He calls the store’s “limited to one per customer” sticker “an overwhelming insult to the Smiths”

Yesterday, the Smiths announced the release of new “The Queen Is Dead” vinyl singles, which feature the opening track of their iconic 1986 album of the same name with additional rarities. Both 7" and 12" versions were made available at retailers immediately. Today in a Facebook post, Morrissey has taken issue with how the store HMV presented the new records. He shared a photo of the reissues being sold with an all-caps label reading “LIMITED TO ONE PER CUSTOMER.” Morrissey said the band didn’t request the sticker and noted that he didn’t see similar notices on any other records. “An attempt to freeze sales is, of course, an overwhelming insult to the Smiths,” he writes, “as if artistic freedom must struggle in our current culture of banality ... as if only counterfeit emotions ​may ​apply.” Pitchfork has reached out to HMV and the Smiths’ representatives for comment.

Later in the note, he encourages people to ignore the sticker and, by any means necessary, buy multiple copies of the record from HMV. “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,” he writes. Find the full note here.

The 12" single features the 1992 edit of the track (found on the “How Soon Is Now” CD single), as well as B-sides “Oscillate Wildly,” “Money Changes Everything,” and “The Draize Train.” The 7" features “I Keep Mine Hidden,” originally found on the 1987 cassette release of “Girlfriend In a Coma” and allegedly the last recorded Smiths song. Earlier this year, the Smiths released a new single for Record Store Day with previously unreleased music and an anti-Trump etching.

View More

Watch Pitchfork.tv’s “Liner Notes” on The Queen Is Dead: