HEAVY MUSIC HISTORY: Feel The Steel – Steel Panther

Pull out the hairspray, squeeze into that spandex, and call your coke dealer ‘cause we’re about to get all sorts of depraved with the band whose mission statement was the resurrection of heavy metal; STEEL PANTHER.

Before the glam metal resurgence began with the release of Feel The Steel in 2009, STEEL PANTHER had garnered themselves quite the reputation. Beginning life as cover act METAL SHOP then METAL SKOOL, the band played up and down the Sunset Strip, eventually landing themselves residencies at the illustrious House Of Blues, The Viper Room, and The Key Club. Now don’t allow us to blow smoke up anal cavities, the salacious foursome have serious musical chops. Whether it’s Satchel (guitar) wielding the axe with Rob Halford’s FIGHT, or Michael Starr (vocal) being invited to sing at a VAN HALEN reunion show before David Lee Roth decided to show up last minute, their reputation preceded them… and then some. With the likes of P!NK and KELLY CLARKSON jumping on stage for an impromptu jam session, and Mike Starr (ex-ALICE IN CHAINS) blasting through an impressive cover of Man In The Box, it was high time STEEL PANTHER had some original material.

Just how well would this parody of MÖTLEY CRÜE, WHITESNAKE, and all things 80s translate to an original record? Taking the plunge on the back of the band’s EP Hole Patrol (2003), where Fat Girl (Thar She Blows), Stripper Girl, and bonus track Hell’s On Fire originally spawned, Universal sublabel Republic Records snapped them up and Feel The Steel began to take shape. If anyone thought the vibe of The Key Club was going to be dropped purely because the band entered a recording studio, they would be sorely mistaken. Feel The Steel included a smorgasbord of metal icons. COREY TAYLOR swung for PAPA ROACH on Death To All Metal and lurked in the background for Asian Hooker and Eyes Of A Panther. THE DARKNESS’ bard Justin Hawkins serenades us to Party All Day (Fuck All Night) and AVENGED SEVENFOLD’s M. Shadows encourages us to “whip out a condom and the astro-glide” on the shall we say charming Turn Out The Lights. We even have a crossing of the streams (phrasing…) between original drummer Ray Luzier [KORN] and reigning king of the skins Stix Zadinia. That’s without trawling through the production notes for members of NELSON, EXTREME, ANTHRAX, and THE DONNAS.

Surely this star power would make for a solid album? If you thought TENACIOUS D crossed the line with iconic Fuck Her Gently, STEEL PANTHER took the line and snorted it in gloriously glam metal fashion. With the Sarah Silverman led video for Death To All But Metal, there was simply no escaping STEEL PANTHER and the infectious “Heavy Metal’s Back!”. Released first in the UK on June 8, 2009, fans of the obscene and borderline offensive lapped it up. The instrumentals of BON JOVI and POISON were suddenly cool again… even if we did have to turn it down when grandma entered the room.

STEEL PANTHER’s lyrical content comes with heavy doses of misogyny, homophobia, and sizeism. Feel The Steel was prime example of this with Stripper Girl, Girl From Oklahoma, and Eatin’ Ain’t Cheatin’. This would garner the attention of many a critic who questioned whether STEEL PANTHER was really a parody or were these the opinions of white men in metal. We’ll leave you to answer that question. However Sophie Bruce of the BBC hailed the album as “an utter feelgood masterpiece” despite the content being “sometimes so far across the line they can’t see it anymore”. The Independent scribed “Is it new? Don’t be stupid. Is it funny? Hell yeah.”. While others found the dick jokes wore thin after 40 minutes and called it “pornographically offensive”, it would be NME’s Hardeep Phull who would pull the least punches [we shall be censoring the next quote]. “Only those with a r-d grasp of comedy would want to sit at home and listen to fifth-rate, crass glam-metal parodies” Phull would say, heralding Feel The Steel as “an exercise in taking a joke way too far”.

While some were offended, others adored Feel The Steel as it would peak at 98 on the Billboard 200 upon eventual release in the US and would top the Billboard Top Comedy Albums Chart. To this day, Feel The Steel is celebrated as one of the greatest comedy albums of all time. It’s also an album which is beloved by STEEL PANTHER fans, second only to 2011’s Balls Out. Death To All But Metal decimated music channels across the Sky platform. Eyes Of A Panther became a firm live staple. While women across the world join the band on stage to be serenaded with the heartfelt “My heart belongs to you/ But my cock is community property” of Community Property. Turn Out The Lights and The Shocker may have been dropped from the live set over the years, they still remain fan favourites. The audiences must be men of a certain look and mental standpoint we hear you assume. No friends, the majority of STEEL PANTHER’s live shows were, and continue to be, women of all ages, sizes, and races as they celebrate all things carnality.

Many claim the excess of the 80s should have dispersed at the turn of the decade. Yet with economic crises and the world at large going to shit, some will take reprieve where they can get it. A lot of us still find jokes about dicks and farts funny. The elitism of the metal scene was strung up for the world to see with Death To All But Metal. The joke may have flown under the radar of some and fell flat to others at the mention of a homophobic term which is a very valid standpoint for us here at Distorted Sound but this is where the line between satirical and offensive was crossed. This is a notion STEEL PANTHER come across many times throughout their discography as we’ll cover in future Heavy Music History pieces. In the period of Feel The Steel, we had the golden age of MÖTLEY CRÜE and DEF LEPPARD reigning supreme once more and it’s those glory days some of us will continue to pine for.

Feel The Steel was originally released on June 8, 2009 via Universal.

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