Embrace the hatred: the misogyny and grossness of Steel Panther.

So, in case nobody reads I Make Music, I'm a huge pedal geek and I follow the effect pedal scene very closely. There's a Danish company called TC Electronic that's been around a long time and has several well-known classic effects; mostly their rack unit, the 2290 digital delay. In more recent years, they've done some wonderful digital stompboxes, covering all the classic guitar effects. From delay to modulation to reverb, they've done some really well-built and well-received effects. The most unique and interesting thing they've done is an implementation of what they called TonePrints into their digital stompboxes. What this does is allows anybody with one of their effects pedals to beam a preset into the pedal through their guitar's pickups with their smartphone. The cool thing about this is that all the presets are specially curated and crafted by well-known musicians. Sometimes, it's new ideas offered by folks and other times, it's a specific attempt to recreate a well-known classic sound (for example: on their chorus pedal, Andy Summers did a TonePrint to specifically recreate the 'Walking on the Moon' tone). Cool stuff for guitar nerds, basically.

So, what does any of this have to do with the 80s hair metal revival band Steel Panther?

If you're not familiar, Steel Panther is a semi-novelty band that prides itself on the excess of everything it does.

(in my opinion: an unfunny joke that just won't go away)

Some weeks back, it came to the attention of some of the gear community that the group's guitarist had created a TonePrint called "The Pussy Melter." It was brought to the attention of TC in the form of an online petition and the company pulled the TonePrint (only to rename it and repost it some days later).

This created a (sadly predictable) kickback cry of, "Oh, you SJWs just want to silence free speech!"

The main discrepancy here is how this is 2018 and, in an industry that's been dominated by misogyny, chauvinism, and the male superego, this kind of thing shouldn't even be happening.

So, what did the band do? They doubled down.

I've only heard of this band really.. aren't they supposed to be a bit like a hair metal Spinal Tap?

plus gross OTT sexism

Kind of, dl. Spinal Tap was relevant, astute satire. Steel Panther is neither apt, nor intelligent.

Like I said, an unfunny joke that just won't go away.

who cares, it's a comedy metal band. the more people hammer on about this, the more exposure they get. tbh i'm sick of hearing about them but the more i do the more i am on their side about this.

this a stupid thing to get upset about, I mean even the font on that pedal is stupid

like yes it's vulgar and OTT sexism, after all 80s metal is what they traffic in

imo it's fine & on-brand for the band to sell this to ppl who enjoy that schtick, was a bad look for the outside pedal manufacturer to put it in a context-free marketplace

I’ve only heard about them via this controversy. How popular are they?

Unless they're actively advocating the literal melting of vulvas this isn't an especially big deal, is it?

As folks with Y chromosomes, we're not really qualified to make that call, are we?

who cares, it's a comedy metal band. the more people hammer on about this, the more exposure they get. tbh i'm sick of hearing about them but the more i do the more i am on their side about this.

― Hazy Maze Cave (Adam Bruneau)

bruneau in "i'm on the side of horrible 'controversial' people" shocker

while I'm sure these dweebs are totally crap and unfunny, I think the point people are making is that complaining about this is a bit like boycotting the Spinal Tap movie because of Smell The Glove. isn't the point of it that it is satire, albeit a drab one that's been done a billion times over?

they've actually rejected the label of 'satire'

satire generally has to be funny I guess

it really doesn't

for me the issue with this kind of thing is that so much culture war shit has devolved into "us vs. them" totems, and in particular fodder for the "both sides are bad" false equivalency targeted towards those who can't differentiate between genuine grievance and mock outrage (such as, for instance, the bean-counters at disney). i don't feel comfortable expressing my natural mild peevishness when it puts me in the company of outraged white men whose natural mode of social criticism is rape threats.

Fwiw:

“The label of being a parody band is not something we put on ourselves,” says Starr, who, as a veteran of the Sunset Strip music scene and a former frontman for L.A. Guns, has far more metal cred than comedy chops. “We just truly sing about shit that makes us laugh.”

They’re an L.A. band? Again, I’ve never heard of these guys. If their goal is to get attn. by being offensive, why are publications taking the bait and giving them press?

They tour internationally most years, and have had two top ten albums in Australia, despite being from the sleepy backwater of LA.

i mean, that says more about australia than anything else, doesn't it? does greta van fleet get jjj airplay?

