A number of prominent musicians have taken to social media to speak out against the sexist language used to describe a new guitar effect by TC Electronic for the glam metal band Steel Panther.
The group recently collaborated with the company to create a preset guitar pedal effect dubbed the "Pussy Melter." The description on TC Electronic's website explained: "When we met up with Steel Panther's oh-so-humble guitarist [Satchel], he had only one condition: that the tone be as wet as the ladies in the front row."
Guitarist Jessica Fennelly launched a petition to remove the tone print from the online store, deeming the language in the description "offensive" and "obviously sexist." A number of other artists have since echoed the same sentiment, including Braids, Japanese Breakfast and Ted Leo.
Others including Speedy Ortiz and Porcelain Raft favourited and retweeted Braids' tweet, as well.
UPDATE (7/10, 3 p.m. EDT): TC Electronic has removed the "Pussy Melter" from its website and online store. The company has also issued an apology via Music Radar. It reads:
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.
See some of the backlash from musicians on Twitter below.
As of this morning, the link to the TC Electronic page to purchase the "Pussy Melter" leads to a 404 error.
The group recently collaborated with the company to create a preset guitar pedal effect dubbed the "Pussy Melter." The description on TC Electronic's website explained: "When we met up with Steel Panther's oh-so-humble guitarist [Satchel], he had only one condition: that the tone be as wet as the ladies in the front row."
Guitarist Jessica Fennelly launched a petition to remove the tone print from the online store, deeming the language in the description "offensive" and "obviously sexist." A number of other artists have since echoed the same sentiment, including Braids, Japanese Breakfast and Ted Leo.
Others including Speedy Ortiz and Porcelain Raft favourited and retweeted Braids' tweet, as well.
UPDATE (7/10, 3 p.m. EDT): TC Electronic has removed the "Pussy Melter" from its website and online store. The company has also issued an apology via Music Radar. It reads:
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.
See some of the backlash from musicians on Twitter below.
What f*cking year is this ???
— Braids (@braidsmusic) July 9, 2018
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
This is fucking disgusting
— Japanese Breakfast (@Jbrekkie) July 9, 2018
I can't think of anything more pathetic than being someone on the internet who has made it their crusade to defend a pedal called the pussy melter.
— Japanese Breakfast (@Jbrekkie) July 10, 2018
wtf, this is disgusting
— Teen Daze (@teendaze) July 9, 2018
Guitar pedal world is disgusting. Count how many "balls"/"ballz" names there are, too. Bros marketing for bros. HIRE WOMEN and consider that YOUR MARKET SHOULD ALSO BE WOMEN. Ya fucking troglodytes. (h/t @mattlemay) https://t.co/x32ksT9gwH
— Ted Leo (@tedleo) July 10, 2018
As of this morning, the link to the TC Electronic page to purchase the "Pussy Melter" leads to a 404 error.
