The press release is up

[Kirkman]

That makes sense, but "the" would be okay if you're saying something like "the Newboys' new CD."

Exactly. When regular people talk using proper-noun plural possessives, they generally insert "the" beforehand. So you hear "I love the O.C. Supertones' new CD" or "I really enjoyed the Rolling Stones' concert last night" even though "the" is not part of the actual name of the band.

It sounds and reads extremely awkward to remove "the" from those sentences.

Same thing for this press release. Nobody speaking normally would say "The band was very instrumental in the beginning stages of Newsboys' career." The would say "the Newsboys' career."

--Josh

[Petra Fan Canada]

MY HEAD IS GOING TO EXPLODE!!

I would ask you guys to speak in english, but I guess you are.

[gman]

There is some nuance here. You would say "I saw Newsboys in Concert", or "I saw the Newsboys Concert". You wouldn't say, "I saw the Newsboys in concert", just like you wouldn't say, "I saw the Petra in concert". It would be, "I bought the new Newboys CD", or "I bought the new CD from Newsboys", but not, "I bought the Newsboys new cd", or "I bought the new CD from The Newsboys", just like you wouldn't say, "I bought the Petras new CD", or "I bought the new CD from the Petra".

It all depends on how you are using the name.

[Michael]

Wow... now MY head is going to explode!!! How could you type all that without getting your fingers tied in knots??

(Or should that be, tied in "THE" knots? I'm so CONFUSED!!!)

[executioner]

I think I am done looking at this topic. BTW where did this begin?

[brent]

There was a band called The The.

So, if I bought a CD, I could say, "Hey Ferdinando, I just purchased the The The CD."

If I had a speech impediment, I could say, "Hey, I..I..I just b..b..bought the...the...the...the The The CD."

[charl]

heehee, what a fun discussion.
Maybe this is not true anymore, but the Rolling Stones were originally The Rolling Stones. All my old Jones-era albums include a the.

The also appears on the First Newsboys album.

Isn't The just a fun and interesting word? The the the the the...

[Kirkman]

You wouldn't say, "I saw the Newsboys in concert", just like you wouldn't say, "I saw the Petra in concert".

This example doesn't apply because neither Petra nor Newsboys is a plural possessive when you use them that way.

It would be, "I bought the new Newboys CD", or "I bought the new CD from Newsboys", but not, "I bought the Newsboys' new cd", or "I bought the new CD from the Newsboys"

You've lost me here. The third example is the only one that relates to what we were talking about, and people definitely *would* say that (just as they would use some of the others).

just like you wouldn't say, "I bought the Petras' new CD", or "I bought the new CD from the Petra".

Yes, that's right. People wouldn't say that. But the key is that Petra is not a PLURAL band name, and therefore can't be a plural possessive the way "Newsboys" can.

[charl]

What about The Who, or The Jimi Hendix Experience? No plurals there-but definitely the's! Heheh
Okay okay I know in that era almost everyone tacked a the onto their name.

OOh wait I thought of a later version-The Tragically Hip.

[gman]

This is one silly argument, but I still maintain my right to have a strong opinion on it. I still say, despite the presence of the S at the end of Newsboys, it still refers to a singular unit, just like Petra refers to a singular unit. If you need to make possesive, you follow the traditional S rule that say you only add an apostrophe after the existing S and don't add a second S.
Any band name represents a group of people who function as a single entity. The exception to this would of course be a choir, an ensemble, a quartet, etc. These names imply or mean multiple people. Petra or Newsboys refers to a single entity that has an unspecified and maybe fluctuating number of people.

[Shell]

This is almost-but not quite-as bad as the CITAS debate.

[Michael]

This is almost-but not quite-as bad as the CITAS debate.

I'd say this one is MUCH more ridiculous than that one. Say, did anyone hear that the press release is up????

[brent]

For what?

[Bill F]

For what?

It was about either Elvis or Princess Di. They died ya know.

[Michael]

Well, I know it MUST have been about a press release, but I can't really remember what it was for. The word "the," I think. Is the word "the" retiring from the English language or something?