Then Australian publications can write about them. After the gear manufacturer did the right thing and discontinued the pedal (in response to the petition), the story ends... yet P'fork wrote a follow-up article about the band now offering the pedal on their own website. P'fork never covered this band before, but they're now giving them PR.

This is what I'm talking about -- pure PR for the band: https://pitchfork.com/news/steel-panther-respond-to-backlash-by-selling-pussy-melter-guitar-pedals/

I mean, its a conclusion to a story they covered

I guess. But no one who reads P'fork cares about the band. The hook for the story was the involvement by members of Braids and other indie bands in the petition.

i mean, that says more about australia than anything else, doesn't it? does greta van fleet get jjj airplay?

apologies for answering morris' question "I’ve only heard about them via this controversy. How popular are they?"

big in japan australia

Bringin back cock rock yaa buuuuddy

“The label of being a parody band is not something we put on ourselves,” says Starr, who, as a veteran of the Sunset Strip music scene and a former frontman for L.A. Guns, has far more metal cred than comedy chops. “We just truly sing about shit that makes us laugh.”

lmao ok buddy

Wasted is an L.A. Guns EP featuring singer Ralph Saenz, who has since become the vocalist for Steel Panther. The album sold approximately 2500 copies.

Track listing
"Wasted"
"Well Spent"
"Heavy Head"
"Forgiving Eyes"
"The Ballad of Jayne '98"
"Cold Gin"

does greta van fleet get jjj airplay?

not sure of the relevance of this, but I've just checked and Steel Panther have been played on jjj a total of 19 times over the last ten years, nearly all on by one DJ on the metal show, or by another guy on midnight-to-dawn shifts in 2014.

I don't understand what's wrong with wanting to bring pleasure to ladies with your sweet riffage. If someone wants to make a pedal called the Cock Throbber to give dudes a raging bone with riffs then that's dandy too. I would totally understand the outrage if it was called like The Rape Pedal or Roofie Effects or something but this all seems kinda silly.

As folks with Y chromosomes, we're not really qualified to make that call, are we?

― outside, you're never alone. (Austin), Tuesday, August 7, 2018 8:04 PM (yesterday)

These guys seem like dicks, but presumably they will now return to relative obscurity. I bet none of their fans even buy the $200 pedal from their website.

I have zero interest in this band but they've been playing arenas for like a decade

being under the impression that this incident constitutes their brush with fame is the most ILM thing of all time

Ok, they can return to renown solely among their legion of arena-filling fans and readers of L.A. Weekly, and none of us need to think about them again

Or they could just, you know, go away.

I have zero interest in this band but they've been playing arenas for like a decade

Bullshit. They're a club act. They did one tour opening for Judas Priest in 2014, but other than that they're strictly small time. They don't get radio play, most metalheads don't like them...they've got a cult following, but that's it, and they're never gonna get any bigger than they are - it would be easy to argue that they peaked with the Priest tour.

their last tour that took in my neck of the woods was two years ago and consisted of four UK arena dates: https://www.list.co.uk/article/78792-steel-panther-announce-uk-tour-dates/

That LA Guns thing was weaksauce, yeah.

readers of L.A. Weekly

thinking that people who read the LA Weekly in 2016 are reading it in 2018 is the silliest thing you've said itt so far

I don't understand what's wrong with wanting to bring pleasure to ladies with your sweet riffage. If someone wants to make a pedal called the Cock Throbber to give dudes a raging bone with riffs then that's dandy too. I would totally understand the outrage if it was called like The Rape Pedal or Roofie Effects or something but this all seems kinda silly.

It wasn't horrifyingly offensive to me personally but I can understand why some female guitarists took issue with the implication that guitar playing is something men do and women are the audience for, when they're already working in a male-dominated field. It was totally fair game for them to express this pov to TC Electronics and ask for them to reconsider the name, esp given that they're part of the market for TC effects.

has AC DShe weighed in on this

or Lez Zeppelin

I would love to know what they've said, if so.

is the silliest thing you've said itt so far

Why are you insulting me (and putting words in my mouth)?

seems like they play smaller clubs or smaller theaters, biggest venues look to be in the 1800-2000 capacity range with a lot of dates in smaller clubs

https://www.ticketmaster.com/Steel-Panther-tickets/artist/1266501

That's 1800-2000 too many.

morris, I'm talking about it bought by OC libertarian republican donors who appear in Russian action films, venerate Dinesh D'Souza, fired all the staff, repeatedly lied to sponsors, cut all news reporting from the paper, hired a lead film critic whose primary publishing experience was writing rape erotica for Kindle (then after an outcry, just started buying the previously fired [female] film critic's pieces from a syndicate, but paying so little attention that they would run the same review twice in one issue, or run reviews of films not screening in LA), and as of last week were, after taking five days to even report second-hand on the police shooting in Trader Joes, vehemently arguing in their own instagram comments that guns keep everyone safe and it's wrong for anyone to criticise police for shooting wildly into crowded grocery stores and killing civilian shoppers. it's not the same paper as it was in December, let alone 2016.

