[unique]

i've noticed a few mentions of "the The" in both suggestions of albums to listen to, and in the favourite lyrics thread, so i thought i'd start a thread to discuss the music of Matt Johnson, as it seems there are those around who greatly enjoy the music, but he isn't as well known as perhaps he should be, considering the fantastic critically acclaimed music he has created

it's also a difficult band to search for online due to the name, which really doesn't help, and that's perhaps why they aren't as successful as other similar artists. jeff buckley may have found new fans due to a song he covered himself being covered on american idol and then the uk pop idol, but i can't imagine simon cowell digging up a MJ track to sing on the show

i've been a fan i first heard heartland in 86 and saw the video album on channel 4 and bought infected the day it was released and became instantly hooked. i saw them live on the 3 uk tours, the the vs the world, the jingle hell tour and the nakedself tour, each time at the barrowlands in glasgow, one of my favourite venues, and a favourite venue of many bands. johny marr was in the band for the first tour, and on the second tour he turned up as a surprise guest for a few songs during that show. i remember going to the first show and wondering who would be there, as it was a band that you would rarely find someone in person who would know of them, and this was long before the internet was popular. for these reasons also, i wondered how many people may be fans who post here

the official website is This Is The The Day

for anyone wanting to check out the music, the main albums to checkout are soul mining, infected, mindbomb, hanky panky and nakedself, with burning blue soul being an early matt solo album. personally i'd suggest starting with dusk, then infected and soul mining. hanky panky is a hank williams tribute album, but with the signature the the sound from dusk. nakedself is a heavier indie rock album, whereas soul mining is more electronic 80s sounding perhaps. infected is a very varied album with many collaborations from the time when the the was more of an umbrella organisation instead of a real band. mindbomb was the first album recorded as a band, with johnny marr on guitar, who also appears on dusk, an album that noel gallagher claims influenced him greatly (although it doesn't sound much like oasis, but if you like early oasis you may well like it)

[duder]

just dug out my ticket from 23 sept 1989 st georges hall bradford the mind bomb tour, if memory is right it was a pretty good show johnny marr can really play a guitar. regards duder

[unique]

Originally Posted by duder

just dug out my ticket from 23 sept 1989 st georges hall bradford the mind bomb tour, if memory is right it was a pretty good show johnny marr can really play a guitar. regards duder

about 30 minutes of that show was broadcast on radio one on 17th november 1989. i remember taping it from the radio at the time. i wasn't a smiths fan back then, but he was a great guitarist. in an interview with either matt or johnny, one of them said that if the the were a band a bit earlier, johnny would have joined the the instead of the smiths

[krish]

Dusk is one of my favourite albums of all time and, probably an obvious choice,
Slow Emotion Replay is my fave track off it, with Johnny Marr's gorgeous harmonica

[youtube]yW0ltw7fsdI[/youtube]

[iainoco]

I've loved The The since Infected and continue to listen them now. MJ is an excellent songwriter

[Todd Tomorrow]

Always been a big fan of his ever since his pre-The The album Burning Blue Soul, which may still be my favourite of his.

[talkinloud]

Couldnt agree more, Mind bomb is pure quality from start to finish....

[unique]

Originally Posted by Todd Tomorrow

Always been a big fan of his ever since his pre-The The album Burning Blue Soul, which may still be my favourite of his.

did you buy it before soul mining came out? i have the some bizarre sampler LP that has the untitled track on it, and i have 3 or 4 albums by the gadgets, an early band matt was involved with. the albums weren't much good, but similarly experiemental sounding like burning blue soul. apparently matt played synths with marc almond for a short period in the early days too

something else a bit strange is that this is the day was used in an M&M's commercial in the states, and i thought matt would be against that kind of thing. i suppose as he hasn't released an album in 10 years or toured in about the same time, he could probably do with the money

it's a shame he didn't get round to getting sony to release the dvd boxset, or the second cd boxset. i was looking forward to getting gunsluts and a proper version of pornography of despair

I was introduced to The The by a friend years ago. The sound was something I had never heard before as I was more used to 'commercial' stuff. When I heard 'Uncertain Smile' I was blown away, breathtaking. Soul Mining is such a stunning album on all levels from the music to the haunting lyrics and it was me wrapped up in a record sleeve . I had to buy more. Infected was next then I bought two copies of the 12" version of 'Perfect'. I was a bit obsessive .

Mind you I bought the 'singles of The The' and didn't much care for that. The versions I had heard prior to this were so much better IMHO. I also remember being in hospital for a few weeks and playing 'This is The Day' on my Walkman non-stop (those were the days). I hope he never becomes too commercial as it would be rude to share such genius with the Simon Cowell generation.

