personally believes; the release's title The Cleanest War stems from a line of lyric in the song "Alone is the cleanest war, at least it's now fought fair". "America On Line" deals with social and political issues surrounding internet dependency, being entrapped by one's computer, social security numbers and tracking by the LoJack system. Its title is a reference to the internet service provider America On Line. "Minus One" recounts a story from the perspective of parents whose child is abducted and murdered; how it must feel to have a child taken away and what one would want to do about it, challenging the positions of the death sentence. It was loosely inspired by the story of Adam Walsh, which had become folklore for children growing up in Miami, Florida during the 1980s and early 1990s. "Remedy" was partly inspired by the 1995 film Outbreak, and partly by the AIDS disease, and deals with a fictional political authority that has developed a cure for the virus but is refusing to make it public for nefarious reasons and profit. The opening of the song includes a sample from the film, and the ending features backing group vocals performed by all of the members of the band. Release and distribution Although Wylie later professed in retrospective interviews that the band originally went into Studio 13 to record a demo tape, without definitive plans for a future release, he had already been in contact with Redford, Michigan-based record label Conquer the World Records' owner Michael Warden. Conquer the World Records had previously released Culture's debut full-length album, Born of You, in June 1995, and although the band had mixed feelings about the record label's practices, Wylie remained in contact with Warden, letting him hear practice recordings of his new band Morning Again's songs over the phone. Warden liked what he heard and offered to release whatever the band recorded. With the band's debut extended play originally scheduled for release in mid-April 1996 (it was ultimately delayed by a month), Morning Again self-released a limited edition demo tape that included the songs "Turning Over" and "Remedy"; the demo tape was available starting February 9, 1996. The cover art and booklet design for The Cleanest War was made up of Moyal's newly-designed band logo and handwritten song titles (for the back cover), along with live pictures of the band taken by Stefanie Jones, Kelly Wisniewski