[[quoteright:242:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mattjohnson.jpg]]

->''"Everybody knows what's going wrong with the world''
->''But I don't even know what's going on in myself."''
--> '''The The,''' "Slow Emotion Replay"

'''The The''' are a [[TheTheTitleConfusion search-engine-confounding]] English New Wave group, active on and off since 1979, that was popular among the college crowd mainly during TheEighties. Singer/songwriter Matt Johnson is the only consistent member.

!!Discography:
* ''Burning Blue Soul'', 1981
* ''Soul Mining'', 1983
* ''Infected'', 1986
* ''Mind Bomb'', 1989
* ''Dusk'', 1993
* ''Hanky Panky'', 1995
* ''[=NakedSelf=]'', 2000

!!Tropes associated with The The:
* AirplaneOfLove: "This Is The Day" mentions this in the chorus:
-->You pull back the curtains, and the sun burns into your eyes
-->You watch a plane flying across a clear blue sky
* AlternativeRock: From ''Mind Bomb'' onwards.
* ApocalypseHow: For "Armageddon Days Are Here (Again)", a Class 2.
* CallBack: The segments of Matt's performance of "The Inertia Variations" titled "This Day" and "Feelings" feature an ambient-sounding soundtrack that when listened to closely is actually the intro to "This Is The Day" slowed down.
* ConceptAlbum: ''Infected'' is one about the US and UK politics of the time, and western greed.
** ''Mind Bomb'' is also one about politics, although more global than its predecessor, and contrasts the political with the personal too.
** ''Dusk'' is one centred around the themes of love, lust and grief, and is heavily influenced by the death of Matt's brother.
* CoverAlbum: ''Hanky Panky'', a collection of Music/HankWilliams covers.
* DeadpanSnarker: Matt.
* DeliberatelyMonochrome: Often, most notably the ''Mind Bomb'' album cover and "Slow Emotion Replay" music video.
* DesignStudentsOrgasm: Any album and single artwork done by Matt's brother Andy, inlcuding ''Soul Mining'', ''Infected'' and ''Dusk''.
* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Infected''. ''Hoo boy''.
** ''Dusk'', in its own way, being much more melancholic, introspective and personally dark as opposed to its more political predecessors.
** ''[=NakedSelf=]'', while not darker lyrically, is ''much'' darker musically, with an Industrial Rock influenced sound.
* DarkReprise: In 1994 the band released a re-recording of "This Is The Day", retitled "That Was The Day", and it sounds much more stripped-down and melancholic. The lyrics are unchanged but are given a different feel by the music, changing the meaning of the song from being about a person who's struggled but now has a bright future ahead of them to one who's still struggling and is desperately hoping that things get better for them.
* {{Eagleland}}: A strong Type 2 in pretty much every song that refers to America.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Prior to the recording of ''Soul Mining'', Matt released an experimental, largely instrumental solo album for 4AD entitled ''Burning Blue Soul''. It has since been accepted as canon and re-issued under the The The moniker.
** Earlier still, the group's debut single from 1979 "Controversial Subject" has a much more blatant PostPunk sound than the GenreBusting of later efforts.
* EpicRocking: Much of ''Mind Bomb'' is this trope.
** A lot of ''Soul Mining'' is too.
* FaceOnTheCover: Matt on the cover of ''Mind Bomb''
* GriefSong: Much of ''Dusk'' was influenced by the death of Matt's brother Eugene in 1989. It's basically a Grief ''Album''.
* IAmTheBand: From 1982 to 1987, Matt didn't have a set lineup for The The, choosing to use various musicians for recording and touring.
* IntentionallyAwkwardTitle: ''The entire band''. Not in the typical [[NotSafeForWork NSFW]] sense that usually applies to this trope, more in the 'ungodly confusing and difficult to search for' sense.
* LetsDuet: "Kingdom of Rain" from ''Mind Bomb'' is a duet with Music/SineadOConnor, and "Slow Train To Dawn" from ''Infected'' is one with Neneh Cherry.
* LyricalDissonance: "This Is The Day" sounds like an uplifting song, but it's about a person who's too depressed to actually change anything in their life.
* MinimalisticCoverArt: ''Mind Bomb'' just has a black and white photo of Matt against a white background, and ''[=NakedSelf=]'' has a picture of a lightbulb hanging from a ceiling surrounded by darkness as the main album cover, with an image of the band's logo spraypainted in white against a dark brick wall on the slipcase.
* NewSoundAlbum:
** ''Mind Bomb'' brought in a more textured full band and guitar-heavy sound, as opposed to the SynthPop and dance influenced sound of the two previous albums due to The The now having a set lineup, and also featuring Music/JohnnyMarr.
** ''Dusk'' delves even further into this, featuring a much more acoustic-heavy sound.
** ''[=NakedSelf=]'' is probably the biggest example of this in their discography, bordering on Industrial Rock.
* NewWave: All their 80s output, but particularly ''Infected''.
* PostPunk: ''Soul Mining'' and ''Infected'' arguably count as this.
* ProtestSong: A good portion of their discography is this. ''Infected'' and ''Mind Bomb'' are essentially Protest Albums.
* PunnyName: "The Beat(en) Generation". Also "Uncertain Smile" is probably a pun on Johnny Mathis's hit "A Certain Smile".
* RevolvingDoorBand: From 1982 to 1987 (although mixed with IAmTheBand), and again since 1995.
* ShoutOut: The opening of "Armageddon Days Are Here (Again)" parodies the opening of the Sweet's "Ballroom Blitz".
* SpellMyNameWithAThe: [[ExaggeratedTrope Two of 'em, in fact.]]
* SynthPop: ''Soul Mining'' and ''Infected''
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: "This Is The Day":
-->''You could have done anything, if you wanted''\\
''And all your friends and family think that you're lucky''\\
''But the side of you they'll never see''\\
''Is when you're left alone with your memories''\\
''That hold your life together, like glue''
----