The Smiths’ album The Queen Is Dead came out 31 years ago yesterday. In celebration of that anniversary, the band announced a new vinyl reissue of the LP’s opening title track, and the single went on sale yesterday. But Morrissey is not happy with the way the UK retailer HMV is selling the record, and when Morrissey isn’t happy about something, he writes a long note about it. Find that note below.

In our consumer culture, the Smiths new release of “The Queen Is Dead” single was oddly racked at HMV with a sticker on the front that states:

Limited To One Copy Per Customer.

not unlike a Smoking Will Seriously Damage Your Health warning.

This sticker was not requested by ?t?he Smiths, and cannot be found on any other HMV stock, and therefore exists for “The Queen Is Dead” only.

But why is it there?

An attempt to freeze sales is, of course, an overwhelming insult to the Smiths … as if artistic freedom must struggle in our current culture of banality … as if only counterfeit emotions ?may ?apply.

“The Queen Is Dead” is also the only song currently in the UK top ten that has not been played on radio, and yet still sits at #4 on today’s sales chart. Over thirty years since their death, and the Smiths are still thought too radical for the slow reader! It is evident, to me at least, that music audiences must only feel and think the very same thing at all times.

Freud: “There is no such thing as an accident.”

If you are in possession of seven variable wigs, a box containing false noses, multiple-sized plastic clip-on ears, a nurse outfit, a set of stilts, a Superman cape, and a variety of oddly shaped spectacles, then we urge you to use them now and buy as many copies ?of “The Queen Is Dead” ?a?t HMV as? you ?desire.?

MORRISSEY
17 June 2017.