"Meat Is Murder"
February 1985
The Headmaster Ritual
Rusholme Ruffians
I Want The One I Can't Have
What She Said
That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore
How Soon Is Now? *
Nowhere Fast
Well I Wonder
Barbarism Begins At Home
Meat Is Murder
UK CD [Rough Trade ROUGHCD81]
UK CS [Rough Trade ROUGHC81]
UK LP [Rough Trade ROUGH81]

Argentina CS [DG Discos/Buelax Music 10001-0]
Argentina LP [DG Discos/Buelax Music 10001-1]

Australia CD [CBS 451068-2]
Australia CD [1988 reissue on Festival D30107]
Australia CD [1993 reissue on Warner Australia 91895-2]
Australia CS [CBS ??]
Australia CS [1988 reissue on Festival C30107]
Australia LP [CBS RTANZ010]
Australia LP [1988 reissue on Festival L30107]

Brazil CS [WEA ??]
Brazil LP [WEA 610.7063]

Canada CD [Sire CD-25269]
Canada CS [Sire 92 52694]
Canada LP [Sire 92 52691]

Europe CD [WEA 91895-2]
Europe CS [WEA 91895-4]
Europe 10 [WEA 91894-1]

France CD [Virgin 30258]
France CS [Virgin 50314]
France LP [Virgin 70314]

Germany LP [RT Deutschland RTD28]

Greece CS [EMI/Virgin 262VG50108]
Greece LP [EMI/Virgin VG50108]

Holland LP [Megadisc MD7999]

Israel LP [Rough Trade RT81]

Italy CS [Rough Trade ??]
Italy LP [Rough Trade ROUGH81]

Japan CD [Tokuma Japan 32JC-108]
Japan CD [1987 reissue on Victor VDP-5075]
Japan CD [1990 reissue on Victor VICP-2003]
Japan CD [1993 reissue on WEA WMC5-544]
Japan CD [1995 reissue on WEA WPCR-303]
Japan CD [1997 reissue on WEA WPCR-2510]
Japan CD [2006 reissue on WEA WPCR-12440]
Japan LP [Tokuma Japan 25RTL-3001]
Japan LP [1987 reissue on Victor VIP-4216]

New Zealand LP [CBS RTRANZ010]

Philippines CS [DVNA Products MC-ROUGH-81]
Philippines LP [DVNA Products TC-ROUGH-81]

Portugal LP [Transmedia TM/RT 81]

Spain CS [Nuevos Medios 44-124C]
Spain LP [Nuevos Medios 43-123L]

Sweden LP [MNW ROUGH81]

Taiwan CS [Crystal ROUGHC81]

Uruguay LP [Variety 365887]
Uruguay CS [Variety 465.887]

USA CD [Sire 9 25269-2]
USA CS [Sire 9 25269-4]
USA LP [Sire 9 25269-1]

 

Additional information:
* "How Soon Is Now" was only included on all formats in the USA, Canada and Japan, on all formats released in Australia on CBS and on WEA CDs and cassettes. Only in Australia and in Japan was the title mentioned in the listing on the back.

The 2006 Japanese cd reissue is slipped inside a mini-replica of the original Tokuma Japan LP sleeve. Even the inner sleeve, obi and label are replicas of the ones from the original LP pressing.

The picture disc, the green vinyl, the white vinyl and the multi-coloured splatter LP editions on Rough Trade are actually bootleg reproductions made in 2007.

 

Artwork information:
The soldier photo is taken from Emile de Antonio's "In The Year Of The Pig" film [1968]. The words "Meat Is Murder" on the soldier's helmet were originally "Make war not love" (view original artwork in left bar). The photos appear four times on the LP artwork, but only once on the CDs and cassettes. In Australia (early pressings on CBS and Festival only), the USA, Canada, and on the Japanese 2006 reissue, the LP artwork (replicated soldier) was used for CDs and cassettes as well.

