Morrissey to Re-Release World Peace Is None of Your Business

Morrissey’s official fansite True to You posted an update today about the artist’s upcoming world tour. (Tickets are selling out!) At the bottom of the note, they announced that Moz plans to re-release his last album, World Peace Is None of Your Business. Harvest Records originally released the LP in July 2014, but after a drawn-out back-and-forth between label and artist, it was removed from digital and streaming platforms.

Moz first signed to Harvest for the new album in January 2014. In May, Harvest released a spoken word music video for “World Peace Is None of Your Business.” By August, he criticized the label for not releasing any videos that “fully understand the intent of the song.” Just days later–and within a month of the album’s release–True to You reported that Harvest dropped Moz from the label. Following the report, a “source close to the situation” indicated the Moz was still on Harvest, locked in for a two-album deal. The next day, True to You came back to say that, in fact, Morrissey and his lawyer had emails that “very clearly stated that [Harvest] would have no interest in licensing a second album by Morrissey.”

On August 20, 2014 (15 days after his initial criticism), Morrissey cleared the air with a long note on True to You. He detailed his relationship with Harvest, saying just why he did not support the spoken word videos, among other grievances. It culminated with the album’s removal from digital platforms and the videos’ disappearance from YouTube. After the fiasco seemed all said and done, Moz had his band wore t-shirts that read “Fuck Harvest” (in all caps) during an October show in Lisbon. The label itself soon began selling the shirts in their own web store. 

True to You offered no further details on the World Peace Is None of Your Business re-release except for its cover art. It features a photo of Renée Jeanne Falconetti as her titular character from the 1928 silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc. See it below.

Earlier today, PETA released a new online video game called “The Beautiful Creature Must Die” inspired by the Smiths song “Meat Is Murder.” In it, you save farm animals from slaughter. In a statement, Morrissey said: “This game is the biggest social crusade of all, as we safeguard the weak and helpless from violent human aggression. You don’t get that from ‘Pokémon Go.’”

Read “The Smiths Were Way More Subversive Than We (And David Cameron) Care to Remember” on the Pitch. 

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