Explosive, orgasmic, sleuthing, and sexy—Everything there is to say about the iconoclastic rockstar Peaches has already been said. The 2024 documentary Teaches of Peaches attempts to demystify the mythology of Peaches, exposing audiences to a less extreme Peaches as she celebrates the 20th anniversary of the seminal album of the same name.
Despite already having an expansive Peaches-Cinematic-Universe comprised of a self-directed musical entitled Peaches Does Herself, and a separate documentary Peaches Goes Bananas, Teaches of Peaches does not attempt to maintain Peaches status as queer-feminist trailblazer, but strips her down to convey her climb to the top.
The documentary successfully deconstructs the idea of Peaches by displaying the methodical everyday lives of tour life, and interpreting the said “teaches” of Peaches, or everyday philosophies she initiates. The first half of the film lingers on the daily routines on tour and the history of Peaches, focusing on the more mechanical aspects of tour life. Lighting technicians detail their intense projects, sound checks, and dancers run-throughs are all captured in the documentary. The beginning of the film exposes and contextualizes audiences to the significance Peaches holds in the cultural zeitgeist. From her sold-out shows, elaborate costumes, and bizarre music videos, spectators get a taste of it all, nicely integrated with the raw reality that goes behind producing a tour like this one. As the documentary progresses, the filmmakers focus more on the history of Peaches: early days in Berlin, interviews with her rising peers in the music scene, and dazzling archival footage. All of this to pontificate on the real lessons the reverent album teaches listeners and now viewers. Those who are not fans of Peaches may find these parts overwrought, but really they were a testament to the sense of community Peaches fosters, both on a micro and macro scale. Figuratively, Peaches is commended on uniting people on multiple fronts: she changed the club scene to be more open to queer employees and performers, and served as a sexual-spokesperson for women, and has never ceased to make political statements on topics regarding abortions and transgender rights. In the documentary, audiences see the physical manifestation of this: her concerts. Peaches’ stage presence emanates through the screen and ignites both the actual crowds depicted and people watching from the comfort of their local movie theater. She remains one of the most exciting performers of our time, rallying her fans to dance, sing, and support her. “Jesus walks on water, Peaches walks on you,” she narrates, as she crowdsurfs with the agility of a tween cheerleader.
The meat of the documentary comes later on, as the filmmakers bridge the gap between the worldwide phenomenon of Peaches, and her early days starting out. Visually, the film does not diverge from the typical music-documentary archival footage, but because the subject is Peaches, the found-footage of lost Super 8 film and scrapped music videos is inherently more interesting than any other “sex, drugs, and rock and roll” film. It further englightens Peaches creativity; from her inception she was producing colorful and raunchy pieces of media. The 2000-something bits of old tour-vlogs are enough to make it worth to check Teaches of Peaches out.
For fans of Peaches, this film will be an absolute romp. It rightfully praises Peaches incredibly brave and exciting career trajectory, and may even shine light to some of the lesser known facts about the artist. Her album, The Teaches of Peaches, could only exist in the aftermath of living in a shitty Toronto apartment, surviving an episode of thyroid cancer, and having your heart broken. Peaches reminds viewers that the album was never intended to be a “sad” album, and long-term collaborators like Chilly Gonzalez, Feist, and Shirley Manson of Garbage contemplate this. Each proposed their own interpretation; Gonzalez and Feist praising Peaches for her DIY-rock-and-roll ethos, while Manson reflects on the album as something more absurdist. “It speaks to the joy and destructiveness of life. Who doesn’t suffer?” she says, elaborating that in light of everything she was experiencing, a thirty-something year old Peaches pursued music. Some parts of the film lack clarification on the issues Peaches’ collaborators bring light to.
As the documentary wraps up, Peaches and her peers reflect on the external challenges she faced when marketing The Teaches of Peaches. For one, the album was barred from music stores across the country after Sony Music decided to halt the sales of the record. Before society could even fathom the sociological issues regarding a lack of queer representation in the music industry, a shortage of sexually explicit and raunchy female rockstars, and a misogynistic marketplace, Peaches was already addressing it in her music. Peaches underlines the idea that her existence, and by virtue everyone’s, is innately political. She is open about her feminism and has always expressed her concerns for LGBTQ+ rights. Her persona obstructed the world’s palate for sex and female autonomy, but the documentary lacks a severity when discussing the more political aspects. At times, it comes off as serious, as Manson describes the lack of inclusion for queer interests and female-presenting interests, but this coupled with seemingly less important scenes about costume emergencies and so on seems minimizing. They emphasize the restraints Peaches faced from successfully promoting The Teaches of Peaches, yet the film seems to brush over these issues. It was somewhat self-conflicting, because while Peaches was commended for the immense change she brought to music and politics, the struggle to get there were not fully realized by the filmmakers. Perhaps that was the intention, illustrating the giant “Fuck You!” and “Don’t Give a Fuck About Pretenses!” attitude Peaches carries with her by not giving too much attention to the institutions that kept her down for so long, but some may feel like a narrative string was left loose. That is not to say that this ruins the film, as a topic as joyous as Peaches is hard to deviate from.
While the film is not the most shattering music documentary out there, it nicely salutes one of the most radical icons of passion and authenticity. Teaches of Peaches is a documentary for those who admire Peaches and are thankful for what she has done to transform conceptions of music and sexuality, but even those who do not come into the film with a love for the singer will leave with an appreciation for the meticulousness and craftsmanship that Peaches brings to everything.