Born on August 15: Matt Johnson, The The one and The The only!

Matt Johnson was born in London in 1961 and is much better known as The The, a band of which he has always been the sole permanent member...

He spent most of his childhood and adolescence at the Two Puddings pub, not because he was partial to lukewarm beer without a false neck, but simply because his family ran the establishment for over 40 years. At the age of 18, with no musical experience, he placed a classified ad in the New Musical Express, a leading music weekly, looking for bandmates. Legend has it that at one point or another, The The's fluctuating core included Johnny Marr, bassist Gail-Ann Dorsey, and David Palmer, who would later join ABC. No reason to believe this is a fabrication!

I first discovered Matt Johnson in 1981 on the now-legendary compilation album "A Some Bizarre Album," from the label of the same name founded by the eccentric Steven "Stevo" Pearce. It featured, of course, The The with "Untitled," Dépêche Mode with "Photographic," b-Movie, Blancmange, Soft Cell, and Naked Lunch.

Between "Soul Mining" in 1983 and "Hanky Panky" in 1995, Matt Johnson released five essential albums in the history of modern music, featuring musicians and singers without whom his repertoire would not be as grandiose. One example among others? On a hot summer day, while on vacation from Squeeze, Jools Holland arrived at Garden Studios in Shoreditch to lay down a few piano notes on "Uncertain Smile," which was still in progress. In two improvised takes, which Matt Johnson then juxtaposed, he simply delivered the most moving, twirling, and haunting piano solo in rock. On the same album, David Johansen (New York Dolls) plays harmonica on "Perfect." Subsequently, Neneh Cherry, Lloyd Cole, Marc Almond, Jean-Marc Lederman, and, among many others, Sinead O'Connor have also contributed to Matt Johnson's work.

One might have thought, in the late 1990s, that the artist would devote most of his time to writing film scores, but 2021 ushered in a return to the stage at London's Royal Albert Hall (immortalized by a live album). In 2024, and against all odds, Johnson released "Ensoulment," his first real new album in over 20 years, but also (although he never loved to tread the boards), he decided to hit the road again for a tour that would take him to the United Kingdom, of course, but also to Scandinavia, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, the United States, and even Australia. Matt "The The" Johnson is well and truly back...

(MH with Stéphane Soupart - Photo : © Etienne Tordoir)

Photo: Matt "The The" Johnson in the Grand Place in Brussels, Belgium, on January 30, 1984, shortly after the release of "Soul Mining."