TC Electronic and Steel Panther engulfed in sexism row over Satchel TonePrint
Steel Panther's Satchel and TC Electronic withdraw Pussy Melter TonePrint patch · Source: Wikipedia
TC Electronic and Satchel from Steel Panther have been on the receiving end of a huge outcry from the guitar community over the naming of one of their signature TonePrint presets.
Pussy Melter
The offending TonePrint was named Pussy Melter. The name was evidently supposed to be a risqué, ‘tongue-in-cheek’ nod to the ’80s-style Glam Metal era that Steel Panther base their act upon. The name was used for a delay sound in Satchel’s TonePrint library presented by TC Electronics in its website.
Braids’ Raphaelle Standell-Preston and Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner started a petition to have it removed on Twitter. To be honest, I’m surprised anyone at TC thought this was a good idea in the first place. If the name wasn’t enough, the copy that went with it (see below) was arguably worse: users are invited to get “your tone as wet as the ladies in the front row”. Yeuch.
This ‘joke’ is sexist, puerile and just unnecessary in this day and age. As a musician and father of three daughters, I find this kind of humour deters women from playing the instrument that I love. Both parties involved may want to rethink their schtick, as it is just not needed in today’s world.
The offending patch has now been removed from TC’s website, but it still leaves a lot to be said for the industry that we all work in. It is still often assumed that it is okay to be sexist to market a guitar product.
TC Electronic and Steel Panther’s Satchel TonePrint · Source: Twitter
Official TC Electronic Statement
“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.”
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15 responses to “TC Electronic and Steel Panther engulfed in sexism row over Satchel TonePrint”
Wonder what the women from Nashville Pussy think about this?
Probably a bit miffed that they didn’t think of it first.
All this “apologising” to the mob won’t end well. Should have told the Liberal Fascist twats to do one, and then named every other product accordingly. Still, free pub for Panther, so no chance it was a setup, eh?
I hope none of these gals are using a “Big Muff” then. Amazing that most of this angst always comes from bands/musicians that 99.9% of the public has never heard of.
Women. They’re women.
Yawn.
Lighten up Jef.
Yeah, Jef, lighten up when you think about your daughters being subjected to the same demeaning, objectifying trash that’s being used for some cheap laughs by men who “don’t have a clue what the fuss is all about”.
Lighten up Jag.
As Spinal Tap put it…
“There’s a fine line between clever and stupid!”
Leave TC Electronic and Steel Panther alone! Geez, the “pussy melter” is the perfect pedal name for those knuckleheads. They’re all about being ridiculous and crude. Why does every damn thing now offend so many people? Freedom of speech!
STOP APOLOGIZING. Let the market decide. I wanna buy 5 of these things and give em to my buddies!
My god, don’t they know it’s the Current Year!? Next someone will come out with an amp called the Pink Taco.
And yet, the same people who find this “sexist” or “puerile” in “this day and age” have no issue with a large chunk of a certain, large market in the music industry where north of 80% of new songs released feature lyrics (and I use the term “lyrics” in a very liberal sense) which frequently make use of:
* the word that starts with a “b” and rhymes with Mitch,
* the word that starts with an “h” and rhymes with toe.
Seems to be a much bigger offense than this TC Electronic thing here.
Or maybe this isn’t tackled because the “issue” here isn’t about getting rid of sexism but rather playing identity politics.
And let’s not even start with the fact that in the same large market in the music industry that I mentioned above north of 80% of new songs released feature lurics which frequently make use of the word that starts with an “n” and rhymes with bigger.
This whole situation is an exact replica of Silicon Valley Fat Cats crying foul over mistreatment of migrants from Middle and South America due to this or that policy, and yet their boards are lily-white with an occasional Asian but zero representation from the largest minority groups in the US.
If you are looking for an example of hypocrisy and double standard, look no further than the name of the band of one of the instigators of this protest. Look up the definition of “Japanese Breakfast” (hint: it’s far more rude, “sexist”, and pornographic than “Pussy Melter”) and then try to justify her expressed outrage at TC and Satchel as anything other than hypocritical gender politics.
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