Massive Attack Almost Remixed A Radiohead Album In The '90s

It didn’t happen, but we got Mezzanine instead.

Radiohead really hit its stride in the late-’90s. That was when the group released its seminal third studio LP OK Computer and began to slowly shift towards the experimental indie rock that would come to be their trademark. The success of that record earned Radiohead many fans—and that included the guys from Massive Attack.

A little known piece of trivia about OK Computer is that Massive Attack were originally planned to release a remix album. It didn’t happen due to time constraints, and instead of a remix album, we got Massive Attack’s own jaw-dropping LP Mezzanine instead.

Back in 1997, Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien told MTV: “A lot of people say why are you getting the whole album remixed? It’s like, well, I think musically it could be really interesting and it’s a lot of stuff. I think there are similarities between, yunno’, attitudes between what Massive Attack and what we do. So we come from very different fields, but it’ll be very cool to see what happens.”

Today we can just fantasise about how amazing this collaboration could have been. Transport yourself back to the ’90s above with the angsty video for “Karma Police”. Or let Thom Yorke put you to sleep with his “Bedtime Mix” for BBC Radio 1.