In 1982, a deal was inked with Capitol Records and Dan Hartman offered to produce a demo of the album for Capitol with Rod at Electric Lady Studios, Jimi Hendrix's old studio, in New York, N.Y. A demo was arranged, recorded and mixed within a week, but not released. It would be released only 20 years later as Coup de Grace.
Recording
The album was recorded at Dierks Studios, near Cologne, Germany and was produced by Dieter Dierks, who had just come off a number one album with the Scorpions. Coup d'Etat was a breakthrough album that began to blend the punk and heavy metal genres, something that would later be done time and time again by bands such as S.O.D., Anthrax, and the Cro-Mags by the end of the 1980s. Singer Wendy O. Williams also broke ground for her unique singing style; she pushed her vocals so hard she had to travel into Cologne each day for treatment to avoid permanent damage to her vocal cords.
Release
Despite the band's rise in fame, the band was dropped by Capitol Records shortly after the album's release. In 2005, Rock Candy Records re-released the album with expanded liner notes, bonus tracks, and a re-master of the entire original album.
Reception
The Los Angeles Times called Coup d'Etat the "best slice of unrelenting heavy metal since the last AC/DC album," adding that, "Williams makes Ann Wilson or Pat Benatar sound like Judy Collins". The newspaper's question about whether the heavy metal audience would "accept a female screecher" underscored how groundbreaking what Wendy was doing was. This was previously entirely male territory. As far as the sheer power of the vocals, the Aberdeen Press from Janis Joplin's home state said that Wendy was "doing vocally what nobody since Janis Joplin" has done, while a review in Creem called it a "breakthrough" record and Wendy "an aggressive female"; the review went on saying it was "kicking down traditional barriers". Wendy's "physicality...is coming out of her voice." The Creem review, by Cyril Blight, attacked the sexism of those who "can't handle" or 'even resent the very idea of a woman like Wendy Williams singing rock and roll with ferocity-which is to say the same qualities they would applaud if they were coming from a man, providing there was a man around today with the balls to do that."
Tour
In early 1983, as a part of the support for the album and an attempt to continue their transition toward a metal audience, the band opened for Kiss on their Creatures of the Night tour. It was during this time that Gene Simmons approached manager Rod Swenson about producing the next Plasmatics album.
Covers
The song "The Damned" was covered by German thrash metal band Destruction on the Mad Butcher EP in 1987. During the 1990s, the music video was shown on Beavis & Butt-Head, in which the duo praised the song, the appearance of Williams, and the action stunts. The electro band Japanese Car Crash would perform "The Damned" live on their tours from 2007-2013. They replaced the guitar solo with a theremin solo.
