Peggy Suicide was recorded and released following two lo-fi Cope albums - Skellington and Droolian - which had not gained official distribution and caused friction with Cope's label Island Records. Cope's previous Island release, My Nation Underground, had not satisfied him, and he had rejected its heavily produced, pop-friendly sound in favour of a one-take, more politicised approach as expounded by former White Panther John Sinclair in his book Guitar Army. Cope was later to refer to this book as "my holy book", and it set the method for all of his subsequent recording.
Several familiar Cope collaborators were on the record - multi-instrumentalist Donald Ross Skinner, drummer/percussionist Rooster Cosby and keyboard player/onetime Cope producer Ron Fair. There were also contributions by new associates in the shape of former Smiths drummer Mike Joyce and future Spiritualized lead guitarist Michael Watts (better known as Mike Mooney or "Moon-eye").
On the album's songs, Cope laid bare many of his personal convictions including his hatred of organized religion and his increasing public interest in women's rights, the occult, alternative spirituality (including paganism and Goddess worship), animal rights, and ecology. He had referred in passing to these beliefs in previous songs, but never so directly. The album was written in the aftermath of the British anti-poll tax riots in 1990. Cope had taken part in the protest, and several songs on the album refer directly to its events.
Cope's forthright new political stance was reflected in the song "Leperskin", which refers to the contemporary British prime minister Margaret Thatcher (who resigned between the recording of Peggy Suicide and its release) as an "apostolic hag". For one particular track, the anti-police tirade "Soldier Blue", Cope sampled Lenny Bruce's live album The Berkeley Concert and mixed in samples of the Poll Tax Riot.
The album's title was a derivative of Buddy Holly' song "Peggy Sue" the opener "Pristeen" had elegance and melancholy that gained in intensity to moved into the representative "Double Vegetation", other remarkable tunes were the singles "Beautifulo Love" a catchy tune with a calypso sound and the funky "East Easy Rider", other catchy tracks were "If You Love Me At All", "Drive She Said" and the short "Head", while the endless "Safesurfer" with a huge intro with guitar just like Hendrix welcomes a 3 minutes narrative by Cope, "Not Raving But Drowning" regained the Caribbean percusion with psychedellic guitars and then the reflexives "Promised Land" & "Las Vegas Basement" to close a magnificent album.
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