The The are an English post-punk band They have been active in various forms since 1979, with singer-songwriter Matt Johnson being the only constant band member The The achieved critical acclaim and commercial success in the UK, with 15 chart singles (seven reaching the top 40), and their most successful album, Infected (1986), spent 30 weeks on the chart They followed this with the top ten albums Mind Bomb (1989) and Dusk (1993)Early years (1977–1981)In November 1977, Matt Johnson placed an advertisement in NME, asking for "Bass/lead guitarist into The Velvet Underground/Syd Barrett" Johnson later placed a second advertisement in the NME, stating his new influences as "The Residents/Throbbing Gristle"While trying to get his band going, in 1978 Johnson had recorded a demo solo album (See Without Being Seen) which he continued to sell at various underground gigs on cassettes In 1979, working with Colin Lloyd-Tucker (a friend and colleague at De Wolfe Music, the Soho music publisher/recording studio) Johnson recorded his first album proper, Spirits This album remains unreleased, although the track "What Stanley Saw" was later licensed to Cherry Red Records for their Perspectives & Distortion compilation album, which also featured Virgin Prunes, Lemon Kittens, Thomas Leer, Kevin Coyne and Mark PerryThe The made their debut at London's Africa Centre on 11 May 1979, third on the bill to Scritti Politti and PragVEC, using backing tape tracks that Johnson created at his day job at De Wolfe studios for the drums and bass
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