Feel the Steel
Encyclopedia
Feel the Steel is the second album by hard rock
/glam metal
band Steel Panther
, and their debut major label release. The tracks "Fat Girl", "Stripper Girl" and "Hell's On Fire" are re-recordings from the 2003 debut album Hole Patrol
while "Death to All But Metal" is a re-recording from their 2004 contribution to the Metal Sludge
compilation Hey That's What I Call Sludge! Vol. 1. Unlike the debut album and their Metal Sludge compilation tracks, Feel The Steel is composed entirely of songs, lacking any spoken word comedy skits present on earlier releases. The video for "Death To All But Metal" features comedian Sarah Silverman
. The album debuted on #123 and peaked at #98 on the Billboard 200
chart and peaked at #1 on the Billboard Top Comedy Albums chart.
The album was released June 8, 2009 in the UK, October 6 in North America and December 11 in Australia.
, except "Girl From Oklahoma" co-written with Dean Cameron
, which assigns a normalized
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received a score of 57, based on four reviews. Negative reviews found the album unfunny by taking the jokes too far. Jason Lymangrover of Allmusic wrote that "Steel Panther's ability to create songs that sound like they came from 1987 is commendable. That's about as close to clever as it gets, though. As David St. Hubbins
said, "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever," and Saenz's locker-room humor wears thin quickly." The NME
wrote a review stating "only those with a retarded grasp of comedy would want to sit at home and listen to fifth-rate, crass glam-metal parodies with titles such as ‘Asian Hooker’ and ‘Stripper Girl’. An exercise in taking
a joke way too far."
More favorable reviews came found the album more entertaining. Sophie Bruce of the BBC
stated "Quite simply, Feel The Steel is an utter feelgood masterpiece." The Independent
wrote that "it's essentially Spinal Tap
/Bad News
brought forward five years to the coked-up cock-rock era, complete with titles such as "Eatin' Ain't Cheatin'" and dangerous levels of dumb-ass homophobia
, sexism
, racism
and sizeism
. The songs are at times terrifyingly authentic. Is it new? Don't be stupid. Is it funny? Hell yeah." Steve Lampiris from TheLineOfBestFit.com gave a very positive review, stating that "If only every album released this year could start with “Fuck the Goo Goo Dolls/ They can suck my balls,” then 2009 would be, like, the greatest year ever." and "‘Panther’ and ‘Party All Day’ will be stuck in your head for a week, guaranteed." RevelationZ Magazine gave a positive review, while addressing the albums lack of vatiation in lyrical theme by stating "They can still be fun dealing with other topics than sex." However, in the end praised the bands musical writings/ability whilst claiming that it should not be thought of as a parody act.
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
/glam metal
Glam metal
Glam metal is a subgenre of hard rock and heavy metal that arose in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the United States, particularly on the Los Angeles Sunset Strip music scene...
band Steel Panther
Steel Panther
Steel Panther is a glam metal band from Los Angeles, California mostly known for their profane and humorous lyrics as well as their exaggerated on-stage personas...
, and their debut major label release. The tracks "Fat Girl", "Stripper Girl" and "Hell's On Fire" are re-recordings from the 2003 debut album Hole Patrol
Hole Patrol
Hole Patrol is the debut album by American glam metal band Steel Panther. The album was first released in 2003 under the band name Metal Shop then subsequently reissued in 2005 under the band name Metal Skool, upon which the final track was replaced...
while "Death to All But Metal" is a re-recording from their 2004 contribution to the Metal Sludge
Metal Sludge
Metal Sludge is a glam metal, hard rock and heavy metal website founded in 1998. It has spawned various tours as well as an album...
compilation Hey That's What I Call Sludge! Vol. 1. Unlike the debut album and their Metal Sludge compilation tracks, Feel The Steel is composed entirely of songs, lacking any spoken word comedy skits present on earlier releases. The video for "Death To All But Metal" features comedian Sarah Silverman
Sarah Silverman
Sarah Kate Silverman is a Jewish American comedian, writer, actress, singer and musician. Her satirical comedy addresses social taboos and controversial topics such as racism, sexism, and religion....
