Audience-Alienating Premise: Their Hank Williams tribute album Hanky Panky (1995) was met with mixed reactions, to say the least. Dusk era The The melded with Williams' country tunes from the 1940s and 50s was a hard sell to the thin overlap in the Venn diagram of the artists' fanbases, while many others had no idea what to make of it. The punny title and silly cover art didn't help, and the album found its way onto "worst albums of the 90s" lists. However, it was well-received by some, particularly those already familiar with Williams but not The The (including Williams' daughter) and opinions of it have skewed a bit more positive over the years.
Harsher in Hindsight: "Heartland" and "The Beaten Generation" became this in a big way after the 2016 Brexit Referendum and the resulting chaos and anger that followed.
Nearly all of Dusk due to it being heavily influenced by the Creator Breakdown caused by the death of Matt's brother in 1989.
"This Is The Day". Oh god, "This Is The Day". The 1993 re-recording, "That Was The Day" arguably even more so.
A lot of Soul Mining as well, namely the aforementioned "This Is the Day", as well as "Uncertain Smile" and "Perfect".
Most of Mind Bomb too, namely "August And September", "The Beat(en) Generation", "Kingdom Of Rain" and "Beyond Love".
"Weather Belle" and "Phantom Walls" from NakedSelf.
Matt's reading of the poem "The Inertia Variations" from the Radio Cineola Boxset can get pretty sad, especially the last two sections, "This Day" and "Feelings". These sections get even sadder when you realise the melancholic, droning backing music is actually a heavily slowed down recording of "This Is The Day". Dark Reprise indeed.
