Portishead

Band

Photo: Audiolibro · CC BY-SA 4.0
Active 1991-present
Origin Bristol, England
Albums 3
Tracks 33
Most frequent collaborator Dave McDonald · 11 tracks
Genres Trip HopElectronicaExperimental Rock
Complete Artist
100%
Authorship

Holds writing credit on 33 of 33 tracks

Do Portishead write their own songs?

All three members are credited on all 33 studio tracks and 31 of those carry no writer from outside the band. The two exceptions bring in the writers of sampled records.

By the Numbers

3
Studio Albums
33
Tracks Credited
100%
Self-Written
35
Years Active
7
Collaborators

Authorship Breakdown 33 / 33 self-written

Who wrote the songs?

Across all 33 tracks: how many Portishead wrote alone, how many they co-wrote, and how many were written by others. The bracket marks every track they hold any writing credit on.

Portishead has a writing credit100%
94%
6%
Sole author31tracks94%
Co-written2tracks6%
Outside writers0tracks0%

Role Fingerprint how they contribute

Lyricist Performer Composer Producer
Portishead's roles across the catalogue

Share of all 33 tracks where they are personally credited, by role.

Lyricist (words)100%
Composer (music)100%
Producer100%
Performer100%

Member Credit Breakdown share of tracks each member is credited on

Percentage of all 33 tracks, across every album, where each member holds a credit - split by role.

MemberPeriodLyricsMusicProductionPerformance
Beth Gibbons 1991-present
100%
100%
0%
0%
Geoff Barrow 1991-present
100%
100%
0%
0%
Adrian Utley 1991-present
88%
88%
33%
0%

Authorship Over Time writing credit per album

Portishead's writing credit per album, in release order. Hover any bar for the album.

avg 100%
100%
100%
100%
1994Dummy
1997Portishead
2008Third
Early · 100% written
Late · 100% written

Authorship by Decade track-weighted

100%
1990s
Dummy, Portishead
100%
2000s
Third

Authorship Spectrum pure performer to complete author

Where Portishead sits on the scale from a pure performer (0%, sings songs written by others) to a complete author (100%, writes everything). The bright marker is their catalogue authorship score, plotted against other artists on the site.

Portishead
Other artists on the site

Reference artists spread across the scale, closest by genre and era.

Aaliyah0%
Backstreet Boys25%
Billy Ray Cyrus47%
TLC59%
Mary J. Blige70%
Toby Keith80%
Massive Attack90%
100%Portishead
Pure Performer0%
Songwriter~50%
Complete Author100%

Discography 3 albums

Three studio albums in thirty-two years. Nothing has followed Third in 2008.

Collaborator Network who they worked with most

Portishead33 tracks
DM11Dave McDonald, 11 tracks 1Ken Thorne, 1 track 1Slimkid3, 1 track 1Fatlip, 1 track 1Trevant Hardson, 1 track 1Derrick Stewart, 1 track JB1John Baggott, 1 track

Bubble size = tracks worked on together. DM Dave McDonald

Photo credits

Portraits in the web and the rail come from Wikimedia Commons. The artist's own photo carries its credit under the picture.

The Authorship Story

Data Insight

All three members are credited on all 33 of the band's studio tracks, and 31 of those carry nobody from outside. Three albums in three decades, the same three names on every song, and almost no outside hand anywhere. Nothing else in this catalogue is written this tightly by this few people over this long.

Quick Facts

  • Self-writtenAll three members are credited on all 33 studio tracks
  • Written in house31 of the 33 carry no writer from outside the band
  • Three albumsDummy (1994), Portishead (1997) and Third (2008)
  • Mercury PrizeDummy won it in 1995
  • Longest gapEleven years between the second album and the third
  • Where they are fromBristol, alongside Massive Attack and Tricky

Creative Fingerprint

Three people, three albums, thirty-three songs, every one of them shared equally.

The Story

Portishead formed in Bristol in 1991 around Beth Gibbons, Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley and made Dummy in 1994, which won the Mercury Prize. Two more albums have followed in thirty-two years, the last of them in 2008.

Awards & Recognition

Mercury Prize for Dummy in 1995

Frequently Asked Questions Portishead

Do Portishead write their own songs?
All three members are credited on all 33 studio tracks and 31 of those carry no writer from outside the band. The two exceptions bring in the writers of sampled records.
Who wrote "Glory Box"?
Beth Gibbons, Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley, with Isaac Hayes credited for the sample it is built on.
How many albums have they released?
Three studio albums: Dummy in 1994, Portishead in 1997 and Third in 2008.
Did Dummy win anything?
The Mercury Prize in 1995, for the best album released in the United Kingdom that year.
Why so few albums?
Three years between the first two, then eleven years to the third, and nothing in the eighteen years since.
Is the writing shared equally?
Gibbons and Barrow are on all 33 tracks and Utley on 29, so the split is as close to equal as a three piece gets.
Did their singles chart in America?
No single from any of their albums entered the Billboard Hot 100.
How is Third different?
It drops the samples and the noir strings for krautrock rhythms and live playing, eleven years after the album before it.
Are they still a band?
They have played occasional shows and released a single since, but Third in 2008 is the most recent album.
What is the Bristol scene?
The circle around Massive Attack and Tricky in the early 1990s, which Portishead came out of and which got called trip hop.

Sources

Wikipedia: Portishead Wikipedia: Portishead discography