All I said was "readers of L.A. Weekly"... you're free to insert "(as of in May 2016)" for clarity, if you like.

(I haven't read it since probably 2005 or so)

That's 1800-2000 too many.

― outside, you're never alone. (Austin), Wednesday, August 8, 2018 2:25 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

a bunch of the clubs look significantly smaller than that

sic — That's really upsetting. I had no idea about all that. Makes me just take a step back and realize how damaging something like Steel Panther truly is, especially when they have publications enabling them. At least the people of TC Electronic realized their lack of judgement when they were called on it.

ums — Not small enough.

austin i called clear channel all steel panther shows have been relocated to the lowest-revenue taco bell location in each respective city

Still not small enough.

man wait'll you get a load of these Warrant fellows

I used to think Steel Panther was a band created strictly to tour House of Blues locations. They used to hit the one in Houston every three months.

man wait'll you get a load of these Warrant fellows

I know. It's just that, in 2018, people shouldn't be allowed to get away with things like this.

there's an audience for it

and for things much worse (and much more popular) than this

doesn't seem worth expending energy on imo

I have a feeling Austin may be trolling at this point...

Absolutely not. It is genuinely disheartening to see such an obvious display of misogyny get shined off as, "Oh, haha, they're doing it as a joke!"

I don't think anyone's argued it was a funny joke

I know. It's just that, in 2018, people shouldn't be allowed to get away with things like this.

― outside, you're never alone. (Austin)

i agree, ban all effects pedals

I used to think Steel Panther was a band created strictly to tour House of Blues locations.

almost got taken to one of their shows probably a decade ago at the Las Vegas HoB

which pretty much would be the ideal location: Vegas is completely unsubtle, completely packed with brash celebrations of past hedonism, and 100% manufactured

I think my friend who was on a local roller derby team there was considering it because a couple of her teammates were going

Austin got em bounced down to Burger King that's the best I can do

y'all i just want you to know i'm going to cite this thread and ilm's collective befuddlement at the idea that steel panther has an audience every time somebody starts complaining about how "rockist" ilm is. for probably like the next five years.

Who’s befuddled they have an audience?

who dat is
just my baby daddy

^^I just discovered this song a few years ago (missed it the first time around); it’s so great...

I was aware of them but saw them the other night as special guests on the current MTV jackass/rude tube type show.

aren't they supposed to be a bit like a hair metal Spinal Tap?

― Scritti Vanilli - The Word Girl You Know It's True (dog latin), Tuesday, August 7, 2018 7:01 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

plus gross OTT sexism

― sleeve, Tuesday, August 7, 2018 7:03 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

so...like a hair metal Spinal Tap?

what's wrong with being sexy

Had never heard of them before.

These guys look a little old to be doing this, joke or no. According to Wiki one of them was born in 1970. I just find that kind of sad--doing something like this "for a laugh" would wear off after a week.

I mean middle aged men doing "joke misogynist" hair metal is actually one of the most depressing things I've heard of in a while.

Hell, the singer was born in 1965. He's 53. That is fucking tragic.

Tom Keifer still tours

https://entertainment-theonion-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/entertainment.theonion.com/pathetic-washed-up-rock-star-on-fifth-decade-of-doing-1819577132/amp?amp_js_v=a2&_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQCCAE%3D#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&share=https%3A%2F%2Fentertainment.theonion.com%2Fpathetic-washed-up-rock-star-on-fifth-decade-of-doing-1819577132

I want a cock throbber pedal. Then I can start my new band "Mephallica"

/amp?amp_js_v=a2&_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQCCAE%3D#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&share=https%3A%2F%2Fentertainment.theonion.com%2Fpathetic-washed-up-rock-star-on-fifth-decade-of-doing-1819577132

Eh phones...