It's 'rediscover and reminisce my musical past' time..

As so often happens, my cassette tapes from years ago have been lent
out,
mangled, etc. etc.

Matt Johnson, singer from the band 'The The', used to have a website
on which he offered most of The The's music in either downloadable
mp3, .wav or realplayer format as I recall. I *think* the original
site is no longer operational, though.

I'd like to find as much downloadable music by The The as possible.

It would be nice if the track 'This is the day' could be found.
(Was that the track on which Jools Holland guested, with a rather
impressive piano solo?)
Also, the album 'dusk' sticks out in my memory.

Other albums I recall were:

Mind Bomb;
Soul Mining.

Whatever you might be able to present would be appreciated,

Thanks.

Hi Gan,

The official The The website is at:
http://www.thethe.com/

The site has some MP3 snippets of his songs:
http://www.thethe.com/sections/booth.html

This is the probably the page you recall, found using the Wayback
Machine. It is dated April 2001, and the links no longer work. There
is no mention of RealAudio within thethe.com today.
http://web.archive.org/web/20010414024010/www.thethe.com/audio_page.html

In September 2000 computeruser.com posted an article which mentions:

On the band's Web site http://thethe.com, Johnson posted a lengthy
manifesto outlining his plans to "offer track by track, week by week
free downloads of my latest album 'NakedSelf.'…Artists are now poised
to come off the nipple of the major labels and finally stand on their
own two feet," Johnson explained.

"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 the
middlemen will be cut down to size."

Johnson remarked on his Web site that the trend toward
self-distribution is nothing new. "This…reminds me of where I came
from," he wrote. "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."
http://www.computeruser.com/articles/1909,4,27,1,0901,00.html

Looking through the archives section of thethe.com I found the
manifesto mentioned above:

The The vs The Corporate Monster
http://www.thethe.com/sections/archive/backissues/jan2001-monster.html

The manifesto clearly points out that in general he wants fans to pay
for music, which he reiterates in a statement that appeared in April
2002 on his site:

"As has been stated by us on numerous occassions we believe that the
downloading and distribution of soundfiles should be as a supplement
to the promotion of music and not a substitute for purchasing the
works of musicians and bands you'd like to support.
Many people feel no sympathy with the major record companies and
entertainment conglomerates and the mess they now find themselves in
regarding digital piracy but please don't throw the babies (musicians)
out with the bath water (greedy executives and shareholders)"
http://www.thethe.com/sections/archive/backissues/apr02_cinopen.html

The free NakedSelf downloads were on a one song per week basis - if
you didn't visit that week, you missed downloading the song. They are
no longer available at his site.

Although our Google Answers Terms of Service prohibit us from
providing links to illegal MP3s...

"You further agree not to submit questions or comments designed to
elicit responses that relate to illegal activity or that infringe upon
another party's intellectual property rights."
http://answers.google.com/answers/termsofservice.html

... I figured that in this case, where Matt Johnson deliberately gave
away the MP3 tracks, I  could look and see if any of the NakedSelf
MP3s are available online. I couldn't find any available via ordinary
web sites. A search on KazaaLite also failed, but turned up quite a
few from other The The albums. There is a chance of finding a
NakedSelf track if you check the KazaaLite network regularly.

KazaaLite is P2P file-sharing software. It does not have all the nasty
spyware that Kazaa is infamous for (although their website has a few
pop-ups), yet has the same results.
http://www.kazaalite.com

The The Discography
http://www.thethe.com/sections/discography.html


Search Strategy: visited Google Directory:
http://directory.google.com/Top/Arts/Music/Bands_and_Artists/T/The_The/?il=1


Best wishes from another old The The fan,
robertskelton-ga

The April 2001 page was the one I remember, yes. I recall thinking at
the time it was pretty good to be able to come & listen online - the
quality of the realaudio streams were low and at the time, I guess
'ripping' tools weren't as prevalent as now; I can understand why Mr
Johnson stopped there. The snippets and the discography you found are
going to be fun to go through, I also have a friend online who has
never heard of Matt & the band, they will be useful to give a 'taste'
there too. Thanks Robert :)