American glam metal satirists, Steel Panther have faced an onslaught of backlash recently over the name of their signature guitar pedal, the ‘Pussy Melter’. A number of musicians have come forward to express their disdain for the name, citing its sexist undertones, calling for the product to be pulled.
As of this morning, the pedal manufacturer TC Electronics have issued a statement on their website, removing the product from its listings, acknowledging the inappropriate nature of the name.
“It’s become clear that a number of people have been offended by the title and description of a delay TonePrint that we created over a year ago with Steel Panther’s Satchel. Steel Panther is an American comedic glam metal band from Los Angeles, California, mostly known for their profane and humorous lyrics, as well as their exaggerated on-stage personae that reenact the stereotypical 1980s ‘glam metal’ lifestyle (from Wikipedia).
It has never been our intention to offend anyone but simply to provide fans of Steel Panther with guitar presets made by Satchel. We recognize that the material was inappropriate and we have removed the TonePrint in question from the app and we will take it down from our website as soon as possible. We sincerely apologize.”
Prior to the pedal being pulled, a description of the product on TC Electronic website read, “When we met up with Steel Panther’s oh-so-humble guitarist, he had only one condition: that the tone be as wet as the ladies on the front row”.
Musicians including Braids and Japanese Breakfast quickly took to Twitter to express their shock at the company’s distasteful marketing tactics, with Braids noting,
“What f*cking year is this ??? Pls sign my friends petition to EDIT/REMOVE @tcelectronic disgusting write up for their ‘pussy melter’ guitar effect pedal. As a female guitarist and just a female, in general, this makes me super disappointed!”
What f*cking year is this ???
Pls sign my friends petition to EDIT/REMOVE @tcelectronic disgusting write up for their “pussy melter” guitar effect pedal. As a female guitarist and just a female in general this makes me super disappointed ! https://t.co/LK2YZJt70d pic.twitter.com/EILfX9lQhh— Braids (@braidsmusic) July 9, 2018
ew what the fuck, i thought making pedals that break all the time was bad enough
— 🅔🅜🅡🅔🅞 🅚🅐🅡🅣 (@emilyreo) July 9, 2018
An online petition was imminently started by US guitarist Jessica Fennelly, who stated “As a female guitarist, I’m shocked by the poor marketing decisions found on TC Electronic’s website.
“I can’t imagine why a well-known company such as TC Electronic would feel that it’s okay to use such an offensive, obviously sexist, and outdated marketing technique to sell a product.”
Steel Panther, who have made a name for themselves off the back of tracks like ‘Pussywhipped’ and ‘Gloryhole’ toured Australia earlier this year off the back of their 2017 release Lower The Bar. In an interview earlier this year, frontman Michael Starr opened up about the #MeToo movement, saying that it’s making it hard for the band to perform.
Watch Steel Panther’s ‘Gloryhole’:
