【File035】The The
The The was the guise of Matt Johnson, a mercurial singer/songwriterwhose music ran the gamut from dance-pop to country. Born August 15,1961, in London, Johnson was raised in the flat above his father's pub,the Two Puddings, a haven for well-known celebrities and criminals; healso became exposed to music at the nightclubs and dancehalls owned byhis uncle, where he saw performers like Howlin' Wolf, the Kinks, andMuddy Waters. Johnson formed his first band, Roadstar, when he was 11;at the age of 15, he was hired as a tea boy for the DeWolfe musicpublishing company, and within three years, he was working in theirrecording studio as an assistant engineer. After the demise of the duothe Marble Index in 1979, Johnson formed the first incarnation of TheThe with synth player Keith Laws; after playing their debut gig openingfor Scritti Politti, the group issued its first single, ControversialSubject, on the 4AD label in 1980. A year later, contractualobligations forced Johnson to issue the LP Burning Blue Soul under hisown name; that year, he also recorded as a guitarist with the band theGadgets, and The The contributed a track to the Some Bizzare Albumcompilation.
http://www.thethe.com/
In 1982, The The -- now essentially a Johnson solo project, backed by a revolving coterie of musicians -- recorded the album The Pornography of Despair,which a dissatisfied Johnson chose not to release; a 1983 singlerecorded with Orange Juice's Zeke Manyika, This Is the Day, formed thecenterpiece of The The's proper debut, 1983's Soul Mining, an excursioninto dance-flavored pop. Illness sidelined Johnson for much of thefollowing year, and The The did not return until 1986's Infected, aneclectic commentary on the state of Britain in the modern world.Recorded with the aid of talents like Neneh Cherry, Art of Noise's AnneDudley, and Swans' Roli Mosimann, Infected was also accompanied by anambitious album-length video.
When The The returned with thedissonant Mind Bomb in 1989, they were once again a true band, withJohnson joined by ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr as well as bassistJames Eller and former ABC drummer Dave Palmer. The same lineupremained for 1993's pared-down Dusk, but 1995's Hanky Panky marked yetanother new direction when Johnson was joined by guitarist EricSchermerhorn, keyboardist D.C. Collard, harmonica player Jim Fitting,and drummer Brian MacLeod. The first in a series of occasional albumscelebrating the work of legendary performers, Hanky Panky was abrooding covers collection honoring the music of country great HankWilliams. NakedSelf followed in early 2000. ~ Jason Ankeny, All MusicGuide
The The was the guise of Matt Johnson, a mercurial singer/songwriterwhose music ran the gamut from dance-pop to country. Born August 15,1961, in London, Johnson was raised in the flat above his father's pub,the Two Puddings, a haven for well-known celebrities and criminals; healso became exposed to music at the nightclubs and dancehalls owned byhis uncle, where he saw performers like Howlin' Wolf, the Kinks, andMuddy Waters. Johnson formed his first band, Roadstar, when he was 11;at the age of 15, he was hired as a tea boy for the DeWolfe musicpublishing company, and within three years, he was working in theirrecording studio as an assistant engineer. After the demise of the duothe Marble Index in 1979, Johnson formed the first incarnation of TheThe with synth player Keith Laws; after playing their debut gig openingfor Scritti Politti, the group issued its first single, ControversialSubject, on the 4AD label in 1980. A year later, contractualobligations forced Johnson to issue the LP Burning Blue Soul under hisown name; that year, he also recorded as a guitarist with the band theGadgets, and The The contributed a track to the Some Bizzare Albumcompilation.
http://www.thethe.com/
In 1982, The The -- now essentially a Johnson solo project, backed by a revolving coterie of musicians -- recorded the album The Pornography of Despair,which a dissatisfied Johnson chose not to release; a 1983 singlerecorded with Orange Juice's Zeke Manyika, This Is the Day, formed thecenterpiece of The The's proper debut, 1983's Soul Mining, an excursioninto dance-flavored pop. Illness sidelined Johnson for much of thefollowing year, and The The did not return until 1986's Infected, aneclectic commentary on the state of Britain in the modern world.Recorded with the aid of talents like Neneh Cherry, Art of Noise's AnneDudley, and Swans' Roli Mosimann, Infected was also accompanied by anambitious album-length video.
When The The returned with thedissonant Mind Bomb in 1989, they were once again a true band, withJohnson joined by ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr as well as bassistJames Eller and former ABC drummer Dave Palmer. The same lineupremained for 1993's pared-down Dusk, but 1995's Hanky Panky marked yetanother new direction when Johnson was joined by guitarist EricSchermerhorn, keyboardist D.C. Collard, harmonica player Jim Fitting,and drummer Brian MacLeod. The first in a series of occasional albumscelebrating the work of legendary performers, Hanky Panky was abrooding covers collection honoring the music of country great HankWilliams. NakedSelf followed in early 2000. ~ Jason Ankeny, All MusicGuide
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