22 February 2021
Newsdesk
“We will be writing songs about 2021 for two more decades! “: Michael Starr on 2021, turntables and Van Halen.
Steel Panther vocalist Michael Starr shares with us his views on 2021 and why listening to the iconic Van Halen 2 record could save your sanity during a pandemic.
Steel Panther has been keeping the glory of 80’s glam metal alive for a good decade now and has successfully released five great albums. Influenced by amazing bands such as Van Halen and Motley Crue with songs such as “Community Property” and “Death To All But Metal”, they’re a great band to listen to if you’re looking for a mood booster.
This iconic parodic rock band are trying to make the most of the current pandemic by creating multiple online events and even releasing a new song entitled ‘F**k 2020’. On that song Steel Panther has stated that “it has become an anthem for the band”. We asked Michael Starr his opinion regarding 2021 and his answer was positive, “we will be writing songs about 2021 for two more decades, in fact 2021 is gonna be the greatest year ever!”.
While some countries are still currently under lockdown, we are all hopeful that this year we will be able to meet up with friends to see our favourite band or spend a few days at a music festival. We asked Michael Starr which three albums he would happily take with him if he was stranded on a desert island, his choices were both obvious and surprising! He confessed to us that he would happily take “Van Halen 2, Stone Temple Pilots first record and The Bee Gees greatest hits”. We could all do with a bit of Bee Gees at the moment! It’s also not surprising to see Van Halen on Michael’s list when we know how big of an influence they were to Steel Panther.
We also questioned him about the comeback of vinyl and turntables. According to many studies, more and more youngsters are turning their backs on streaming music to rediscover the joy of vinyl and turntables.
Of course, that new trend is a blessing for the music industry as this has given it a new lease of life. Michael Starr agrees that it’s definitely a trend, it’s so popular on Tiktok at the moment, it’s kind of a novelty and in fact it should be celebrated! The older generation are happy to see their favourite album being released on vinyl, it gives them that nostalgic feeling, while the younger generation are buying because they’re cool.
We’ll hopefully see more of Steel Panther this year as they just announced a string of new US tour dates!