. The album debuted on #123 and peaked at #98 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart and peaked at #1 on the Billboard Top Comedy Albums chart.
The album was released June 8, 2009 in the UK, October 6 in North America and December 11 in Australia.
Track listing
All songs written by Steel PantherSteel Panther
Steel Panther is a glam metal band from Los Angeles, California mostly known for their profane and humorous lyrics as well as their exaggerated on-stage personas...
, except "Girl From Oklahoma" co-written with Dean Cameron
Dean Cameron
Dean Cameron is an American television and film actor. He is best known for his role as Francis "Chainsaw" Gremp in the 1987 Mark Harmon comedy Summer School....
- "Death to All But Metal" - 2:30
- "Asian Hooker" - 4:02
- "Community Property" - 3:39
- "Eyes of a Panther" - 3:37
- "Fat Girl (Thar She Blows)" - 4:38
- "Eatin' Ain't Cheatin'" - 3:50
- "Party All Day (Fuck All Night)" (feat. Justin HawkinsJustin HawkinsJustin David Hawkins is an English musician and singer-songwriter, best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist of The Darkness, alongside his brother, guitarist Dan Hawkins...
) - 3:03 - "Turn Out the Lights" (feat. M. ShadowsM. ShadowsMatthew Charles Sanders , better known by his stage name M. Shadows, is the lead vocalist, songwriter, and founding member for the American metal band Avenged Sevenfold.-Early life and musical beginnings:...
) - 4:24 - "Stripper Girl" - 3:35
- "The ShockerShocker (hand gesture)The shocker, also known colloquially as "two in the pink, one in the stink" or "two in the goo, one in the poo" is a hand gesture with a sexual connotation. The ring finger and thumb are curled or bent down while the other fingers are extended. The index and middle fingers are kept together and...
" - 4:10 - "Girl From Oklahoma" - 3:57
- "Hell's On Fire" (Bonus Track) - 3:02
Personnel
- Michael StarrRalph SaenzRalph Saenz is the lead singer for glam metal band Steel Panther. Steel Panther was formerly known as "Metal Shop" and "Metal Skool" and were once featured in a Discover Card commercial as "Danger Kitty"; those older band names are now used by unrelated parody bands.He's a PhD in English...
- lead vocals, backing vocals - SatchelRuss ParrishRuss Parrish is an American guitarist known by his stage name Satchel in the glam metal band Steel Panther...
- lead, rhythm and acoustic guitars, backing vocals - Lexxi Foxxx - bass guitar, backing vocals
- Stix Zadinia - drums, percussion, backing vocals
Additional Musicians
- Justin HawkinsJustin HawkinsJustin David Hawkins is an English musician and singer-songwriter, best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist of The Darkness, alongside his brother, guitarist Dan Hawkins...
- co-lead vocals (track 7) - M. ShadowsM. ShadowsMatthew Charles Sanders , better known by his stage name M. Shadows, is the lead vocalist, songwriter, and founding member for the American metal band Avenged Sevenfold.-Early life and musical beginnings:...
- co-lead vocals (8) - Allison RobertsonAllison RobertsonAllison Rae Robertson is the guitarist for rock band The Donnas.-Early life:Allison Robertson was born on August 26, 1979, in North Hollywood, California. She comes from a very musical family. Her father is musician Baxter Robertson who wrote the track "Feel The Night" on the Karate Kid Soundtrack...
- lead guitars (7) - Scott IanScott IanScott Ian Rosenfeld , better known by the stage name Scott Ian, is an American musician, best known as the rhythm & lead guitarist for the heavy metal band Anthrax. Ian is also the guitarist and a founding member of the crossover thrash band Stormtroopers of Death...
