Жұқтырылған: The тобының альбомы және саяси мәселелер

Infected is the second studio album by the English post punk band the The, released on 17 November 1986 by Some Bizzare and Epic. The album produced four UK singles, including the band's best selling single "Heartland," which reached number 29 in the UK and spent 10 weeks on the chart, "Infected", "Slow Train to Dawn" and "Sweet Bird of Truth". Although Infected only peaked at number 14 on the UK Albums Chart, it remained on the chart for 30 weeks. "Sweet Bird of Truth" is about the US's military involvement in Middle East politics. Johnson said, "The idea of that single was to provide a musical interpretation of the sort of cultural conflict that occurs when the ultimate Western power takes on the sort of Eastern fundamentalism that you'll find in the Arab nations." Johnson wanted to release "Sweet Bird of Truth" as the album's first single in April 1986, but the timing coincided with the US bombing of Libya, and because of the song's lyrics critical of American military involvement in the Middle East, CBS were unwilling to release and promote the single. It was eventually released as a low key limited edition single and deleted on the day of release. Johnson said, "The day I went in to tell them I wanted to release the single, they'd just been told by Special Branch to take their American flags down, since, as an American multi national, they were a possible target for Libyan bombing. So I prepared a statement for the press, but apparently the [UK national daily newspapers] were told not to print it, because they could then be held responsible if CBS were bombed." He admitted that the song was partly autobiographical, saying, "I get myself into a lot of difficult situations. I feel I have to live out what I write about out. I don't feel it's fair if I've never done the things I'm singing about. So I've done everything. I've lived out the lives of the characters." The opening scenes for "Infected" picture Johnson strapped to a chair on board a boat sailing down a river in the jungle: Johnson said that he had wanted the opening of the film "to be like that Klaus Kinski movie Fitzcarraldo". After spending a month in the Amazon jungle, Johnson flew back to New York to shoot the video for "Out of the Blue" with Tim Pope in the Spanish Harlem district. In keeping with the song's lyrical theme, part of the video was filmed in a brothel next door to a crack house. The police protected the film crew until 1:00 a. m. before leaving because they could no longer guarantee the crew's safety. The already tense situation was exacerbated by Johnson, who had been drinking heavily and provoked the crack dealers by throwing a bottle against the wall near them. | rev3 = Q
| rev3Score = 4/5 Sounds claimed that "there's self controlled passion and strength seeping out all over this thing", while Q described the album as "grim stuff, with the lyrical tension well matched by the music. Imagine a bizarre collision between Soft Cell and Tom Waits and you might get some idea of the disparate elements sloshing around in each of these songs." Record Mirror opined that "coming to any judgement about this new record is quite daunting. What becomes clear, however, is that we are dealing with something special Two sides of this intense brooding can be a bit much to take though, and the lyrics are at times self consciously poetic, but these are minor complaints. Infected might not be a particularly optimistic record, but it is rather a good one." Only NME was critical of the album, describing it as "shocking" but then pondering: "The question is – and it's one that was endlessly asked of Low – what remains after the initial impact, my shock, wears off? The answer to that will vary, naturally, from one burning blue soul to the next; for me, the lasting afterglow is one of detachment In the final analysis, living with Infected is like having one of those vast, mirror windowed office blocks built across the road from your front door. You can't fail to notice it, and you'll be impressed, sure. But you won't grow to love it." A retrospective review in AllMusic said, "Instead of the light fare displayed on Soul Mining, Infected's songs seethe instead of preen, and Matt Johnson's lyrics are laced with tension. Thematically, he plunges a lance into the exposed midsection of Great Britain, analyzing the state of modern urban life in the country Infected was the first true indication of Johnson's mercurial nature, and established the dissonance and reinvention of his later work."

Record Mirror placed Infected at number three in its year end list of the best albums of 1986, and "Heartland" at number four in the equivalent singles list. In 2000, Q placed Infected at number 99 in its list of the 100 greatest British albums. The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2005).