The Program is the second album by Marion, released in 1998 on London Records, and produced by former guitarist of the Smiths, Johnny Marr.

After its conclusion, they found it difficult to finish songs for their next album due to suffering from fatigue and the absence of time to work on them.

[3] The Program was recorded at Revolution Studios in Manchester in early 1997 with Johnny Marr as producer and James Spencer as engineer.

[4] Harding recalled that it was the first album that Marr had sung on, providing "T. Rex cat-style" backing vocals to "The Program", alongside several guitar riffs throughout it.

Though London agreed to this situation, they ended up releasing The Program in Japan without any kind of promotion or press, aware that they would recoup the cost solely from that country alone.