Steel Panther hail hair metal heroes Twisted SIster

Steel Panther guitarist Satchel says hair metal has outlived a lot of the “shitty” music that came after it in the 1990s.

The axeman adds that while people may have laughed at bands like Twisted Sister, they wrote “hooky” songs that still stand up today.

Satchel tells Songfacts: “Think about the stuff that people were listening to during the 90s when they considered hair metal goofy. There was so much shitty stuff on the radio during the 90s. It was virtually all shitty.

“There were a lot of bands in the 90s getting signed just on their look, just because grunge was in, just because they didn’t look ‘heavy metal’. Granted, there’s a lot of heavy metal that was sucky, as well. But there was also a lot of really, really hooky stuff.

“Take Twisted Sister, for instance. They at some point probably got laughed at because they looked the way they looked and when heavy metal went away, people probably went, ‘Oh, Twisted Sister, that’s so basic and it’s so ‘cave rock’.

“But think about it – Twisted Sister never stopped doing what they do. And their songs, the songs that made them famous, are still totally hooky. We’re Not Gonna Take It, that’s such a hook.

“It doesn’t matter whether you think it’s dumb or silly, or you think that Dee Snider looks clownish with his makeup on — they wrote a timeless song. It’s awesome. It’s a testament to their hookiness.”

Satchel also discusses his own band’s place in today’s metal scene and admits some people might be offended by Steel Panther’s lyrics. But he suggests those people might want to lighten up.

He says: I think that people shouldn’t analyse our lyrics too closely. I mean, there’s definitely going to be people that are offended by us. But I think that those people need to lighten up a little bit.”

Steel Panther will play four UK dates with Skindred next year.

STEEL PANTHER AND SKINDRED UK TOUR 2015

Mar 06: Manchester O2 Apollo

Mar 09: Glasgow O2 Academy

Mar 12: Wolverhampton Civic Hall

Mar 14: London Wembley SSE Arena

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.