mind bomb

The The became a band again to rail against the machine and challenge the masses with the socially conscious controversy of this apocalyptic pop manifesto.  After initially performing with a full band, Matt Johnson had spent years recording with various session musicians under the moniker of The The releasing two official albums 'Soul Mining' and 'Infected'.  After playing live again, Johnson brought together a core band for the purpose of touring that included former guitarist from The Smiths Johnny Marr.  'Mind Bomb' was produced by Warne Livesey, Roli Mosimann, and Matt Johnson and features Matt Johnson on vocals, guitar, and keyboards;   Johnny Marr on guitar and harmonica;  James Eller on bass guitar;  and David Palmer on drums;   with Sinéad O'Connor doing the female vocal on "Kingdom of Rain";  Wix on piano, keyboards, hammond organ, and accordion;   Warne Livesey on keyboards, banjo, and acoustic guitar;  Pandit Dinesh, Danny Cummings, and Pedro Haldermann on percussion;  Chris White and Philip Todd on saxophone;  Ashley Slater on trombone;  John Eacott on flugel horn;  Mark Feltham on harmonica;  Danny Thompson playing upright bass on "August & September";  Sarah Homer on clarinet;  Dai Pritchard on bass clarinet;  Hilary Storer on oboe;   Gavin Wright on arabian fiddle;  and the Astarti String Section pefforming the strings.  

Johnson considers:  "People are put off if they're sold this idea that Matt Johnson is a manic depressive. But I've always dealt with stuff that hasn't had much of a place in popular music, and I make no apologies for that. Why should it be considered taboo to deal with certain subjects in a song? It's ironic really. These days, people are slagging me off for not writing about political and social issues. When 'Infected' came out, they were suspicious because I was dealing with themes like AIDS, heroin, test-tube babies and nuclear terrorism. You can't win...I'd read some article where Billy Bragg was quoted as saying that I was scared to confront political issues head-on and that I hid from technology. Out of the blue, he rang me up, said that he'd been misquoted, and invited me to do some gigs for Red Wedge. So I ended up playing two shows with Zeke Manyika in 1987. It was such a powerful experience that I was forced into considering the idea of a permanent band that could do a lengthy world tour...I suppose 'The Beat(en) Generation' was the first attempt to make a custom built, radio friendly single which would draw attention to an album.  I'd reached a point where I realized that I had been making life difficult for myself. Commercially, I'd always made the wrong moves for all the right reasons: three year gaps between records, refusing to play live, not having an easily digestible image. In retrospect, I couldn't have done it any other way. At least it let me acclimatize myself and allowed me to do things my own way without having to deal with that king of exposure that pop stardom brings...On the this album, I'm dealing with human spirituality and human yearning for God.  I'm taking a vast overview this time around. I've always been spiritual but now I've read a lot about religion, mysticism and cultism and it's all starting to filter through...'Mind Bomb' was made during long periods of fasting and meditation, with vast intakes of grapes and magic mushrooms. I think it's fair to say that I did go round the twist when I was making that record. I'd spend months on my own in the studio, reading The Bible and the Koran, taking all these mushrooms, and letting all these extreme thoughts take hold of me. My mistake was thinking everybody else was going to go along with these ideas...Everywhere else in the world, the album was pretty much accepted on its own terms but, in Britain, I was given a firm kicking. In retrospect, that probably did me a lot of good. I would say that I've got more of a distance on some of those ideas now. But I still stand by a lot of it, especially the songs about institutionalised religion. Half the problem was that, if anything. 'Mind Bomb' was ahead of its time. "

'Mind Bomb' went to number one hundred and thirty-eight in the US,  thirty-nine in the Netherlands, thirty-two in Australia, thirty in Sweden, four in the UK, and three in New Zealand.  





http://www.thethe.com/









"Good Morning, Beautiful" 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noIwP0SfGcg



"Armageddon Days Are Here (Again)" 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lel0PzhU6Pk



"The Violence of Truth"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HZCaUjSuuY



"Kingdom of Rain" 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ik3Dj6_RUWI




"The Beat(en) Generation" 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ustXRPke9lM









'Mind Bomb' 
full album:
https://myspace.com/thethe/music/album/mind-bomb-8095677




All written by Matt Johnson, except where noted.

"Good Morning, Beautiful" - 7:28
"Armageddon Days Are Here (Again)" - 5:40
"The Violence of Truth" - 5:40
"Kingdom of Rain" - 5:51
"The Beat(en) Generation" - 3:04
"August & September" - 5:45
"Gravitate to Me" - 8:09 (Johnson, Johnny Marr)
"Beyond Love" - 4:22