Rebellious Jukebox: The The

I usually start with a pre-amble of how I came to discover the band in question but I am fucked if I can remember how I discovered The The, suffice to say that I am glad I did. The above album is the dog\’s bollocks and the perfect distillation of what they are capable of.

Matt Johnson\’s lyrics, vocals and sensibility married to Johnny Marr\’s guitar riffs … what more could you ask for? I am sure that in some alternative universe somewhere the listening public had an ounce of sense and this group were at the top of the charts. This album, like all of Johnson\’s efforts has humour, drama, humanity and politics aplenty. Sure, it\’s not always the politics of the kind with a big P but the politics of being human.

This album and the other works of the band were my antidote to the fucktard excesses of Oasis, The Verve and The Prodigy, oh and the ubiquitous Talk On Corners by The Corrs which plagued my university years like a monsoon of pus. I came to appreciate The Verve and The Prodigy but at the time they suffered in my eyes from the over-saturation; the other two I wouldn\’t piss on if they were on fire — unless of course I had been drinking copious amounts of gasoline.

From the first album Burning Blue Soul, which was pretty much a solo effort, through to Naked Self you have a unique musical vision to bury yourself in. Songs that get you thinking while being catchy enough to embed themselves in your consciousness. Oh, just as a word of warning, the band name is a bastard to search for in search engines — it seems to totally bamboozle them. You could always try here of course http://www.thethe.com/