 

Etchings on vinyl:
UK: ILLNESS AS ART / DOING THE WYTHENSHAWE WALTZ
(only on original Rough Trade release, not on the WEA reissue)
Wythenshawe is the area of Manchester where Johnny Marr grew up.
Holland: HOLLAND CUTTING / none

 

Additional release date information:
UK LP and cassette: 11/14 February 1985
Japan LP and CD: 25 March 1985
UK cd: April 1985
USA/Canada cd: 7 July 1987
UK/Europe WEA re-releases: 15 November 1993
Japan WEA 1993 re-release: 10 December 1993
Japan WEA 1997 re-release: 25 November 1997
Japan WEA 2006 re-release: 13 September 2006

 

Chart peak information:
UK: 1
USA: 110

 

Certifications:
UK: Gold on 18 February 1985

 

Promotion:
UK: The album was promoted in the UK with white label copies of the LP format. It is not impossible that promo stickers were slipped inside some copies. A month before the release of the album, two different promo-only 12" of "Barbarism Begins At Home" were sent to radio, both numbered RTT171 (view artwork in left frame). The first featured only the album version and the other had both the album version and a 3:48 edit. They usually came with a 2-page press release/crowd response form.

Argentina: White-label copies of the LP were distributed inside the usual stock sleeve for promotion.

Australia: Promotion at the time of the album's original release was done via promo copies of the LP. These were identical to their stock counterparts, except for the black and white 'hat man' labels, and the gold stamp at the back of the sleeve. The Festival reissues from 1988 were promoted with copies of the stock LP with a DJ COPY NOT FOR SALE sticker on the label.

Brazil: Promo LPs were stamped in red ink on the labels, and in gold on the back of the sleeve.

Canada: Gold-stamped copies of the stock LP were distributed for promotion. The promo 7" mentioned on the "How Soon Is Now?" page served to promote this album as well as that single.

France: Copies of the stock LP stamped DISQUE GRATUIT INTERDIT A LA VENTE in the sleeve's corner were dispatched for promotion of this album. Virgin in France also produced a 2-version promo 12" of "Barbarism Begins At Home" (Virgin SA3013), as did Rough Trade UK. Unlike them, the record wasn't slipped inside a picture sleeve, but a generic Virgin Records one, either blue or yellow or occasionally white with a Virgin sticker on it.

Greece: Promotional versions of the LP were stamped or hole-punched.

Holland: A one-sided promo 7" of "The Headmaster Ritual" (MD7999/01) was pressed in Holland to promote this album.

Israel: Promotional copies of the LP had a record company sticker on the back.

Italy: Stock copies of the LP were pin-stamped CAMPIONE GRATUITO in a corner of the sleeve and dispatched for promotion.

Japan: Promotion of the original release was done via copies of the LP format with a white SAMPLE sticker on the sleeve and the usual extra 3-character promo text printed on the label. Promo cds for the 1987, 1990 and 1993 (and possibly 1995 and 1997) reissues have a promo sticker on the case and promo text on the cds' inner ring. The promo cd for the 2006 reissue in LP-replica sleeves have a white and red promo sticker on the back and 'sample loaned' etched on the cd's inner ring.

USA: The main means of promotion of this album was through gold-stamped copies of the stock LP. A promo 12" of "The Headmaster Ritual" (Sire, PRO-A-2333) was also distributed in the USA in March of 1985 to promote this album. It had the album version on one side, and an edit by Phil Brown on the other (in die-cut sleeve, no artwork, view label in left bar). The promo 7" mentioned on the "How Soon Is Now?" page served to promote this album as well as that single. A press kit including a 3p bio and a 8x10 photo was sent to radio and other relevent media.

 

Quotes:
Morrissey, March 1985: "The whole idea with 'Meat Is Murder' was to control it totally, and without a producer thngs were better. We saw things clearer."

Morrissey, March 1985: "I didn't really have any intention of being misunderstood with the words on this LP. A lot of people wrote about the first LP and they said things that were very poetic and interesting and absolutely inaccurate. So I just felt that on this LP people should really know which hammer I'm trying to nail, as it were."