Feel the Steel is the debut studio album by American glam metal jokester band Steel Panther. It was released first in Europe on June 8, 2009, on Universal Records. The tracks "Fat Girl", "Stripper Girl" and "Hell's on Fire" are re-recordings from the band's 2003 EP Hole Patrol (which was released under their old name Metal Shop) 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.[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.[2]
| Feel the Steel | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | June 8, 2009 | |||
| Recorded | 2008–2009 | |||
| Genre | Glam metal, heavy metal, comedy rock | |||
| Length | 44:26 | |||
| Label | Universal | |||
| Producer | Jay Ruston | |||
| Steel Panther chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Feel the Steel | ||||
| ||||
The album was released June 8, 2009, in the UK, October 6 in North America and December 11 in Australia.
Reception
edit| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 55/100[3] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    [4] |
| BBC | (favorable)[5] |
| Hot Press | (4/5)[6] |
| The Independent | (favorable)[7] |
| Kerrang! | |
| Mojo | [8] |
| NME | (3/10)[9] |
| Q | [10] |
| Rock Sound |   [11] |
| Sputnikmusic | (4.0/5)[12] |
Initial critical response to Feel the Steel was mixed. According to Metacritic, 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.[13] 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."[4]
Sophie Bruce of the BBC stated "Quite simply, Feel the Steel is an utter feelgood masterpiece."[5] 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."[7] NME placed the 2009 video for "Fat Girl", from this album, at number 41 on its list of the "50 worst music videos ever".[14]
Track listing
editAll tracks are written by Steel Panther, except "Girl from Oklahoma" by Steel Panther and Dean Cameron
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Death to All but Metal" (featuring Corey Taylor) | 2:30 |
| 2. | "Asian Hooker" | 4:02 |
| 3. | "Community Property" | 3:39 |
| 4. | "Eyes of a Panther" | 3:37 |
| 5. | "Fat Girl (Thar She Blows)" | 4:38 |
| 6. | "Eatin' Ain't Cheatin'" | 3:51 |
| 7. | "Party All Day (Fuck All Night)" (featuring Justin Hawkins) (listed as "Party All Day" in the iTunes store and Spotify) | 3:03 |
| 8. | "Turn Out the Lights" (featuring M. Shadows) | 4:24 |
| 9. | "Stripper Girl" | 3:35 |
| 10. | "The Shocker" | 4:10 |
| 11. | "Girl from Oklahoma" | 3:57 |
| Total length: | 41:24 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 12. | "Hell's on Fire" | 3:02 |
| 13. | "I Want Your Tits" (UK bonus track) | 3:20 |
| Total length: | 47:46 | |
Personnel
edit- Michael Starr – lead vocals, backing vocals
- Satchel – guitars, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
- Lexxi Foxxx – bass, backing vocals
- Stix Zadinia – drums, backing vocals
Additional musicians
edit- Justin Hawkins – co-lead vocals (track 7)
- M. Shadows – co-lead vocals (8)
- Allison Robertson – lead guitar (7)
- Scott Ian – rhythm guitar (2)
- Ray Luzier – drums (2)
- Corey Taylor – co-lead vocals (1) backing vocals (2 and 4)
- Matthew 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 Lord – orchestration (3)
Release history
edit| Country | Date |
|---|---|
| Europe | June 8, 2012 |
| Japan | August 5, 2009 |
| United States | October 6, 2009 |
| Scandinavia | November 16, 2009 |
| Australia | December 11, 2009 |
References
edit- ^ "Hey That's What I Call Sludge 1 (2004, CD)". Discogs. August 4, 2023.
- ^ https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p1123733
- ^ "Feel The Steel - Steel Panther". Metacritic. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
- ^ a b Lymangrover, Jason. "Review: Feel the Steel". Allmusic. Retrieved October 12, 2009.
- ^ a b Bruce, Sophie (June 2, 2009). "Steel Panther Feel The Steel Review". BBC. Retrieved October 13, 2009.
- ^ Freyne, Patrick. "Feel The Steel". Hot Press. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
- ^ a b Prince, Simon (June 14, 2009). "Album: Steel Panther, Feel the Steel, (Island)". The Independent. Retrieved October 13, 2009.
- ^ Mojo: 106. July 2009.
It's funnier than the Crue. And that's no mean feat.
{{cite journal}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Phull, Hardeep (June 2, 2009). "Album Review: Steel Panther - 'Feel The Steel'". NME. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
- ^ Q: 117. July 2009.
Enjoyment of this LA tribute act's wilfully non-PC parody of '80s hair metal entirely correlates with one's familiarity with Poison and Faster Pussycat's liking for double--often single-entendres.
{{cite journal}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Lewis, Faye (June 2009). "Steel Panther – Feel the Steel." Rock Sound (123): 89.
- ^ Morgendorffer, Brendan. "Steel Panther Feel the Steel". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
- ^ "Feel the Steel reviews at Metacritic.com". Metacritic. Retrieved October 13, 2009.
- ^ "50 Worst Music Videos Ever", NME (accessed January 6, 2015).