Comprised of Gary Stringer (vocals), Kenwyn House (guitar), Jack Bessant (bass) and Dominic Greensmith (drums), Reef formed in Street, England, a small town out side of Glastonbury. Forming under the name Big Talk, Stringer and Bessant were the core members of the group and House rejected their initial overture to join the band. Big Talk relocated to Cornwall, where they merged with the Glastonbury-based No Smoke, who were looking for a new singer, since their previous vocalist had left to become a Hare Krishna. The new band became Chief. After a few months, Chief broke up; its drummer, Paul Winterhart, would later join Kula Shaker. Stringer and Bessant split temporarily as they travelled the world to find themselves. Bessant returned to England, where he began studying music at the West London Institute, where he met House and Greensmith. Shortly afterward, Stringer returned to London, and all four musicians formed Naked. The band recorded a handful of demos in the fall of 1993, sending the results, entitled "The Purple Tape," to S2, a subsidiary of Sony Records. S2 signed the group but asked them to change their name; the group settled on Reef. The label had Reef begin touring the UK, and after a few months, the group graduated to headlining appearences, eventually opening for Paul Weller at the Royal Albert Hall in 1994.

In March of 1995, the group released their debut single, "Good Feeling," which climbed into the Top 20. A few months later, Reef contributed "Naked" for a television commercial for the Sony Mini-Disc player. The commercial substantially increased the size of Reef's audience, and shortly afterward, "Naked" reached number 11. Both singles were from their 1995 debut, Replenish, which climbed into the UK Top 10 and received good reviews from British metal publications. Following performances at summer festivals, the band released the non-LP "Weird," which became their third Top 20 hit. On the strength of constant touring, including opening slots for the Rolling Stones and Soundgarden, Replenish reached the UK Top 10 in early 1996.

Reef returned with the new single "Place Your Hands" in the fall of 1996. Unexpectedly, "Place Your Hands" became a huge hit, rocketing into the Top 10 hit and laid the groundwork for their second album Glow. The album entered the charts at number one upon its January 1997 release, going gold in its first week. "Come Back Brighter," which was released two weeks before the LP, and "Consideration" both followed the album into the Top 10. Glow was released in the US in the spring.