Chapter 7: Alienation

A plenitude of releases — The trip-hop moment — A plenitude of labels — Making out ... and drinking tea — “Numb” — Blade Runner — The absence of rules — “That sounds too normal”— Trapdoors — Roy Orbison — The General Assembly of the International Music Council of UNESCO — Muzak — Shopping carts — The avant garde — Hearing voices 

In this chapter:

  • The "trip-hop" wave
  • Genres
  • Dummy’s ubiquity
  • “Numb"
  • Chill-out
  • Post-production
  • Dummy's imperfections
  • Music’s ubiquity
  • Interpretation

Portishead, "Revenge of the Number", 1994

Portishead, "Numb", performed at Roseland, New York (from the DVD release of Roseland New York, iTunes), 1997