YouTube - Perfect - The The

Laurel and Hardy, The The, Perfect, what more do you want .

[Todd Tomorrow]

Originally Posted by unique

did you buy it before soul mining came out?

Yes, I did. I still have the original LP with the original cover, before it got re-released and remixed with a different cover as a The The album. Coming to it later it's probably quite a difficult album to get into, but I was into experimental, industrial music at the time. Soul Mining is an amazing album too and much more accessible.

[unique]

Originally Posted by Todd Tomorrow

Yes, I did. I still have the original LP with the original cover, before it got re-released and remixed with a different cover as a The The album. Coming to it later it's probably quite a difficult album to get into, but I was into experimental, industrial music at the time. Soul Mining is an amazing album too and much more accessible.

the original cover with the eye is really rare, in fact matt doesn't have a copy of it himself apparently, as a fan asked him to sign a copy a few years ago and he was surprised to see the rarity and told them he didn't have one himself. i don't have it myself, i got the first reissue with the blue tinted photo, and the cd with the third cover a few years later. i have all of the original 12"s though

infected also came with an alternate cover originally, a limited edition photo of matt from one of the videos, i think it has a poster inside. the lp and cd versions of infected and sweet bird of truth are different to each other

it was really great for the 4rpm to come out with the 12" versions on one disc and the rare 7" mixes on the first, as most of the singles from soul mining were completely rerecorded for the album. matt had fallen out with sony, but when he heard they were going to reissue the albums he worked with them to remaster them so the fans would get something worth buying. he also removed the extra remixes from infected and perfect from soul mining as the album was supposed to end with giant, and not have the single of perfect tacked on the end. the cassette version also has another 5 extra tracks from the unreleased pornography of despair, with the other tracks from that album having been released as b sides etc, although some are very rare

[whiskyboozer]

Does anyone remember the global Infected day. When selected venues, pubs is UK, showed the full length video for the album.

I do, but can find no reference to it online.

[soundstory]

Originally Posted by whiskyboozer

Does anyone remember the global Infected day. When selected venues, pubs is UK, showed the full length video for the album.

I do, but can find no reference to it online.

I remember watching it late night on Channel 4, this was exactly the reason why Infected is one of my fav albums !!

No DVD release, and as we haven't heard anything from Matt Johnson for a while I doubt we ever will

[RMCF]

Also been a The The fan since 1987 when I bought Infected while at Uni.

Listened to it every night for about 18 months. Superb album.

Great songwriter - had the odd depressing song but overall he wrote some great music. Shame he wasn't more prolific. I always really wanted to see him live but don't think it will ever happen now.

[dazza1011]

top band first got into them when the video for heartland was played constantly on Music Box late at night. ( ITV used to show it through the night years ago ).

i also had The Beat-en Generation 12" it came in box with a poster and badge ( god knows where it went i think i probably flogged it for about £3 at a record fair )

This Is The The Day

[soundstory]

We need new music Mr Johnson !!

[ba' heid]

I have the terrific single Uncertain Smile.

I borrowed Mind Bomb from someone and it scared the bejesus out of me, a very unsettling album but brilliant nonetheless, however I've kind of blocked it out and it stopped me from looking out for more of the very talented Matt Johnson's work.

It may be time to rectify that situation so any suggestions from fans and " be gentle ".

BTW does anyone remember the character Callum Gilhooly from the Absolutely sketch show?

In one sketch he explains to someone that he had been trying to alphabetize his record collection and was never sure what to do with definitive articles in a band name e.g. The Beatles are they under T or B? He had settled on ignoring definitives until he arrived at The The. It comes across funnier in the show

[unique]

Originally Posted by ba' heid

I have the terrific single Uncertain Smile.

I borrowed Mind Bomb from someone and it scared the bejesus out of me, a very unsettling album but brilliant nonetheless, however I've kind of blocked it out and it stopped me from looking out for more of the very talented Matt Johnson's work.

It may be time to rectify that situation so any suggestions from fans and " be gentle ".

BTW does anyone remember the character Callum Gilhooly from the Absolutely sketch show?

