?” Mark Beaumont, NME, Sep 2010
“Tricky: ‘I thought I’d be an underground artist. I was not ready’” Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, Oct 2012
“The 10 best songs of all time, according to Tricky” Anthony Walker, Dummy, May 2013
“Back From The Brink” Dorian Lynskey, Mojo Magazine, Jul 2013
“Maxinquaye Turns 20” Tom Breihan, Stereogum, Feb 2015
“Tricky: ‘I’ve lost people before and bounced back. This is different’” Tim Jonze, The Guardian, Oct 2019
“20 Questions With Tricky: The U.K. Icon on His 14th Album, Black Lives Matter & Influencing Billie Eilish” Katie Bain, Billboard, Sep 2020
“Tricky Talks Grief, Racism, Cathartic New LP Fall to Pieces” Candace McDuffie, Spin Magazine, Sep 2020
“Maxinquaye – Review” Ben Cardew, Pitchfork, Mar 2022
“Tricky: ‘I was less nervous going to prison than I was getting on stage’” Dave Simpson, The Guardian, Sep 2023
“How Tricky’s ‘Maxinquaye’ forged a new frontier for Black British music” Niall Smith, DJ Mag, Oct 2024

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Written by Trash Theory

Comments

This post currently has 27 comments.

  3. @thedeathoffish

    November 21, 2025 at 6:56 pm

    Mad respect for Tricky, he's the whole reason why i got into making music.

    Hate to request, but have you considered covering cardiacs? They weren't hit makers but they were truly original and inspired a lot of other groups.

  4. @asoulthing

    November 21, 2025 at 6:56 pm

    I am honestly thankful he’s not as popular as he should be. Not because I believe in gatekeeping, but deep down I believe fame might get into his head and unfortunate things could’ve had happened.

    I am glad he is able to have the creative freedom and not be as restricted in the things he’s been doing.

  5. @sadworms3849

    November 21, 2025 at 6:56 pm

    I was listening to Tricky and thought to myself ‘I should see if Trash Theory has uploaded any new videos’ and behold! TRICKY VIDEO! Great timing on both our parts 😂

  11. @stevemorley

    November 21, 2025 at 6:56 pm

    Wow !!!
    Can’t remember the last time anything held my full attention for 36 minutes !
    Incredibly well put together…
    As a 20something growing up in the uk in the nineties it’s impossible to overstate how important of an artist Tricky was…
    I knew he was a sample heavy artist but wasn’t aware just how incredibly broad he’s tastes were…pumpkins,Indian,Nina,nirvana (!!)etc etc
    Heard a docu on the radio a while back about the significance of the wild bunch….Neneh etc it would be killer if you could do a similar vid on that…
    My one tiny bit of trivia to add (which any Tricky fan already knows) was Finley Quaye,another incredible but criminally short lived artist was Trickys cousin…hence the name….

  15. @Insidedaride

    November 21, 2025 at 6:56 pm

    They used to call him tricky, kid. This is the one!!!!❤ so crazy to think of how much musical culture this man is singularly responsible for. Legend isn’t enough.

  16. @AniGrannyOG

    November 21, 2025 at 6:56 pm

    Tricky really does have a distinct speaking voice. I can always recognize it immediately, no matter the context.
    I was very fortunate to meet him once when I went to see his show with a friend of mine who had worked as a PA on one of his videos. It was at a legendary music club in our hometown of St. Louis called Mississippi Nights. It has since closed (an absolute crime), but it was a very small venue that hosted so many famous and beloved musicians as well as local acts. My dafld played there regularly when I was a kid and several my husband's and friends' bands played there regularly as well. It had an amazing sound system and offered extremely intimate shows because of its small size. Tricky's show was mindblowing, of course. He remembered my friend and we ended up hanging out for a couple of hours afrer the show. Tricky was really friendly and down to earth. Super easy to talk to. I got over being nervous and starstruck quickly and it was just like hanging out at a bar with any friend. One of my best memories from Mississippi Nights and that's really saying something because I saw so many of my favorite musicians there. And found new favorites there too. Damn. I miss that place. I'll never forgive the fact that it closed.

  24. @mattkaz9604

    November 21, 2025 at 6:56 pm

    Maxinquaye, Millennial, and Angels were all very strong albums. After that, he dropped off a cliff. It's a shame, as he felt really unique when he started out.

Comments are closed.

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