Steel Panther

How long has it been since the Darkness finally went away? The correct answer: not long enough. Don't count your blessings yet, though. Steel Panther is filling the vacuum, doing to American glam metal what the Darkness did to British glam rock — namely, ass-fucking it. The group's only saving grace is the fact that it's clearly in on its own joke; the anthemic lead track of Steel Panther's most recent album, 2009's Feel the Steel, is "Death to All but Metal," in which frontman Michael Starr rips on everyone from Papa Roach to blink-182 while extolling the virtues of Def Leppard — a band that would die of embarrassment to be championed by a tuneless pretender like Starr. For those who like their jokes on the nose and their metal with a laugh track, saddle up the Panther. All others might prefer to long for the glory days of, uh, the Darkness.