In one sketch he explains to someone that he had been trying to alphabetize his record collection and was never sure what to do with definitive articles in a band name e.g. The Beatles are they under T or B? He had settled on ignoring definitives until he arrived at The The. It comes across funnier in the show

dusk has a similar sound to mindbomb, but the lyrics are maybe a bit less political and impending doom or armageddon, but still downbeat. soul mining is the album that uncertain smile is on, so the rest of the album has a similar sound. infected is more varied in sound

you only really have soul mining, infected, mindbomb, dusk, hanky panky and nakedself, plus the early solo album burning blue soul. i'd suggest checking out the first four albums, dusk first, then infected, then soul mining, then mindbomb, and if you like the sound of dusk and mindbomb then hanky panky sounds similar even though it's covers of hank williams songs, they just don't sound anything like the original. nakedself is a bit harder/rocker/darkier and i'd usually suggest that last

i remember the sketch well, but i thought it was the mary whitehouse experience, unless they both did it. i used to love both that and absolutely (stoneybridge! it's famous for having a stoney bridge!)

[soundstory]

I played The Naked Self for the first time recently, it isn't exactly cheerful !

[unique]

THE THE scores TONY, the debut feature film by Gerard Johnson. A dark character study that exposes the sinister secrets of a lonely London life, TONY is a gripping, funny and disturbing piece of work by one of the film industry's new writer/director talents. Officially selected for this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival, the buzz around the film's world premiere is building. Check the trailer and book tickets, seats still available for now.

The soundtrack to TONY is the first in a series of soundtracks by THE THE due to be released by CineOla at a later date.

Tony (2009)


i just got that email earlier. the film is supposed to be release today at the edinburgh film festival. i wouldn't get your hopes up too much about more than one soundtrack release, as the last time they mentioned multiple cover vesions albums didn't amount to much, and neither did the other boxsets

[Jakeh1969]

Great to see some new material coming out but very disappointed that the DVD box set never made an appearance.

Infected is such a classic album. And still one I listen to on a regular basis.

[soundstory]

I found a good interview with Matt from when was touring The Naked Self

Then It Must Be True - Matt Johnson (The The)

[soundstory]

"Is there any of that in the works that you can talk about?

Yes. The first release will be Gun Sluts. The next one will probably be Pornography of Despair. The one after that will probably be a Robert Johnson album that I'll be collaborating with my guitarist on And then there are lots of live recordings that I've got. I want to do a series of instrumental albums as well.

There's a hell of a lot of stuff, four or five albums that I've got needing to be mixed. Apart from the Robert Johnson one, all the other ones have actually been recorded. they just need to be mixed"

So my question is ...... where is it all??

[JohnG]

The only album I have is Hanky Panky, and I always enjoy listening to that one. I'd not heard of Hank Williams before that believe it or not!
I've been meaning to listen to some more of the The for a while but never actually got around to it, so this thread will be useful

[unique]

Originally Posted by soundstory

I found a good interview with Matt from when was touring The Naked Self

Then It Must Be True - Matt Johnson (The The)

i don't remember reading that before, but then again it's about 10 years old

he did the hanky panky hank williams tribute album, and at the time said he was planning similar albums for the beatles, dylan and woodie guthrie, so along with robert johnson it was showcasing great and sometimes forgotten about songwriters

hanky panky was similar in sound to dusk, so if HP was your first album, which is a strange one to start with, i'd suggest checking out dusk and then mindbomb as they are similar sounding, but with matts own songs, and he is an excellent songwriter, which is why his lyrics feature prominently in the lyrics threads

sony refused to accept and release gun sluts, which is why he fell out with them and left them, i have no idea what the album sounds like as i've never heard it, so i don't know if it's closer to the sound of dusk or to nakedself, perhaps it was closer to nakedself with the harder deeper sound, which is why sony didn't want to release it. he eventually released nakedself on an indie label and realised the grass wasn't greener on the other side. when he found out sony were planning reissues, he helped them out so they would be worthy reissues for the fans and so he was happy with them. after the first box set of the first four albums, there was supposed to be a second one with rarer material such as pornography of despair, but it was never released, likewise a box set of dvds of the videos, including some rare/unlreased stuff

all the tracks from pornography were released in one form or another, as b sides and bonus material on the soul mining tape. some of the soul mining tracks were different versions to the single and 12" versions, so perhaps he was planning on doing different versions for the finished album, in the same way as soul mining. there were also some instrumentals released as b sides etc, and i guess that's probably what the new soundtrack will be, which is dissapointing for the first material in 10 years, as the lyrics were one of the best parts of his work. it's a shame he couldn't organise an internet download release so the fans can hear the unreleased stuff, but it might not be very profitable for him to do that

[soundstory]

I'd kill for a dvd of Infected

[soundstory]

Not new of course, this was written during The Naked Self era again, but an interesting read none the less


[Statement of Matt Johnson of "The The" on record companies and Digital Audio
Matt Johnson, from The The, has weighed in the digital music issue. The The will be releasing their stuff on the web for free download - see below.

