Portishead

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Portishead is an English band from the Bristol area. Geoff Barrow and the singer Beth Gibbons met in 1991 during a coffee break at a course for the unemployed. They named the band after Portishead, the town, dull in their eyes, where Barrow came from, about thirteen kilometres west of Bristol. Barrow borrowed records from a local DJ with a large collection of soundtracks and used fragments from them as hip hop loops. During the recording they met the guitarist Adrian Utley, who became an official member shortly after the first album.

Music and breakthrough

The debut album Dummy appeared in 1994, with the singles Numb, Sour Times and Glory Box. It combines the beats and samples of hip hop with an atmosphere reminiscent of old spy films, and with Gibbons's fragile, yearning voice. A music magazine called it musique noire for a film yet to be made. Dummy won the Mercury Prize in 1995 and became a milestone of trip hop, although the band itself did not like that label.

Influence

The second album Portishead (1997) sounded grainier and harder, with more live-played instruments and fewer samples. After that it stayed quiet for a long time, until Third in 2008. With Massive Attack and Tricky, Portishead defined the dark, slow sound of Bristol in the 1990s, in which hip hop, soul and film music came together.

Listening

• 
  Glory Box · Portishead, 1994
  Apple Music ↗
• 
  Sour Times · Portishead, 1994

Discography

Studio albums

• 1994Dummy
• 1997Portishead
• 2008Third

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• Mixtape 5: Jazz Festival^NL Reader
• After Hours: Session 4^NL Reader