Morrissey ditches David Bowie for Rick Astley on new single art

By August Brown

March 6, 2013 12 AM PT

He’s jousted with Jimmy Kimmell, sparred with Staples Center over its menu and he made the L.A. crowd swoon last Friday. Now Morrissey’s latest kerfuffle has landed him an unlikely ally -- Rick Astley.

For the planned reissue of his 1989 single “The Last of the Famous International Playboys,” Moz had planned to use an unreleased photo of himself with David Bowie as the cover image.

Bowie asked that the picture be pulled, however (perhaps not to distract from his own long-awaited album art?).

Moz, never without a sense of humor about these things, went with an excellent Plan B -- a 1989 picture of Morrissey posing with Astley backstage at the long-running British TV music show “Top of the Pops.”

The single comes tied to a reissue of Morrissey’s 1991 solo album “Kill Uncle.” Well played, Moz. We’ll never make you cry or say goodbye either.