THE THE VERSUS THE CORPORATE MONSTER

After much deliberation I have decided to offer track by track, week by week free downloads of my latest album 'NakedSelf' from my official website: This Is The The Day

This decision has not been taken lightly and below I explain the reasons why. As the tensions between artist and merchant are rising very fast I also want to stress the positive in this statement as I think this is an exhilarating time to be involved in music.

I'VE SEEN THE FUTURE, AND IT WILL BE ........

A battle between the powers that be versus the powers that will be.

Through their short sighted arrogance and greed, the major label media conglomerates are sowing the seeds for their own destruction. Artists are now poised to come off the nipple of the major labels and finally stand on their own two feet. With this greater responsibility will come a greater workload but artists can finally become masters of their own destinies.

New technology, both in cheap, high quality recording equipment and the tremendous potential of the Internet, mean that it's possible for musicians to fund their own recordings, own their own copyrights, distribute their own music and control their own careers. The audience will begin to deal with the artist direct and the middle men will be cut down to size.


MEET THE THE NEW BOSS

I've been in bands since I was an 11 year old kid and I've been earning from music since the age of 15 when I started working for a publisher and recording studio. I have seen the industry from many angles and through many eras. I'm also blessed with a solid and loyal global audience of approximately 750,000 for each of my 7 albums, a sales figure that was once enough to keep artist and Record Company in bread and jam, though not any more it seems. Obviously the sales potential of TheThe is not in the same league as the Limp Bizkits, Offspring and *NSYNCs of this world, yet each label has (or had) a dozen artists like TheThe, each with a solid and loyal fanatic audience, each selling many CDs and each serving as a creative beacon attracting other artists, some who go on to sell millions of albums of their own.

Once these artists made sense to the shareholders.

Until now.

Although the range and diversity of music being created and performed has never been wider, the traditional outlets for music have never been more restrictive.

In the blue corner: the threat (real and perceived) of MP3/Napster, digital piracy and the subsequent debates about copyright laws and intellectual property rights.

Deep in the red corner: the rampant corporate greed of the media conglomerates, major labels and radio stations which is marginalising more and more artists by the week and forcing them to look at alternative ways of distributing their music.

All the above events are converging and have placed us on the threshold of a watershed in the music business that I believe will dwarf the punk revolution in its ultimate significance.


MEET THE NEW BOSS

Vivendi have just swallowed Seagrams who took over PolyGram and merged it with Universal who had bought Interscope who'd purchased nothing Records (home to Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson and TheThe)

In order to get the green light for the Universal/PolyGram merger, Seagrams promised their shareholders a return on cuts, not profits. They have a huge artist stable raped from three established major labels and two thirds has got to go, bringing it down to a trim, wealthy machine made up of just the plump ripe sellers. Millions of sales are now required to cover the increasing overheads at these labels. Overheads increased through ludicrous executive bonus payouts, inflated expense accounts and the quest for the Porsche. The artist is put to work harder and faster, in order to feed the machine.

VivendiUniversalSonyAOLTimeEmiWarnerBMG, all represent a basket of share dividends to holders who are quick to move on when the coming gets tough. Oasis Brand may be less appealing than Heinz Beans right now.

After a 7 year lay off I recently released 'NakedSelf', an album that is generally considered one of the best of my career to some of the best reviews I've ever had (check the website). I've also been on tour since November 1999 selling out shows by word of mouth across Europe and America to fantastic audience response. Yet the reaction from Interscope/Universal has been destructive and negative in the extreme. Their utter dependence on the radio means that the good ship TheThe is abandoned as soon as the fear of no-play takes hold. They can think of no alternative and why should they when they can swiftly move on to the next act on the plank (step forward Beck, whoops! step forward Nine Inch Nails..oh dear, No Doubt..Ouch! Chris Cornell....?) One act after another has fallen into the ocean. Being signed to the Universal conglomerate has been like being trapped on a cruise on the Mary Celeste. The lights are on but nobody's home.

THERE'S NO POINT IN ASKING, YOU GET NO REPLY

I know what questions to ask in order to find out when people are doing their jobs and when they're not. Artists are often able to gain the confidence of record company employees who'll tell us things about their company they won't admit to their bosses or co-workers. Though most are afraid to admit it publicly, morale is now very, very low at the Universal conglomerate (at least 6 people I've worked closely with on my new album have walked out on the company and I know of several more who are planning to follow soon). The Seagrams takeover and subsequent merger of Universal and PolyGram was very traumatic, not only for many artists on the label, but also for many of the employees. There are many decent hard working people in this company who wanted to work in the music business for all the right reasons but now find their hands are tied behind their backs as they are not allowed to get behind the projects they really believe in. Seagrams bottle drinks and music using the same machine and the sheer incompetence of this conglomerate just beggars belief. To fully list all the cock ups that have utterly undermined and ruined the release of 'NakedSelf' would take all day and I'd like to stress the positive changes I'm anticipating in the industry rather than whinge and whine about the past year's mistakes. Suffice to say it has been the most disastrous episode of my entire career.


