Steel Panther - Feel The Steel [Album]
 

Let this review start with a warning: If you expect a serious review about how Steel Panther are going to change the face of music as we know it you are thinking a much higher expectation for a band (so listen to Fleet Foxes or something!).

‘Feel The Steel’ takes us back to a time where sex, drugs and pure balls to the wall metal of the eighties reigned supreme with bands such as Motley Crue and WASP created insanity with their establishment baiting lyrics and to use a cliché cranks it up to 11!

Steel Panther have gained notoriety in LA for their residency at the Key Club which has featured on stage Pink, Corey Taylor, Kelly Clarkson and members of Ratt to name a few singing covers of 80’s ‘hair metal’ classics giving them a more wider audience.

The album is purely a comedy one in the veins of Spinal Tap with songs such as ‘Community Property’ starting off as a typical ballad in the style of 18 to Life by Skid Row then talking about hookers and how the frontman Michael Starr considers a part of his body as the equivalent to a listed building! (so to speak)

Musically it’s what to be expected from a pastiche of 80’s metal with solos, high vocals that sound like the spandex is a little bit TOO tight on Starr and will get fans of that era remembering the good old days.

Overall the album is one for people that actually want a laugh and are willing to take life a little less seriously for a while, the main question of course is after this album can they carry on the joke without wearing too thin? We’ll see how their UK shows during mid-June go down first.

Re: Steel Panther - Feel The Steel [Album]
 

I love this band! They have some bollox to release a record like this. Some of the lyrics are actually amazing. "Death To All But Metal" is awsome.

Re: Steel Panther - Feel The Steel [Album]
 

I'll reserve judgement....no I won't - I bet it's wank!

Re: Steel Panther - Feel The Steel [Album]
 

You have to check it out man! Lyrics are so funny

Re: Steel Panther - Feel The Steel [Album]
 

They can play, that much is certain.

Re: Steel Panther - Feel The Steel [Album]
 

I love this band to pieces. They can play, they're funny and totally down to earth. I've met Ralph (Michael Starr) and Russ (Satchel) the first time in 2000, they're professional and easygoing and I was so happy they finally landed here (although it's a lot harder to get to them since they're on a major).

Everybody seems to be wondering if they will last... Well, they've been selling out the Viper Room and the Roxy every monday for 10 years and they've been a legend in the US West Coast circuit for quite a while now. Maybe the rest of the world will grow tired of them if Universal overdoes it, maybe they'll go back to just doing their resident shows (which they still do), but to be honest I don't think they'll care too much.

Enjoy them while you can and go to the shows if you have a chance, it's money well spent (especially if you catch them with ZZTop as well!).

Re: Steel Panther - Feel The Steel [Album]
 

I listened to one song of theirs the other day and it was a BLATANT rip off of "Living on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi? Have they given them co-writing credit on the album? If not they should get sued by Bon Jovi because this was not even subtle robbery, the verse, the chorus even the talkbox!

That's done on purpose, I don't know if they gave them credit or not on the album, but Bon Jovi will never sue them! Every song is a rip off of some eighties hits, they're all happy with it and often join them on stage in LA and do covers. They were born as a comedy cover band taking the piss on these bands, but in a nice way, nobody ever got offended and it's been going on for over ten years... If you're taking Steel Panther seriously you're missing the point :) Check out their "Behind the Music" video on MySpace, maybe things will be clearer!

I wasn't taking them seriously I was just wondering how they have managed
to get away with plagarism. I would have to see the album covers cause if
the artists get on stage etc then they must be co-credited. Any artist is
gonna want a piece.

I'm sure they have permission to do what they do, whatever the legal terms are (Sure Universal must go by the books).
They've been running their resident show on Sunset Strip (Viper Room then Roxy) every Monday for at least ten years (that's when I first saw them). At first was covers; they would dress, sing and dance like Poison, Bon Jovi, Motley Crue and so on. Whatever band would play that night at the club, they would open for Steel Panther (Metal Shop at the time). And whoever was in the club watching them and having a drink, at some point would end up on stage. I remember Steven Adler, Meat Loaf, Steven Tyler to name a few. Their first original album came out about 5 or 6 years ago (by then they had changed name to Metal Skool); most of the songs were then slightly modified and included in the new Steel Panther album.
Their "Behind the Music" video is a mockery of Anvil, I would say, plus any other "where are they now" band that in these times of eighties revival resurfaced to milk a few more bucks. Members of Jane's Addiction, Anthrax, Guns'n'Roses, Warrant and others happily took part in the video (and Warrant are one of their favourite mockery subjects). Being mocked and ripped off by Steel Panther is a pleasure and a honour for most of these bands, believe it or not, a bit like it was at some point for English VIPs being on Little Britain. They're some kind of institution on the Strip, especially in the hair metal circuit. And let's not forget Ralph Saenz (Michael Starr) had a brief spell in LA Guns and a cameo in the movie Rockstar.
Justin Hawkins (Darkness) joined them on stage in London in June (one or two weeks later he joined Spinal Tap on stage as well...). I wouldn't be surprised to see ZZ Top on stage with them in October for a couple of covers. But what I would really love to see is an all star live rendition of "Death to all but metal" with the Goo Goo Dolls, Eminem, Papa Roach, Blink 182, Mariah Carey, Sheryl Crow, 50 Cent, Kanye West and most of all Madonna and Britney Spears... :D