- rhythm guitars (2) - Corey TaylorCorey TaylorCorey Todd Taylor sometimes known by the number 8, is an American musician best known as the lead vocalist and lyricist of Slipknot and Stone Sour. Taylor was raised by his single mother. He developed a fond feeling toward classic rock after his grandmother introduced him to it...
- backing vocals (1, 2 and 4) - Matt Nelson - backing vocals (4, 5, 6 and 10)
- Brett Anderson - backing vocals (4)
- Joe Lester - backing vocals (3, 5, 6 and 10)
- Rene Ruston - female voice (6)
- Michael LordMichael Lord (music)Michael Lord is a songwriter, composer, producer and Indie recording artist. His 2004 release SWAY found an audience when his song Smile was chosen by the Apple iTunes Music Store as their Single of The Week. Other songs from SWAY including Bleed and Forgiven soon found their way into hit...
- orchestration (3)
Reception
Initial critical response to Feel the Steel was mixed. According to MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalized
Standard score
In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received a score of 57, based on four reviews. Negative reviews found the album unfunny by taking the jokes too far. Jason Lymangrover of Allmusic wrote that "Steel Panther's ability to create songs that sound like they came from 1987 is commendable. That's about as close to clever as it gets, though. As David St. Hubbins
David St. Hubbins
David Ivor St. Hubbins is a fictional character who is the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the mock rock band Spinal Tap, which was the subject of "rockumentary" film This Is Spinal Tap . David is played by actor Michael McKean, who improvised the role through the whole film...
said, "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever," and Saenz's locker-room humor wears thin quickly." The NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
wrote a review stating "only those with a retarded grasp of comedy would want to sit at home and listen to fifth-rate, crass glam-metal parodies with titles such as ‘Asian Hooker’ and ‘Stripper Girl’. An exercise in taking
a joke way too far."
More favorable reviews came found the album more entertaining. Sophie Bruce of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
stated "Quite simply, Feel The Steel is an utter feelgood masterpiece." The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
wrote that "it's essentially Spinal Tap
Spinal Tap (band)
Spinal Tap is a parody heavy metal band that first appeared on a failed 1979 ABC TV sketch comedy pilot called "The T.V. Show", starring Rob Reiner...
/Bad News
Bad News
Bad News were a spoof rock band, created for the Channel 4 television series The Comic Strip Presents.... Its members were Vim Fuego , vocals and lead guitar ; Den Dennis, rhythm guitar ; Colin Grigson, bass ; and Spider Webb, drums .-Biography:Bad News made their television debut during...
brought forward five years to the coked-up cock-rock era, complete with titles such as "Eatin' Ain't Cheatin'" and dangerous levels of dumb-ass homophobia
Homophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
, sexism
Sexism
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
, racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
and sizeism
Fat acceptance movement
The fat acceptance movement is an effort to change societal attitudes towards fat, obese, and overweight people.- Background :...
. The songs are at times terrifyingly authentic. Is it new? Don't be stupid. Is it funny? Hell yeah." Steve Lampiris from TheLineOfBestFit.com gave a very positive review, stating that "If only every album released this year could start with “Fuck the Goo Goo Dolls/ They can suck my balls,” then 2009 would be, like, the greatest year ever." and "‘Panther’ and ‘Party All Day’ will be stuck in your head for a week, guaranteed." RevelationZ Magazine gave a positive review, while addressing the albums lack of vatiation in lyrical theme by stating "They can still be fun dealing with other topics than sex." However, in the end praised the bands musical writings/ability whilst claiming that it should not be thought of as a parody act.
Release history
| Country | Date |
|---|---|
| Europe Europe Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting... |
June 8, 2009 |
| Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south... |
August 5, 2009 |
| United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
October 6, 2009 |
| Scandinavia Scandinavia Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,... |
November 16, 2009 |
| Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area... |
December 11, 2009 |