THE REAL QUESTION IS THIS

The million dollar question for all artists associated with this bloated company, and this is where it gets interesting, is this: Is this really just sheer incompetence or is this willful neglect? Because it does seem that Interscope/Universal can be very aggressive and successful with a certain type of popular music, so it begs the question that is it not really the fact that to pay for that preposterous merger, and in order to pacify their shareholders, Seagrams had to promise to make cutbacks rather than investments for future profits? Was an executive decision taken to only back acts that they thought were 'sure-fire' instant commercial hits palatable to corporate radio stations, rather than take a chance on any artist that doesn't conform to this bland criterion?


SOMETHING FOR NOTHING

I loathe censorship even more than piracy and increasing numbers of artists are now becoming victims of censorship by apathy and neglect. They just cannot get their music heard through the traditional channels.

As Universal/Interscope seem either incapable or unwilling (or both) to distribute and promote my album properly, and as they've refused to give it back to me, then I've been forced to consider alternative ways of reaching my audience. After much deliberation I have therefore decided to offer free downloads of 'NakedSelf' on a song by song, week by week basis from my official site: This Is The The Day. By doing so I hope more people (including the bulk of my audience) will finally get the chance to hear this album and hopefully support me by purchasing this CD and future releases. For me to just walk away from 'NakedSelf' now would be like leaving a baby on a doorstep and I just can't do it. I believe in this album too much.

This is not a decision I've taken lightly, because as some of you may know, I've been widely quoted in recent months regarding my opposition to Napster. As musicians and songwriters, as in other professions, we have dedicated our lives to our art and craft and now face a situation of people stealing our work and passing it around the world for free. No one who has ever done a hard days work for a days pay would expect others to work for free, why should musicians? It's also a sad fact of life that the general public are still fairly ignorant as to how unfair most record company contracts really are. The artist pays for everything yet owns nothing. To receive fair and accurate royalty accounting he/she has to be able to afford to send in a team of auditors every few years to examine the books and this costs thousands of dollars to do properly. Most artists with more than a couple of years experience now sadly accept that the industry is run by principles of institutionalised corruption. The record company position is this: If you want your money you can come and find it. If you can afford to find it then you've obviously earned so much that we can afford to give you some.


THE ONLY THING THAT STAYS THE SAME IS CHANGE

This weird period we're going through in our industry right now feels both daunting and exciting and in a way reminds me of where I came from. As a teenager I was turned down by every indie and major label in the UK at least three times before I finally got a recording contract, so in the meantime I started producing and selling my own cassettes at the various gigs I attended. It was a liberating and empowering experience and taught me how to stay positive in the face of apathy. When you get knocked to the floor you have a choice, you can either curl up in the foetal position and die or you can climb back onto your feet and fight.

Matt Johnson
TheThe

[unique]

i remember reading that last article when it first came out, 10 years ago now. matt went from major label sony who didn't want to release gun sluts (but i think may have held on to it so matt couldn't release it himself), to an "indie" label to find out the grass wasn't greener on the other side

personally i didn't rate nakedself as much as his previous work, it may have appealed to manson and NIN fans more, but the the was never as deep and dark and industrial sounding as those bands

it's interesting how he mentions selling tapes at the gigs, as the infected book had photos of one or two of the early keith laws tapes, but i've never seen the merest hint of them on bootlegs or online

i've never heard anymore about the soundtrack to tony being released either. the movie only seemed to be at the edinburgh festival for one day, and the official webite only emailed about 3 hours before the showing

[VFRSE7]

Matt Johnson's Infected is an album so good that I have three versions of it - the original CD with three extended tracks, the reissued remaster of the album (minus extended tracks) and my prize possession, the Infected Video CD (well I used to own the VHS and it is much better than this and plays in my DVD and PC). Blisteringly good!

[RMCF]

Originally Posted by soundstory

I'd kill for a dvd of Infected

Well I have 'backed up' my Infected VHS on to DVD-R recently - obviously only VHS quality but at least its on DVD.

I could get you a copy of this if you want.

Or perhaps you are hinting that you want a proper DVD release of it?