A petition was launched by a female guitarist called Jessica Fennelly to have Steel Panther guitarist Satchel‘s new TC Electronic pedal called “Pussy Melter” taken down.
Jessica said in the description: “As a Female Guitarist, I’m shocked by the poor marketing decisions found on TC Electronics website for their signature sound from ‘Satchel’ offensively named the ‘Pussy Melter.’ There is an entire page dedicated to this sound.”
The post continues to quote the device’s official description, which reads: “Wanna make a physical impact on your audiences, with an epic delay tone? Then Satchel’s got you covered! 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!
“With ‘Pussy Melter’ that’s exactly what you get: a delay tone, which perfectly nails that heavy metal lead tone, whilst simultaneously ensuring that the janitor ain’t going home early! So if glam rock guitar solos and wet floor signs are your idea of a good time, then ‘Pussy Melter’ for Flashback Delay is definitely the TonePrint for you!”
Jessica argued the following: “Not only is this description extremely vulgar and unnecessary, but TC Electronic went out of their way to actually pay someone to write a marketing description for this.
“I can’t imagine why a well-known company such as TC Electronic would feel that it’s OK to use such an offensive, obviously sexist, and outdated marketing technique to sell a product. In addition, why would they choose to support an artist such as Satchel.
“This TC Electronic product promotes and implies the ideas that:
“A) The guitar world is dominated by heterosexual males and marketing for guitars/guitar products should be aimed at these males.
“B) These males will decide to use their musical influence to sexually manipulate heterosexual women fans.
“C) That the guitar world is excluded from the professional boundaries enforced by society to ensure that no product offends, excludes, or harms a particular group of people.
“I found this on the TC Electronic website, researching their products to write a review article. As a result, I declined this particular project due to the insensitive, backwards nature of the TC Electronic Page. Please help me get this removed from the TC Electronic Website and their products. Thank you.”
The petition has since received support from Canadian indie/art rock band Braids, whose singer/guitarist Raphaelle Standell-Preston wrote via Twitter: “What f*cking year is this??? Pls sign my friends petition to EDIT/REMOVE TC Electronic’s 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!”
TC Electronic has issued the following apology: “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.”
