Viva Hate

Recorded two months after The Smiths split, it grew out of demos Stephen Street had sent for possible Smiths B-sides. Morrissey wrote the lyrics and Street the music, with arrangements credited to Vini Reilly. In Australia and New Zealand it was retitled Education in Reverse, because EMI Australia found the original title too harsh. The US edition added "Hairdresser on Fire", and a 2012 remaster added "Treat Me Like a Human Being".

The sessions were not easy. The Quietus described friction between Reilly and Street over technical matters, and a daily routine of gym, sauna and vegetarian food. Reilly later claimed he and Morrissey co-wrote most of the songs, and Street denied it. The record reached number one in Britain, number 48 in the United States, and went gold in both countries.

Rolling Stone called it a tight, fairly disciplined affair in 1988. Pitchfork later named it one of his most interesting records and certainly his riskiest, and AllMusic gave it four and a half stars. Spin was negative and missed Johnny Marr. The Quietus thought the second side uneven.

"Margaret on the Guillotine" led to Morrissey being briefly questioned by Special Branch. The American edition put "Hairdresser on Fire" at track nine, and a 7-inch of it was sold with the album in Japan. The album went gold in the United States in 1993. A remaster supervised by Stephen Street appeared in April 2012. It dropped "The Ordinary Boys" and the name of Vini Reilly, and removed the extended fadeout of "Late Night, Maudlin Street". Street later said he felt those changes were a mistake. Q listed the album among its top 50 of 1988, and it appears in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.