Songfacts®:

• In this song, Cro-Mags take the cynical (some would say pragmatic) view that world peace can never happen. It's a message in line with the band and their hardcore brethren that sang about life on the fringes, often in violent terms.
• Cro-Mags were one of the more influential acts of the '80s New York City punk/hardcore scene. "World Peace" is part of their debut album, The Age Of Quarrel, with songs written by lead singer John Joseph, guitarist Parris Mayhew, and bass player Harley Flanagan. Mayhew told Songfacts the story behind the song. "I wrote the music for 'World Peace' on the bass, in my mother's kitchen when I was 15 years old, way before I formed Cro-Mags," he said. "I wrote it with hopes of starting my own band, which I wanted to be like Motörhead! When I formed Cro-Mags, I switched from bass to guitar and my new bass player wrote lyrics to 'World Peace' from a title my friend Paul Dordal came up, with which was, 'World peace can't be done' – so I guess Paul deserves credit for writing that chorus. With Paul and the bass player's lyrics, 'World Peace' became the first Cro-Mags song and the musical template for the rest of the songs on Age of Quarrel."
  
  Mayhew went on to become an innovative director of music videos. His work includes "Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All)" for Type O Negative and "Belly Of The Beast" by Anthrax.