Steel Panther

One of my favorite acts to come out in the past decade is Steel Panther.  Their funny, wholly inappropriate lyrics crack me up.  To top it off, these guys are top-notch musicians.  They might not be responsible for the renaissance that 80's hard rock bands are enjoying today, but they certainly are evidence of it.

They are one part parody, one part homage to the glam bands that rose to prominence in the mid 1980's, only to be crushed by rap and grunge in the 1990's.

It's easy to want to dismiss them as a novelty act, because of their lyrical content, but novelty acts generally don't have much staying power, and we shouldn't be so quick to write them off as such.  Look at how long "Weird Al" Yankovic has been around.  He's outlasted most of the artists he parodied, and he recently enjoyed his first number one album (Mandatory Fun).

Not too shabby for someone who was written off as a novelty act several times during his career.

And, aside from the explicit lyrics, what Steel Panther is doing really isn't much different than what "Weird Al" does.  While Al does a mix of full-on parodies and style parodies, Steel Panther has made their mark by recording nothing but style-parodies of specific 80's bands (with the exception of a few covers).

I don't expect that they will have the lengthy career that Al has had if they stick to the 80's bands.  At some point, the genre will fall out of favor again.  But, they've already released three full-length records.  They've already managed to be successful longer than  a number of bands that rode the last wave of popularity that the genre experienced in the early 1990's.

Now, you might not like parody bands, and you might find their music offensive. But that's your problem.  For the time being, at least, they've made their mark on popular music.  I, for one, really appreciate what they're doing.