Tricky Songs Ranked

Adrian Nicholas Matthews Thaws (born 27 January 1968), better known by his stage name Tricky, is a British record producer and rapper. Born and raised in Bristol, he began his career as an early member of the band Massive Attack alongside Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall & Andrew Vowles. He embarked on a solo career with his debut album, Maxinquaye, in 1995. The release won Tricky popular acclaim and marked the beginning of a lengthy collaborative partnership with vocalist Martina Topley-Bird. He released four more studio albums before the end of the decade, including Pre-Millennium Tension and the pseudonymous Nearly God, both in 1996. He has gone on to release nine studio albums since 2000, most recently Fall to Pieces (2020). In 2016, he joined Massive Attack on stage for the first time in two decades while continuing his solo career. Here are all of Tricky songs ranked.

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10. Black Steel (Maxinquaye, 1995)

“Even though I definitely prefer the original, this is easily one of the better covers i have heard (of any song). It doesn’t fall into the trap of just being an uninteresting version of a perfectly good song as it pretty much flips the whole song on its head. The guitars are powerful and Martina, sells those admittedly kind of clunky melodies but her pure coolness and edginess make them work.”

9. 6 Minutes (Angels With Dirty Faces, 1998)

“Another favorite of mine from the man. Obviously he’s talking about the six minutes before stepping into the public as a celebrity and the cycles of being one, hell, most of the material he did on Angels with Dirty Faces he talked about celebrity and his phrase “Naked and famous”. I love the repetitiveness of the beat, it works well on the mind, a good track to listen to on the bus.”

8. You Don’t (Maxinquaye, 1995)

“One of my favorite cuts would be “You Don’t” one of the sexiest songs that I just can’t get enough of. The tropical groove of the instruments and soulful female vocals create one vivid image of a nocturnal outing in the Bahamas. the palm trees blowing softly in the calm winds, the smell of the ocean and reflection of the moon while the lights in the villa shine a bronzy orange in the pale moonlight.”

See more: Tricky Albums Ranked

7. Christiansands (Pre-Millennium Tension, 1996)

“Apart from being one of the best Tricky songs, it’s also just a very good breakdown of a relationship. It’s about learning to communicate. I’m not quite sure what the chorus is about, and it’s possibly means nothing.”

6. Strugglin’ (Maxinquaye , 1995)

“The music fits with the lyrics better than any song I’ve ever heard. It SOUNDS like being inside someone’s mind slowly going more and more insane and struggling to keep control! Lyrically I guess it’s say he’s struggling to keep control of himself. But the final section is him saying that he may be struggling but everyone else has it so much worse because they’re the ones living awful lives, brainwashed with the cheapest, exhausted with the mundane, and he may be drugged up and insane but at least he’s living life.”

5. Aftermath (Maxinquaye , 1995)

“Aftermath” is probably one of the best trip hop singles. It has that interesting combination of sexiness and eerieness which often distinguishes this kind of music.

See more: BBC Sessions Songs Ranked

4. Tricky Kid (Pre-Millennium Tension, 1996)

“On the other end of the spectrum, “Tricky Kid” is one of the most disturbing songs I know, zooming in on the psyche of a coked-out superstar suffering from delusions of grandeur. From whispers to screams to paranoid echoes, the backing vocals create a claustrophobic, chaotic cluster that constantly leaps out towards the listener. “

3. Ponderosa (Maxinquaye, 1995)

“Okay, after a little bit of listening to it, I’d say the song’s about hedonism and how much it leaves someone empty and unfulfilled. There’s a lot of references to drink (drink til I’m drunk) and drugs (liquid lino), and very little positive about them- there’s the weeping “wino”- a nice way of saying “drunk”- and she “drowns herself in sorrow”. 

2. Pumpkin (Maxinquaye, 1995)

“Pumpkin” finds an exotic-sounding sample from the most unlikely of places, the very unexotic Smashing Pumpkins, and tosses a bone to Alison Goldfrapp who replaces Martina Topley-Bird. (There isn’t a single song in Goldfrapp’s long discography that even comes close to “Pumpkin.”)”

1. Brand New You’re Retro (Maxinquaye, 1995)

“You can also hear some of the early rock dreams that would come to be the undoing of Tricky’s cool, but here they’re in full fleshy form. “Brand New You’re Retro” samples that great bass line of Michael Jackson’s “Bad” and pumps it up into something faster and more abrasive; it makes you wonder why Michael Jackson’s version of having fun with being bad on Bad wasn’t more actual fun.”